WEBVTT 1 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:10.279 This is a true story. All names have been changed. 2 00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:18.760 Place names and dates remain factual. The place main roads, 3 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:23.000 the state highways, and large county roads make little concession 4 00:00:23.160 --> 00:00:28.039 to the Northern Indiana Prairie. They zip north, south or 5 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:33.079 east west across the sun's sparkle land. On smaller local roads, 6 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:36.520 you feel the contour of the terrain, the gentle swell 7 00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:40.920 and dip passed innumerable kettle lakes, the drainage ditches, and 8 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:45.240 the creeks that veane this country. You smell the lush, 9 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:51.920 loamy soil, but above all the ever changing sky. This 10 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:54.520 is a rich country, and people have lived here for 11 00:00:54.600 --> 00:00:58.280 thousands of years. At a creek rock bar, you may 12 00:00:58.359 --> 00:01:02.320 be surprised how easy it is to find Indian arrowheads 13 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:07.400 and pieces of pottery. The archaic and woodland people settled 14 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:11.760 here after the last glacier retreated fifteen thousand years ago. 15 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:18.200 Glacial melts left behind moraines lakes and the lazy, meandering 16 00:01:18.359 --> 00:01:23.040 Kankakee River basin with its chaotic half millionacre wet woodland 17 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:28.480 known as the Great Kankakee Marsh. Around the time of Christ, 18 00:01:28.599 --> 00:01:33.640 the Miami and the Pottawatamie Indians settled this area, The 19 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:38.159 Manitau protected their dark forests at night. The spirits of 20 00:01:38.359 --> 00:01:42.920 men hunted, the spirits of animals. The myeline demons dwelt 21 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:47.879 under the earth. The first white men here were French 22 00:01:48.040 --> 00:01:52.519 voyagers in tent on fur harvest. They left behind only 23 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:59.200 place names like Lacrosse, Laporte, and Lapaze. Later, real settlers, 24 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:04.000 American and Sidebusters began the epic transformation of the Midwest 25 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:09.919 wilderness into the agricultural heartland of the continent. The Pottawatomie 26 00:02:09.960 --> 00:02:15.080 were driven out in the eighteen thirties. The Grand Marsh 27 00:02:15.159 --> 00:02:19.319 resisted the plow for hundreds of years, too wet to cultivate, 28 00:02:19.719 --> 00:02:23.479 too thick to navigate, the marsh and the woodlands saying 29 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:29.000 with life. This was the largest inland wetland in North America. 30 00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:34.960 It was a paradise for waterfowl and hunting flourished. Early 31 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:39.960 railroads lay down short sidings. As hoosier guides pulled gentlemen 32 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:44.919 hunters from Chicago into the swamp. A barrel anchored in 33 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.520 the marsh grass allowed them to wait snug for the waterfowl. 34 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:52.400 At the end of the day's shooting, the sportsman could 35 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:57.439 repair to the luxury of the railcar sleeper, and so 36 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:02.759 the slaughter began, shot away the deer and drove away 37 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:08.039 the last of the eastern bison. Trappers cleaned out the beaver, mink, 38 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:13.240 Martin and other fur bearers. Chains accelerated in the eighteen eighties, 39 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:16.960 when flat bottomed steamed dredges bowled in and their iron 40 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:22.280 jaws gnawed away at the Kankakee Wetlands. The Grand Marsh, 41 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:26.479 once so vast, was reduced to some pitiful holdings and 42 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:32.639 the land lay stripped. Now farmers could begin cultivating fields 43 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:36.639 of corn and soybeans. A mint thrived in the rich 44 00:03:36.759 --> 00:03:41.039 monkey soil, and on monkey summer nights, the aroma drowned 45 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:46.400 the land. These families built America, and food prices plummeted 46 00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:50.280 with the bounty grown in the Midwest. Eden Corn and 47 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:56.919 port from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois fed America. Little towns 48 00:03:57.039 --> 00:04:01.159 thrived built around the railroads and grain elevation. It was 49 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:04.719 