Over the course of hours of interviews with The Oregonian/OregonLive, she unburdened herself of every ugly detail. The dialogue and scene-setting details how Ackroyd tapped his leg with his knife, for instance came from interviews with Marlene. What was the justification to go ahead and use them in a family newspaper?. John Arthur Ackroyd was an American murderer, rapist and most likely a serial killer. How to pronounce John Arthur Ackroyd | HowToPronounce.com First thing I thought of was: How can you be hurt in this kind of beauty?" Ackroyd was charged with Rachanda's murder in 2013, and pleaded no contest. Interviews with Rachanda Pickles brother, Byron, and one of her childhood friends. Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian/OregonLive John Arthur Ackroyd was an American murderer and suspected serial killer. Find books like John Arthur Ackroyd, Serial Killer: A collection of True Crime from the world's largest community of readers. I also wanted to touch on the idea that this story served as a form of justice for Marlene. My footnotes for this passage: Oregonian interview with Byron Pickle: They had paddles. They were thin slats of wood. He ripped off her jeans with such force, the pants split from the waist to the ankle along the inseam. In prison that day with Ackroyd, the detective took one last shot. Do investigators believe Ackroyd was responsible for these unsolved deaths? I wanted the reader to hear Ackroyds reaction when confronted with the detectives suspicions. That late summer day, Ackroyd headed straight for Weston. Companies played included two seasons at the old Derby Playhouse, two seasons at the Lyceum Theatre, Crewe, The Swan Theatre, Worcester and notably three years with the EMMA Theatre Company based in Loughborough. Ed Gein - Cult of Weird Even before hunters had stumbled upon the teens remains, Ackroyd told a friend: They are assuming its me.. It was my way of acknowledging to the reader that this has been an epic tale that wont have a Hollywood ending. No deception detected, the polygraph examiner determined. Beck had bragged to family members about killing Kaye. They simply felt they had enough. And it had not been told, said Bottomly, now the Oregonians editor. I was able to reconstruct this scene based on a detailed interview with Marvin Laront To promote and elevate the standards of journalism, An old logging road just off Highway 20 on the Oregon coast near where Melissa Sanders and Sheila Swanson's bodies were discovered in 1992 by local hunters. Its damning circumstantial evidence linking Ackroyd to the deaths of these two women, Melissa and Sheila. Janes heart raced as she crouched over her handlebars and sped toward the nearby country store, listening for the sound of the truck behind her. I was riding in another car with a couple of investigators. It is a very convoluted story with a blizzard of facts, dates, people, incidents, etc. The idea of two young women standing in the dark in a woodsy campground steps from the Pacific Ocean heightened their vulnerability. Occasionally, Ackroyd would reach for one of the Fireball candies he carried in his pocket. On one of our reporting trips along Highway 20, I spent the ride focused on the road, what he would have seen from his truck. The project was a true collaboration. Again, the investigator playing Ackroyd tried to grab the woman, only this time she wrestled the gun from his grip and pretended to fire a single fatal shot to his heart. These are key characters in this story. I work for Channy, he told Ackroyd. A used rivet was discovered near her body. Laront didnt think of it again until that fall when he heard the news on the radio. By then, The Oregonian/OregonLive also was investigating Ackroyd. How do we create a person's profile? Chasing ghosts that will forever haunt - Nieman Foundation . I had to gut him out.. Ackroyd was already serving a life sentence for the 1978 murder of Kaye Turner, a Eugene woman he killed after finding her running alone on an isolated road in central Oregon. I was working with a massive amount of information, a long span of years and a huge slice of Oregon geography. For a long time, the lead was a scene from his cell immediately after his death. Snow worked the phones, digging up numbers for highway workers, many of them long retired. Beth Nakamura/ The Oregonian/OregonLive. I wanted him to know that the reporting was continuing and that a story would likely appear sometime in the coming months. Most of what I came up with centered on Ackroyd. GHOSTS OF HIGHWAY 20 - oregonlive The friends shared a meal the night before, then sang carols. A report from the trial in the Bend (OR) Bulletin. There was the rivet found near