Payette County ID Archives News.....Bodies Found In Shallow Grave October 17, 1940
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/id/idfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Patty Theurer seymour784@yahoo.com February 23, 2006, 1:52 am

Independent Enterprise October 17, 1940
Independent Enterprise
Payette, Idaho
Thursday, October 17, 1940

Bodies Found In Shallow Grave

Not Yet Identified But Inquiries Coming From Police Depts.

The identity of the two bodies found Friday in Shallow graves on the Black 
Canyon project southeast of Payette was still a mystery today but inquiries 
were coming in from police departments as far away as Dallas, Texas, and Salem, 
Oregon, following a broadcast of descriptions from Sheriff Muir’s office.  The 
remains are still in custody on the sheriff’s office and after further 
investigation will be sent to the F. B. I. headquarters for further study.

The first body found was that of a woman at about noon Friday when a machine 
which was digging a waste ditch in Langley gulch plowed into the shallow grave 
about a foot and a half below the surface.  The body has been wrapped in a home 
made piece of quilt and the skull had been crushed.  The woman was five feet, 
three inches tall and had auburn hair.  Found with this body was a celluloid 
comb in a leather case.  The condition of the teeth was good but there were no 
wisdom teeth and no indications they had been pulled.  Except for the fact that 
some persons never have wisdom teeth, this tended to indicate the woman was 
under 20 years of age.

At 11 p.m. the same evening the night crew uncovered the body of a large man 
about 70 feet north of the first grave.  The body was about two feet under the 
ground surface and was wrapped in a mattress quilt and blanket.  Evidence was 
that the man had sandy brown hair, eyes probably blue and complexion light.  
The man was 5 feet, 11 inches tall, teeth in good shape, wisdom teeth well 
formed and no dental work.  The man also had a crushed skull similar to that of 
the woman.  Probably because this body had been buried in dryer sand, it was in 
a state of better preservation that the woman’s body.

Deputy sheriff Harold Perry was of the opinion the bodies had been in the 
shallow graves at least two years and perhaps even four or five.  So far no 
clues indicated the murdered couple were local persons.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/id/payette/newspapers/bodiesfo273gnw.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/idfiles/

File size: 2.7 Kb