a good time, although a hard one. Getting your back 50 00:04:04.759 --> 00:04:08.039 into the work was an accepted part of life, and 51 00:04:08.120 --> 00:04:12.159 while the mechanization enabled the farms to grow, farm work 52 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:17.360 was never done. It follows a seasonal rhythm of tillage, 53 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:21.000 planting and harvest, and in winter there were animals to 54 00:04:21.079 --> 00:04:28.879 tend to and equipment to repair. The man Russell Schaeffer 55 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:33.160 was born here in nineteen oh one, sky ane of 56 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:37.120 the region's old farm families. It was a big outfit, 57 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:41.639 and Schaeffer was a respected man in this community. While 58 00:04:41.639 --> 00:04:44.720 he was known as Russ to most, his family and 59 00:04:44.839 --> 00:04:48.879 close friends called him Boots. He was nicknamed as a 60 00:04:48.920 --> 00:04:51.920 toddler when he would climb into his daddy's waiters and 61 00:04:52.040 --> 00:04:56.920 clump about the farmyard. The Shaeffer family had been on 62 00:04:56.959 --> 00:04:59.959 this land for generations and were known, like their journ 63 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:05.480 and forebearers, for self reliance, thrift, decency, and common sense. 64 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:11.480 Russe's grandfather, Erwin Schaeffer, had built the immense Bank barn 65 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:17.199 in eighteen eighty. Russell's father Ivan had taken over after 66 00:05:17.240 --> 00:05:20.480 his grandfather was gone, and now with his passing, the 67 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:26.000 farm belonged to Russ. Family was everything to the Shaffers, 68 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:29.240 and Russ planned that one day his son Rob would 69 00:05:29.319 --> 00:05:33.240 take over for him. He and Jesse were thankful their girls, 70 00:05:33.319 --> 00:05:36.800 Kim and Marylyn, had married local men and their grandkids 71 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:40.839 were close. He kept a brown pony called Dot for 72 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:50.160 them to ride Saturday August twenty seven, nineteen sixty. Saturday 73 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:54.680 dawned clear and cool. It was a golden late August day. 74 00:05:55.800 --> 00:05:59.519 Labor Day would be the following weekend, and Jesse Shaeffer 75 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:02.560 drove the pickup truck to Baths Lake to take her 76 00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:08.279 widowed sister some blueberries and sweet corn. Alice Bock traded 77 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:12.560 with Jesse for garden greens, tomatoes, and peppers. They talked 78 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:16.279 about children and grandchildren, and on her drive back home, 79 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:20.439 Jesse gasped up at Coffin's Corner Market outside Knox and 80 00:06:20.519 --> 00:06:23.920 bought two salt blocks. A boy loaded them into the 81 00:06:23.959 --> 00:06:29.160 pickup truck's bed. Russell Shaeffer spent the morning repairing a 82 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:32.720 power take off unit and then repairing a drawbar and 83 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:36.560 caring for his animals. It was a clear, warm day 84 00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:39.120 and he was looking forward to sitting in the shade 85 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:44.199 with a tall glass of lemonade before supper. Early that evening, 86 00:06:44.439 --> 00:06:47.720 Jesse Shaeffer called her husband into their meal of chicken, 87 00:06:47.959 --> 00:06:52.560 mashed potatoes with gravy and green beans. There was coffee 88 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:57.480 in freshly baked blueberry pie for dessert. Shaeffer finished his 89 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:00.319 pie and ice cream. He swigged the last bit of 90 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:04.079 his coffee, folded his napkin and pushed himself away from 91 00:07:04.120 --> 00:07:07.519 the table. It was dusk and the cool of the 92 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:11.279 day had descended. It was a good time to be alive. 93 00:07:13.319 --> 00:07:15.480 He told Jesse that he was going to take the 94 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:19.000 salt out to the Black Angus cattle herd. He would 95 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:23.079 be back in time to help her wash dishes. Shaeffer 96 00:07:23.160 --> 00:07:26.120 walked out to the truck parked under the trees and 97 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:30.279 held the door as his dog, Tarzan jumped in. He 98 00:07:30.360 --> 00:07:34.600 drove away from the house and he was never seen again. 99 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:42.079 The search. The Star County Sheriff Department logged a call 100 00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:46.279 from a distraught Rob Shaeffer at eleven fifteen that night. 