Sheila and a beaded seat cushion used at the time in cars and trucks. You aim to anticipate the next question theyll have. But as we approached publication, Therese (Bottomly) said I needed to connect with Noel. Armed with an ax or hatchet, he attacked the women, both students at Yale University. But I had to keep it tight so I tried to convey the crime and its horror as succinctly as possible. My footnotes for this passage: Oregonian interview with Byron Pickle: They had paddles. The three of us had a favorite restaurant on the road. Harmon thought back to the handful of cases from the 1970s that remained unsolved: the bodies or clothes of women and one young man found in the isolated wilderness of Linn County, not far from Highway 20, the route Ackroyd spent years traveling for the state. Harmon tried to nudge Ackroyd. She saw it as a way of letting readers know how much work went into this series. He stuffed his cell with food from the prison commissary dozens of packages of processed meats and cheese, candy bars and beans. The Turners lived in Eugene, where Kaye, 35, had worked at Planned Parenthood and then as a manager at a local public health agency. Rachanda's stepfather, John Arthur Ackroyd, is the last person known to have seen her. We worried about this constantly. This is a such a powerful, almost poetic detail. You should know. A cop once mentioned to me that Ackroyd always had a bunch of these candies in his pocket and would pop them into his mouth during interrogations. He had already raped a young mother by the time he happened upon Kaye the day before Christmas in 1978. Ghosts of Highway 20: How we reported the series - oregonlive He talked his boss into letting him drive 750 miles to California to find out. He was raised in Sweet Home, a modest logging town along Highway 20. Besides the journalism awards, what was the reaction? How were you able to describe his breathing? We bounced ideas off each other and checked facts. I did not have any models in mind. Were other approaches considered? It was scary. Four years after they started, Benson and Snow had strung together enough evidence to take the double murder to a grand jury. Mother Rachanda Pickle [1G5FJL] Ghosts of Highway 20: John Arthur Ackroyd's alleged reign of - reddit John Arthur Ackroyd (died December 30, 2016 at age 67) was an American murderer and a serial killer. He drew an orange grid, each column dedicated to a victim assaulted or killed, likely by Ackroyd. The judge didnt remember the circumstances and the lawyers for each side pointed fingers at one another. If you had to characterize the way the system worked in the Rachanda Pickle case, what words would you use? His parents worked as a maintenance man . The men ate and left to poach deer, not returning until the next day, she said. Something bad happened to her. Find Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok profiles, images and more on IDCrawl - free people search website. He took out an envelope of old photos of Ackroyd, his pickups and Santiam Junction all from the original police file. The police detective who originally investigated the rape was long dead, so we couldnt ask him. So here: Whos responsible for this carnage? Now, a woman had gone missing, triggering a massive search that made headlines clear to Portland: Husband fears kidnap: Turner searchers losing hope, one read in The Oregonian four days later. Ackroyd told police that Marlene had seduced him in the front seat of his dirty truck. They looked for similarities how none of the victims had been buried, for example. Dave, Beth and I spent a lot of time deep in the woods where these women were assaulted, killed and abandoned. The restive pair quickly grew bored and wanted their boyfriends to pick them up. Investigators suspected the rivet a quick fix used in field repairs had fallen out of the pocket of her attacker. The prosecution is going to progress in this.. When he returned, she asked for his phone number to help identify him but also to make him think she liked him. Some suspect he was but no evidence links him to these cases. A detective reached out to request an interview. Linda Monville left Oregon twenty-six years ago and now lives in San Bernardino, California, where she remarried and built a new life after her daughter, Rachanda Pickle, disappeared from the Department of Transportation compound where they lived together with Linda's third husband, John Ackroyd. Their stories have another connection: One man is linked to all five crimes. st thomas the apostle catholic church mass schedule; The time had stopped. List of serial killers in the United States, "Ghosts of Highway 20: Marlene Gabrielsen", "Inmate convicted in notorious