101 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:51.560 Shaeffer reported finding his father's truck abandoned and was unable 102 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:56.240 to locate his father on their large farm. His mother 103 00:07:56.360 --> 00:08:01.120 was frantic and insisted he call dispatched. Erected the deputy 104 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:04.759 to the scene, and then radio the senior deputy, who 105 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:07.360 having just broken up a dust up at a dance 106 00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:11.680 at English Lake, had monitored the radio traffic and assigned 107 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:17.319 himself to assist on his drive out to the Shaeffer farm. 108 00:08:17.639 --> 00:08:21.639 Deputy Sheriff William Rudd mentally cataloged what he recalled of 109 00:08:21.800 --> 00:08:26.160 Russell's Schaeffer. He was a church goer, probably in his 110 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:32.399 late fifties, married with two no three adult children. Shaefer 111 00:08:32.600 --> 00:08:36.159 was of average height five foot ten. He guessed he 112 00:08:36.279 --> 00:08:39.960 was heavy set, not a smoker, probably not much of 113 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:43.480 a drinker, aside from an occasional beer at the American 114 00:08:43.559 --> 00:08:48.559 Legion or the VFW. Most of these farmers were like that. 115 00:08:49.360 --> 00:08:53.960 Did he wear glasses? Rudd thought so. Shaeffer seemed like 116 00:08:54.039 --> 00:08:59.240 any other prosperous local farmer, plane modest, perhaps even gruff, 117 00:09:00.039 --> 00:09:04.679 ruthful and honest, not the impulsive type. You do what 118 00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:07.919 you can, and you bear what you must. A needle 119 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:13.759 in a stack of needles. Schaeffer was renowned, if renowned 120 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:16.679 was the right word for it around here, for having 121 00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:22.039 bought a new nineteen forty seven Indian motorcycle. People said 122 00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:27.120 it was the only foolish thing the man had ever done. 123 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:31.519 Some might dismiss Bill Rudd as a Stark County hill rat, 124 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:35.440 but that would be a mistake. Rudd had a keen, 125 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:39.440 inquiring mind. He was a veteran of the fierce world 126 00:09:39.559 --> 00:09:42.840 of death. He had served in a signal unit of 127 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:47.039 the forty fifth Infantry Division during World War II, all 128 00:09:47.080 --> 00:09:50.320 the way from the landing at Salerno in Italy to 129 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:56.440 Anzio beachhead, and then the invasion in southern France. Finally, 130 00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:59.399 the forty fifth had clawed its way into Germany and 131 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:05.039 liberated Docowl Concentration Camp. Rudd had seen and done things 132 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:08.080 no man should have to see or do. He had 133 00:10:08.120 --> 00:10:13.240 seen every variety of horror and human frailty. As a 134 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:18.679 deputy sheriff, he dealt with more mundane matters petty theft, drunks, 135 00:10:18.919 --> 00:10:24.200 fighting at a crossroad, tavern, normal ruckuses. The deaths he 136 00:10:24.279 --> 00:10:28.360 dealt with now were car crashes and drownings and farm accidents. 137 00:10:29.639 --> 00:10:33.279 Murder in Stark Counting was rare. From time to time, 138 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:37.879 one cheating spouse shot the other, but disappearances like this 139 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:42.639 were exceedingly rare. Rudd was, in fact a shrewd judge 140 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:46.919 of character and a diligent deputy sheriff. It was a 141 00:10:46.919 --> 00:10:51.039 well known fact if unsaid, that Rudd ran the county 142 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:56.240 law department while Sheriff boom Miller cruised toward retirement. Rudd 143 00:10:56.279 --> 00:10:59.320 was accustomed to being underestimated, and he used that to 144 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:05.320 his advance as deputy sheriff. Now at midnight, he was 145 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:09.720 speeding to the Schafer form on County Road eight hundred West. 146 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:13.679 No one called it eight hundred west to the locals, 147 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:18.360 it was Shaefer Road. Rudd pulled into the long drive 148 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:22.440 that bisected a field of wax beans. A mounted light 149 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:28.919 fixture provided illumination. On his left was the Shaefer home, 150 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:34.080 a handsome prairie dwelling. Somewhere inside a dog was barking. 151 00:11:34.639 --> 00:11:37.919 On his right was an old bank barn, probably built 152 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:41.600 in the last century. Next To it was a modern 153 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:45.120 pole structure with an attached machine shed with a large 154 00:11:45.159 --> 00:11:50.639 open lot sheltering an alice chambers tractor. Behind that a 155 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:53.480 stand of walnut trees, and in front of that a 156 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:59.240 disused corn crib and freshly whitewashed henhouse. Another open lot 157 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:02.519 held a station wagon, and behind that grew a tangle 158 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:06.600 of trees. He was on a dark farm track, passing 159 00:12:06.679 --> 00:12:10.279 a cattle enclosure, and Rudd could just see the angus 160 00:12:10.360 --> 00:12:13.879 cattle bunched up defensively. Near the barn and the head 161 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:19.879 were towering fields of corn. He concentrated on the rutted track. 162 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:23.159 He had never been on this property before, though he 163 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:25.720 had flown over it and had a fairly good idea 164 00:12:25.879 --> 00:12:30.440 of the layout. Dry weeds swished and crackled under the 165 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:34.399 vehicle's weight. In the distance, Rudd could make out a 166 00:12:34.440 --> 00:12:39.360 sputtering red road flare, and he headed toward it. At 167 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:41.320 the end of the path, he pulled up and found 168 00:12:41.320 --> 00:12:46.799 Deputy Richard Young. He opened his cruiser door. Bill Young said, 169 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:51.360 rich what have you got? He could see Young's cruiser 170 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:54.840 parked a short distance away, and near it a pickup truck. 171 00:12:55.960 --> 00:13:00.159 We got Russell's Schaefer, Young answered flatly. Wife said, as 172 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:02.879 he left the house at dust check his cattle and 173 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:06.679 didn't return, she called the sun. Who found this Young 174 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:11.240 motion toward the truck. Okay, Rudd answered, let's start with that. 175 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:15.399 They walked over to the truck. Is Rod Shaeffer here, 176 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:19.720 Young motion toward the dark west. He's down there in 177 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:24.360 the creek looking for his dad. Moonlight bathed the landscape 178 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:29.519 and an unnatural cold brilliance. It was very quiet, oddly still, 179 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:36.320 thought Rudd. August's crushing insect drone was strangely silent. They 180 00:13:36.360 --> 00:13:39.879 approached Shaeffer's forward truck, parked up hill from the creek. 181 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:44.080 The driver door was open and Rudd leaned in with 182 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:47.639 his flashlight, and the key was in the ignition the 183 00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:51.320 state registration strapped to the sun visor. He could make 184 00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:54.519 out a Remington eight seventy in the small space behind 185 00:13:54.519 --> 00:13:58.519 the bench seat. On the floorboard. Next to the shotgun 186 00:13:58.679 --> 00:14:03.639 was an unopened of buckshot. Rudd duck back out of 187 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:06.879 the truck. In the weeds, just below the truck's rocker 188 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:11.639 panel lay a dented flashlight in the silvery moonlight. Its 189 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:16.120 plastic lens cover shone like an open eye. There was 190 00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:21.919 a muted air of menace about the whole scene. Rudd, Young, 191 00:14:22.120 --> 00:14:25.360 and the shaffer boy moved out and apart and began 192 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:29.919 their search. Deputies. Rudd and Young swung their county issued 193 00:14:30.039 --> 00:14:34.120 nine volt flashlights slowly from side to side. They called 194 00:14:34.120 --> 00:14:40.159 out for shaffer Rob Shaefer carried a battered Coleman lantern. Dad, 195 00:14:40.519 --> 00:14:45.360 he implored Dad. The lantern soon dimmed and then died. 196 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:49.080 In his haste, Rob had forgotten to fuel it. He 197 00:14:49.240 --> 00:14:53.559 was frustrated. Somewhere in the dark to the northwest, an 198 00:14:53.639 --> 00:14:57.639 owl called the Quiet Wind brought a whiff of something 199 00:14:57.799 --> 00:15:02.480 tangy and fowl. The search party of three patrolled north 200 00:15:02.679 --> 00:15:05.320 east and then south until they ran up against the 201 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:10.279 weed choked creek bank. They found nothing. The dark land 202 00:15:10.360 --> 00:15:15.399 was too vast and the searchers too few. Rudd turned 203 00:15:15.399 --> 00:15:19.639 to Young, any helpful thoughts here? Rich Young shook his head. 204 00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:23.639 In the night, it was too dark to find anything. Moreover, 205 00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:27.799 they were trampling the scene. Rudd, as a senior deputy, 206 00:15:27.879 --> 00:15:30.919 decided to wait for dawn and a larger search party. 