Christmas jogger murder found dead in cell", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Arthur_Ackroyd&oldid=1131847328, This page was last edited on 6 January 2023, at 01:20. The details throughout are extraordinarily vivid. The watch played a key role in helping to pin down when she was killed. john arthur ackroyd childhood. Most nights, the pair could be found at Sharis in Lebanon, where teens and adults gathered to talk on CB radios and drink coffee. Some of the most important sources never appear in the print component of this project. A father himself now, Byron gets a catch in his voice when he talks about it. Our ride is here, Karen told her friend. . So while I did the interviews, reporting and wrote the stories, their work helped elevate the project into something pretty special. Time had fogged her memory, but on one point she was clear: The men ordered her to lie if police asked where they were that morning. How did you decide which characters to include in the epilogue? Unexplained Oregon: The Highway 20 Serial Killer on Apple Podcasts Read "John Arthur Ackroyd, Serial Killer" by Ruth Canton available from Rakuten Kobo. She lives in Hillsboro with her husband. Peter Ackroyd is an award-winning historian, biographer, novelist, poet and broadcaster. The Turner case file filed a metal file cabinet and was a reporters dream as far as narrative details. Something, likely a struggle, had knocked out the stem, stopping the watch. From the outside, Ackroyd seemed to lead an ordinary life: Raised in small-town Oregon, he hunted and fished, held a steady job and married a woman with a couple of young kids. If you had to characterize the way the system worked in the Rachanda Pickle case, what words would you use? The conference room where we met to discuss this story features a wall-sized whiteboard. FamousFix profile for John Arthur Ackroyd including biography information, wikipedia facts, photos, galleries, news, youtube videos, quotes . Published March 23, 2020. On Christmas Eve morning, Ackroyd showed up at the house. The reporting team pored over thousands of police reports and court records, interviewed dozens of witnesses, survivors and investigators and traveled out of state to confront a critical source who hadnt responded to their requests for information. Several parts conclude with a cliffhanger, effectively designed to keep the reader reading. A cinnamon candy? They grew up in small towns about 90 minutes inland on Highway 20 and shared a history infused with drugs and alcohol. Source? Laront and a coworker sat on seats salvaged from old vans, talking about the night ahead. [1] He married Linda Pickle in the mid-1980s. On a personal level, after the project ran, the Northwest Film Center hosted a free screening of the documentary. Prosecutors said she also had been raped. The answer was no. Instead, they focused on Kayes husband and possible ties between Kayes disappearance and extramarital relationships she had with two men at the time. Trigger warning: This story includes details of a rape. Rachandas brother, Byron, still sees her so clearly, her sweet features framed by brown hair. Kaye Turner was killed in 1978, followed by Ackroyds stepdaughter, Rachanda, in 1990. One time, she made a scene when it was time to go. Most of your sentences are short and simple; subject-verb-object, short sentences, short paragraphs. He hadnt told his wife the full story of Rachandas life and how he remained tormented that he hadnt hugged his kid sister the last time he saw her. Acclaimed biographer Peter Ackroyd vibrantly resurrects the legendary epic of Camelot in this modern adaptation The names of Arthur, Merlin, Lancelot, Guinevere, Galahad, the sword of Excalibur, and the court of Camelot are as recognizable as any from the world of myth. The responsibility of speaking for Rachanda rested with her brother, Byron Pickle, then 37. How and why did you settle on that approach? Im in real trouble, he confided. She hadnt been out long when a state highway worker named Thomas Hanna spotted her, running south, alone. The story, photos and documentary took home five Northwest Regional Emmys, the Bruce Baer Award for Oregons best investigative reporting, and was a finalist for the Scripps Howard multimedia journalism award. john arthur ackroyd childhood Biography. How did you locate her? These particular details are important as circumstantial evidence. Beck and his wife lived in a trailer not far from Camp Sherman, where Kaye had disappeared. They were turned over to her husband and cremated. We will go through the lives and deaths of Kaye Turner, Rachanda Pickle, Melissa . He said he gave her a pair of pants because she had torn hers while taking