207 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:35.960 They were accomplishing nothing here. There was a heaviness about 208 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:40.440 the air. It was cold now. Young zipped his jacket tighter. 209 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:45.399 Rudd felt an uneasy tingle of being watched. You could 210 00:15:45.399 --> 00:15:48.480 see everything in the moonlight, and yet you could see nothing, 211 00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:51.360 And he turned to Young. You ready to get out 212 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:55.720 of here? Rudd asked Young to stay on the scene. 213 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:59.919 Young was accustomed to that. It was standing operating per Seed. 214 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:04.240 He lit a cigarette as he watched Rudd's the cruiser 215 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:09.720 pull away. The next morning, Sheriff Miller, Deputy Rudd, and 216 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:14.559 the county Search and rescue volunteers returned shortly after first 217 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:19.120 light to begin a systematic canvas of the area. For 218 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:23.600 a Sunday morning. It was a respectable turnout. Seventeen men 219 00:16:23.720 --> 00:16:27.679 tumbled out of their four vehicles, some laughing, some grim, 220 00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:31.559 some stubbing out the last cigarettes Before beginning their search. 221 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:36.360 Miller handed Young breakfast in a bag with a plastic 222 00:16:36.360 --> 00:16:39.759 cup of coffee, and Rudd handed Young a roll of 223 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:43.639 toilet paper. Young, grin, Now you're too late with that, 224 00:16:44.039 --> 00:16:49.200 he said to himself. Rudd decided that Schaeffer had had 225 00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:53.559 a stroke or a heart attack. Confused and disoriented, he 226 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:58.360 had staggered off. He would be found in an adjacent 227 00:16:58.519 --> 00:17:02.279 field or the nearby creek, and he might still be alive. 228 00:17:04.039 --> 00:17:07.720 Miller glumly agreed with his deputy, though neither wanted to 229 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:13.119 say so to a heart racked to Jesse Schaeffer. Miller 230 00:17:13.160 --> 00:17:16.599 addressed the search and rescue volunteers and told them the 231 00:17:16.680 --> 00:17:20.039 purpose of the search, and then Rudd split them up 232 00:17:20.119 --> 00:17:25.880 into teams and assigned search quadrants. They found out. It 233 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:29.480 was a long morning wading through the cornfields and searching 234 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:32.599 by the creek, and by noon the sun was hot. 235 00:17:33.160 --> 00:17:38.279 Search and rescue had turned up nothing. After a fast lunch, 236 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:41.599 the search area was extended to the opposite side of 237 00:17:41.640 --> 00:17:46.400 the creek. An hour into the expanded search, Blaine Smith 238 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:50.799 yelled uphill from the creek. He'd found a pair of 239 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:55.559 broken steel framed glasses. Rob Shaeffer confirmed they belonged to 240 00:17:55.599 --> 00:18:00.640 his father, but nothing else was found. It was puzzling, frustrating. 241 00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:05.599 Rudd thought, sick, people, injured, people don't go uphill. It 242 00:18:05.720 --> 00:18:09.279 just doesn't happen, and Rudd now doubted this was a 243 00:18:09.319 --> 00:18:16.240 medical emergency. The search continued, and, buoyed by finding the glasses, 244 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:22.039 optimism flared that Schaeffer would be found, but that didn't happen. 245 00:18:22.920 --> 00:18:25.839 All the rest of that day, nothing more was found. 246 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:32.160 Search and rescues scoured for another day, still nothing. Rudd 247 00:18:32.200 --> 00:18:34.880 shrugged it off and arranged for Boy Scout Troop one 248 00:18:35.039 --> 00:18:38.279 eighty six to join the search. It was as if 249 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:42.920 Shaeffer had vanished into a thin mist, and by now 250 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:47.759 the Shaffer case was local and state news. Volunteers made 251 00:18:47.799 --> 00:18:52.279 sporadic searches. A week went by, and then another, and 252 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:56.599 then a month passed, and the search was suspended. Hope 253 00:18:56.640 --> 00:19:02.680 faded and finally died. Thea became a curiosity, and then 254 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:07.839 it was forgotten. It was now the second week of October. 255 00:19:08.200 --> 00:19:10.839 It's one hell of a thing, Bill, I've never had 256 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:14.160 a stone cold. Who'd done it? Boom Miller sat across 257 00:19:14.200 --> 00:19:18.480 the office desk from Rudd. Miller had been Stark County 258 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:21.519 sheriff for nineteen years. Though he had been a county 259 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:25.000 lawman for many more, he had never had a missing 260 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:28.839 person case like this before. From time to time, teen 261 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:32.400 runaways might take off for a romp in Chicago. It 262 00:19:32.519 --> 00:19:36.720 was rare, but they always returned to shocked and disapproving parents. 263 00:19:38.039 --> 00:19:41.400 Miller told Rudd he could recall only one similar case 264 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:45.759 in Laporte County during the war. A timber cruiser had 265 00:19:45.799 --> 00:19:49.000 been working north and west of Five Lakes and had 266 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:53.400 utterly vanished. Miller didn't know if that case had ever 267 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:58.079 been cleared. No, he told Rudd, they never found the guy. 268 00:19:58.279 --> 00:20:00.880 There's big woods up there, well, there used to be. 269 00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:04.559 He and his brother ran a sawmill house was the name, 270 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:09.839 the lumberyards, still in the family. They dismissed the notion 271 00:20:10.119 --> 00:20:16.000 that Shaeffer had been kidnapped. The circumstances didn't fit. Moreover, 272 00:20:16.200 --> 00:20:20.119 there had been no ransom contact. The Shaeffer was not 273 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:25.079 the type to just take off. Miller quietly snorted, No, 274 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:27.880 he wouldn't do that. It's not like we made a 275 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:31.119 hash of this. We've just got no way forward. Bill. 276 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:36.119 With the investigation at a standstill, it was time to 277 00:20:36.200 --> 00:20:41.559 inform the family that the official investigation had ended. Rudd 278 00:20:41.640 --> 00:20:45.359 volunteered to do that. He met Rob Shaeffer for breakfast 279 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:51.319 at Sissy's cavet in downtown Knox. Rob Shaeffer took the news. Well, 280 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:55.599 it was what he expected. There's just a few things, 281 00:20:55.720 --> 00:20:59.000 Rob Brudd said, Did your dad always carry a gun 282 00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:04.480 in his truck? Now that's unusual for him. Rob siptis coffee. 283 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:07.200 But things have been happening that kind of spooked him. 284 00:21:07.799 --> 00:21:11.559 Rudd raised a quizzical eyebrow. Well, it was little things. 285 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:14.839 Someone broke into the barn a couple of times. Dad 286 00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:18.240 didn't like that. At first we thought it was just kids. 287 00:21:18.599 --> 00:21:21.039 He put up a locking barn, a yell lock on it. 288 00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:25.319 That gut broke, tools came up missing, and stuff moved. 289 00:21:25.880 --> 00:21:29.200 The cattle were acting weird and other stuff. It wasn't 290 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:32.359 just us. Talked to Bud Kridler. He had some things 291 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:37.559 going on as well. Anyway, Dad began taking precautions. What 292 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:43.920 about the dog, Rudd said, Tarzan, that dog accompanied Dad everywhere. 293 00:21:44.279 --> 00:21:47.640 That's what really scared my mother. She knew Dad had 294 00:21:47.640 --> 00:21:50.319 taken him along so when he ran up on the porch, 295 00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:54.039 she knew something was wrong. That dog never begged to 296 00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:57.839 be let in, never Betty the house dog. She was 297 00:21:57.920 --> 00:22:02.960 barking like crazy Tarzan. Why'd you call him that? Rudd asked. 298 00:22:04.599 --> 00:22:07.799 Shaeffer sighed, he had a funny bark when he was 299 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:12.640 a pup. My sister Kim called him that. Rudd and 300 00:22:12.759 --> 00:22:16.480 Shaeffer talked for a while, and soon Bill Rudd was 301 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:19.480 called to break up a dispute over a property line, 302 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:23.000 and Rob Shaeffer sat alone in the diner staring out 303 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:30.440 the window oblivion. How does a man disappear into oblivion? 