them off. He said very little that day but thanked us for making the trip. I asked Marlene to describe what she saw and smelled when Ackroyd yanked her from the truck. John Arthur Ackroyd, Serial Killer on Apple Books The home showed no signs of foul play. Both men received life sentences. Melissa and Sheila joined a list of girls last heard from or seen late at night in this coastal community. One of the best investigative reporters in the state had written episodically about it, but nobody had put it all together. Why did Pam Ramirez lie when first interviewed by the cops? My editor tells me I usually write with economy and directness, so it was also more of my natural style to hone and hone some more. I knew from his coworkers that his truck likely didnt have AC. Kaye had been an avid runner with deep ties to Eugene, where she worked as a manager at a local public health agency. There were days when we were depleted after doing interviews or looking at these files and crime scene photos. They found her lower jawbone and yellow shorts. I wasnt sure what to call it. He wouldnt admit to killing the girl, but he wouldnt deny it either. John Arthur Ackroyd was an American murderer and may have been a serial killer. Dave listened to a lot of Bruce Springsteen. Karen Lee, 15, and Rodney Grissom, 14, were friends. He was willing to talk. She admitted it could have been her. The trackers noticed two sets of footprints preserved in the frozen ground. While recordings from his earlier police interrogations on the Kaye Turner and Rachanda Pickle cases filled hours of tape, Ackroyd was silent on Melissa and Sheila. carteret county, nc arrests We felt and processed their profound grief. Take hot dogs out of the freezer. Detectives wondered if he took a chance to kill again before his arrest. A lawyer from central Oregon heard the cases had been reopened and called with a suggestion: Take a look at an old highway worker named John Ackroyd. Gillmore knew Ackroyd had abducted a runner near Highway 20. She couldnt see the house number from the truck. The cops cheered. I knew from his coworkers that his truck likely didnt have AC. I think the local DA wanted to take another look at this cluster of unsolved cases involving young women, and Melissa and Sheila were among them. This scene has a cinematic quality cops gathering on an empty road days before Christmas reenacting an abduction using a woman deputy and then deciding to give the story their own happy ending. At the beginning of my reporting, I wrote a letter to Noel Turner, the husband of Kaye Turner who had disappeared on the Christmastime run. We coped with it in our own ways, but we relied on each other. He was beset with chronic health problems and hadnt left his cell much. Our overarching purpose was to hold their rapist/killer accountable in public for the first time. He said her body was lying in the same wooded area where scraps of her clothing and bits of bone were found. Margaret (Haberman) agreed and suggested that we pare them down to a manageable number for publication. I was the last one to see her alive.. The others: Did you force her to have sex at knifepoint? Its damning circumstantial evidence linking Ackroyd to the deaths of these two women, Melissa and Sheila. Their connections to Ackroyd were never made public. When he returned to the house at approximately 12:45 p.m., Rachanda had vanished. You could win the lottery four or five times before something like that would happen, Salsbery said. Actually, the beginning and the ending were the most rewritten parts of the series, as we knew they would be. Shes finally believed and theres satisfaction that comes with that. She went on to work at a local bank. On one of our many reporting trips along Highway 20, the three of us tracked down the approximate location of the attack based on Marlenes account and police reports. The watch played a key role in helping to pin down when she was killed. She wore the buckskin boots her husband bought her even though the couple couldnt afford them. His wife, Pam, said the two men were around the trailer for most of the morning, which helped give Ackroyd an alibi. Once, he invited neighbors over to watch horror movies, becoming so animated over scenes of women being chopped up that hed hit rewind again and again. His parents worked as a maintenance man and as an office worker at the police department. Why? She encountered Ackroyd and his hunting partner on a deserted road. But as time went on and fresh eyes viewed the case files, investigators finally pursued justice for numerous victims. When I outlined each days story, I focused on cliffhangers, kickers and which scenes could propel the narrative. The nut graf is: One woman was raped, four others disappeared. Both reports are attached to this post. Thats when Ackroyd picked up a woman from the side of the road, dragged her into the woods and raped her. John Arthur Ackroyd, Serial Killer - OverDrive Actually, the beginning and the ending were the most rewritten parts of the series, as we knew they would be. Some of these details were included in police reports. He told Linda to wait until the next day to call police. How did it affect you and your colleagues? After the rape, Ackroyd slapped the knife against his grimy jeans held up by orange suspenders. Bill Hanlon, the district attorney in Jefferson County, wasnt surprised when the call came from a prosecutor in Linn County, where Ackroyd lived. During the course of my reporting, I heard several references to this infamous Cline Falls attack, which took place around the time of Marlenes rape and Kayes murder. She was looking for a ride and wandered out of the campground onto Highway 20, the route that leads through the heart of Sisters, back then little more than a dusty outpost amid pine forests in central Oregon. Marlene had hitchhiked plenty and didnt think twice as she squeezed into the front seat between the men. Its dramatic and I wanted to draw it out for the reader. Its 41 years too late, but finally she is believed. Later, they mentioned the bizarre encounter to a foreman, but the anecdote never made it past shop gossip. John Arthur Ackroyd, Serial Killer | Ruth Canton Book | Buy Now | at It lets the reader know that this could be an important turning point in the story. In 1992, he was sentenced to five life terms in prison for the abduction and murder of Kaye Turner. Court and police files contained several references to Jane. For instance, Ackroyd told police he drove to his mothers house after raping Marlene. Now the district attorney could use his sisters death to keep Ackroyd from hurting anyone else. Kayes killing serves as the cliffhanger at the end of Day 1. She invited us in and we waited for Noel to return from running an errand. A stranger had driven his pickup over two young women as they slept at Cline Falls State Park, less than an hour southeast of Camp Sherman. Their stories have another connection: John Arthur Ackroyd.A highway mechanic who targeted women on the long stretch of highway that he know so well from endless trips.Calm and collected on I understood how painful it could be to have us revisit this traumatic time in his life so I respected his decision. Main Menu During his school years, he was a loner who was bullied. They continued to live together, though, raising Lindas two kids, Rachanda and her older brother, Byron. At . Within weeks, Melissa and Sheila were dead. John was the youngest son of Henry II . Can you describe the collaboration between you, Dave Killen and Beth Nakamura? Kids. Was that a conscious decision? Rachandas mother, Linda, didnt make the trip and the girls father wasnt around. John Arthur Ackroyd part 1 - True Crime But That's None of My Business Sandy Turner, Noels wife, answered and greeted us warmly. Her husband was abusive and she drifted from Ackroyd. Its ugly to describe and imagine these killings. But Ackroyd was already serving a life sentence. We had a lot of discussion about the ending. I looked for ways to make that as seamless as possible. Call the police, Marlene said. Just as before, police turned up no physical evidence linking him to Melissa and Sheila. John Arthur Ackroyd was a longtime state highway mechanic whose route along U.S. 20 wound through some of Oregons most spectacular scenery from the Cascade foothills to the coast. . John Arthur Ackroyd (died December 30, 2016) was an American murderer and may have been a serial killer. Police and court records. Melissas mother died, too. Early on in the project videographer Dave Killen and photographer Beth Nakamura were riding together on Highway 20 on one of our many reporting trips. As investigators scoured the woods for clues, a state police trooper rested against a tree. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. The time had stopped. Oh my God, her mother-in-law said, opening the door. She was 20 at the time. I wanted the story to be easy on the reader. The Oregonian has published the 1977 polygraph reports for both John Arthur Ackroyd and Marlene K. Gabrielsen, who credibly alleges that he raped her at knifepoint. We felt and processed their profound grief. Linda Ackroyd, who now goes by the last name Monville, says she doesnt know if Ackroyd molested her daughter. "I remember it was beautiful because it was all green and little flowers blooming, little tiny ones.
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