304 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:34.440 How can he leave his supper table, drive a short 305 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:37.720 distance in sight of the home he just left and 306 00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:43.720 simply disappear? Shaeffer saw or heard something? It was dusk 307 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:47.079 and the August light was failing. What did he see? 308 00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:51.640 What did he hear? The man drives half a mile 309 00:22:51.720 --> 00:22:54.839 down to beat up farm track. He knows his path 310 00:22:54.880 --> 00:22:57.319 and the land surrounding it as well as he knows 311 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:00.920 every pore in his wife's high cheek bone and her clean, 312 00:23:01.079 --> 00:23:05.480 sweet lips. This stoic has lived on this land longer 313 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:08.680 than he has been married to his wife. In this 314 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:12.720 land of grace? How is it that Russell Schaeffer faced 315 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:17.920 only retribution? How is it that he stepped into oblivion? 316 00:23:19.559 --> 00:23:24.960 After math? The Russell Shaeffer case never cleared. Nothing more 317 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:29.079 was found. For a few years, people remarked on it, 318 00:23:29.319 --> 00:23:32.200 and then, as is the way of all things, it 319 00:23:32.279 --> 00:23:36.440 was forgotten. It became a slim file in a three 320 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:40.200 drawer cabinet. Once or twice someone would pull the file 321 00:23:40.279 --> 00:23:43.359 out and read through it. With nothing to add, it 322 00:23:43.400 --> 00:23:48.119 was put back boom. Miller hung on and remained county 323 00:23:48.200 --> 00:23:53.559 sheriff until nineteen seventy two. Bill Rudd got tired of waiting, 324 00:23:53.799 --> 00:23:56.200 got tired of police work, and got tired of a 325 00:23:56.240 --> 00:24:01.640 community where everyone knew everyone else's business. He began night 326 00:24:01.720 --> 00:24:04.799 courses at the local college and got his law degree, 327 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:09.119 specializing in criminal law. He was hired by a legal 328 00:24:09.240 --> 00:24:12.640 firm in South ben There's always good work for a 329 00:24:12.680 --> 00:24:17.279 good criminal attorney in South ben. Later he was recruited 330 00:24:17.319 --> 00:24:21.200 by a larger firm in Indianapolis and practiced there until 331 00:24:21.240 --> 00:24:25.839 he retired. In nineteen ninety eight. He and his wife, 332 00:24:25.880 --> 00:24:30.119 Doris moved to Panama City, Florida. I interviewed him there 333 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:33.240 a few years before he passed away in two thousand 334 00:24:33.319 --> 00:24:39.079 and sixteen, Rudd remembered the Schaeffer case. It was a 335 00:24:39.079 --> 00:24:43.200 strange one. We never uncovered anything on that case, he said. 336 00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:46.880 We never cleared it. We never came close to clearing it. 337 00:24:47.640 --> 00:24:50.519 I always hoped that someday a body would be found, 338 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:54.400 least something, and if that didn't solve the mystery, at 339 00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:57.599 least it would provide some solace and some comfort to 340 00:24:57.640 --> 00:25:01.559 that family people around there. I just don't disappear like that, 341 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:06.079 you know. The Shaeffer place fell apart after Russell disappeared. 342 00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:09.480 The son couldn't run it and they eventually sold out 343 00:25:09.559 --> 00:25:13.400 to con Agra. The fine house and all the outbuildings 344 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:17.039 are gone. It's like the way of life disappeared with Shaeffer, 345 00:25:17.640 --> 00:25:23.359 which run as a factory farm. Now, Rudd paused, you know, 346 00:25:23.480 --> 00:25:27.680 we've seen things, Doris and I. We've been places. Our 347 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:31.720 son met and married a Peruvian girl he met at Purdue. 348 00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:34.599 His father in law convinced Paul to move down there 349 00:25:34.599 --> 00:25:38.480 and do an inventory control on his fishing business in Lima. 350 00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:43.279 It's quite a wealthy family. We visit Paul, Marina and 351 00:25:43.319 --> 00:25:47.680 our grandchildren down there. It's a beautiful country, wonderful food, 352 00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:53.039 Lima Kalo and Machu Picchu. I've talked to the Peruvians. 353 00:25:53.079 --> 00:25:57.000 We've met. Some of them are Amazon people. I told 354 00:25:57.039 --> 00:25:59.640 him about the Shaefer case and they told me they 355 00:25:59.640 --> 00:26:03.440 have similar disappearances down there in the jungle. They blame 356 00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:07.640 it on sorcerers or even monsters. Some of them say, 357 00:26:08.039 --> 00:26:13.799 maybe the land took your man. Bill Rudd chuckled. Most 358 00:26:13.799 --> 00:26:15.759 of them have a lot of Indian bloods, you know. 359 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:20.200 They believe in some powerful jujuw in Peru, there's still 360 00:26:20.200 --> 00:26:23.599 a lot of belief in magic and the supernatural. Rudd 361 00:26:23.640 --> 00:26:27.720 paused again, I don't know. Maybe it's as good an 362 00:26:27.799 --> 00:26:33.880 answer as any. This story was written for Blanche, Bernice 363 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:39.480 and Alice. The author is Gerald Gustuffson. Written in August 364 00:26:39.720 --> 00:26:42.519 twenty twenty one.