Why? 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. Months later, the highway worker led police to the wooded area where scraps of her clothing and her jawbone were found. Was it difficult to learn about Kaye Turners husband since her murder? A sadistic killer goes around killing people, taking girls off somewhere? She went missing in 1990 12 years after Kayes killing and just down the highway. He died in prison in 2016.[6][7]. Police scoured his work truck. The spring camping trip to Newport was supposed to mean time with family, but she and Sheila took off the first chance they got. Trauma had seared these details into her memory. Then Rachanda Pickle, Ackroyd's 13-year-old stepdaughter, disappeared. His high school diploma indicated that he had been a "special education" student. Tagged: The Oregonian. Crombie was just wrapping up a four-year stint on the cannabis beat she had created when Bottomly called her into her office and told her about the case. The editing and revisions were often focused on fleshing out an idea and switching up styles so it wasnt all spare and lean if that makes sense. I did not do nothing. Her jeans appeared to have been cut. She returned to the campground, where a stranger said his buddy, John Ackroyd, could give her a lift. The investigators sifted through the evidence collected from the woods where hunters came across Melissa and Sheilas bodies. The two spent evenings at a Sharis restaurant along Highway 20, where they hung around with other teens and locals, including a state mechanic named John Ackroyd. The last time the two saw each other, Rachanda was in the backseat of a Chevy Blazer headed home. He made a brief stop at the house he shared with his mother in Sweet Home, his hometown. At one point before the trials, investigators had returned to Camp Sherman to re-enact theories of what had happened. The circumstantial case rested on a basic theory: It was unlikely that anyone but Ackroyd, now a convicted killer, had harmed the girl. I would imagine there were several possible structures for the series. Unsatisfying because he pleaded no contest but his sentence was suspended as part of the plea so he was never formally convicted and his plea deal didnt require him to reveal what hed done with Rachanda. Harmon tried to nudge Ackroyd. They matter because some of their stories have never been told. 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. Why? I wanted to pick up the watch detail again because we first saw Kaye wearing the watch as she heads on a run and now the watch is a detail in her killing. For now, I just want the reader to know something triggered their interest in what happened to Marlene and leave it at that. Please take me home.. 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. 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. How did you track down Laront? Marlene, then 20, got up to leave. I was able to reconstruct this scene based on a detailed interview with Marvin Laront I relied on interviews with a detective and the woman deputy to reconstruct this scene. For faster navigation, this Iframe is preloading the Wikiwand page for John Arthur Ackroyd . You were able, one wrote, to give voice to so many people who have largely gone unheard (until now). Word that Ackroyds stepdaughter had vanished spread quickly to neighboring Jefferson County, where Kaye Turner had been killed more than a decade earlier. State (s) Oregon. The jurors listened attentively and scribbled notes. I wasnt sure what to call it. Covering thought leadership in journalism, 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, It was pure serendipity. He drew an orange grid, each column dedicated to a victim assaulted or killed, likely by Ackroyd. I was the last one to see her alive.. The responsibility of speaking for Rachanda rested with her brother, Byron Pickle, then 37. The freelancers anniversary story, she realized, opened the door to more; he agreed to take a substantial kill fee so The Oregonian could pursue that more complicated piece. Most nights, the pair could be found at Sharis in Lebanon, where teens and adults gathered to talk on CB radios and drink coffee. We had multiple victims across a large swath of rural Oregon and crimes that covered a long period of time. The focus seemed wrong. 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. These are important stories to be told, he wrote. There were days when we were depleted after doing interviews or looking at these files and crime scene photos. I spoke with his coworkers and friends. This is a dramatic scene Ackroyd walks into the Sweet Home shop spattered with blood and offers a strange explanation. Though they had grown apart in their marriage, he remembers Kaye with fondness. Why did you decide to tell it in the omniscient third person as you do so much of the story? Why did choose to organize by chronologically, by victim? John Arthur Ackroyd, 1902 - 1997. They met once a week in Bensons office to dive into thousands of pages of old files, spending hours devouring details about the case. In late 2016, then-director of news Therese Bottomly was presented a freelance story about a retired prosecutor who ran every Christmas Eve in memory of a murdered jogger whose killer he helped put behind bars for life. Cops did a thorough timeline of Kayes morning so that detail came from those records. It was late spring. I relied on interviews with a detective and the woman deputy to reconstruct this scene. Those contradictions, discrepancies and outright lies had led him to this moment. 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. She recounted the attack in detail, how the man cut off her underwear and boots. The Highway 20 Serial Killer Unexplained Oregon. Plus reading it aloud again and again and producing a condensed online timeline helped uncover themes and discrepancies. I also wanted to touch on the idea that this story served as a form of justice for Marlene. Another time, they snuck her into their bedroom closet. Despite all the tantalizing coincidences and Ackroyds apparent eagerness to place himself at the scene of the crime, investigators could find no physical evidence definitively linking him to the killing. The couple drove about 90 miles from their home in Lebanon and set up camp near the rodeo grounds. Each of the multimedia elements in powerful in its own right. is there quicksand in hawaii. Im in real trouble, he confided. In that way, the story feels unresolved. Actually, the beginning and the ending were the most rewritten parts of the series, as we knew they would be. Just like with Kaye, detectives would never know what had happened to Ackroyds stepdaughter, Rachanda Pickle. When he got home, I explained the purpose of our visit, what the series would report and how it would include details about his wifes killing that would be upsetting. It was scary. By then, Becks ex-wife had lost touch with Ackroyd but remained fond of him. We coped with it in our own ways, but we relied on each other. Ackroyd entered a no contest plea to his stepdaughters murder. The reason for concealing the documents and who insisted on secrecy have been lost to time. 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. Cops did a thorough timeline of Kayes morning so that detail came from those records. Who was this guy and what made him tick? He rolled up the window and slammed the door. Later that morning, the door to the house opened unexpectedly. john arthur ackroyd childhood. She rode her bike in the lane just outside the door and took a bus to grade school in Sweet Home. janne. It took a lot of force to break them. Published March 23, 2020. Investigators suspected the rivet a quick fix used in field repairs had fallen out of the pocket of her attacker. I used a massive spreadsheet for reference. I spent considerable time trying to answer this very question. Laront remembered the night when a bloodied Ackroyd came into the shop. He had an older and younger sister. John Arthur Ackroyd (October 3, 1949 - December 30, 2016) . For instance, Ackroyd told police he drove to his mothers house after raping Marlene. It was produced by senior staff writer Noelle Crombie, videographer Dave Killen and photographer Beth Nakamura, who worked side-by-side for nearly two years an unusual arrangement given the buyouts and layoffs that have hollowed out Americas newsrooms, including those in Oregon. That friend was Roger Dale Beck. Their stories have another connection: One man is linked to all five crimes. Overseas, he was investigated for selling marijuana and going AWOL. A cinnamon candy? What was your greatest writing challenge? We had multiple victims across a large swath of rural Oregon and crimes that covered a long period of time. How did you find out she tied her hair back and that the couple couldnt afford the buckskin boots she wore, and what she told her daughter? A spare style is my natural tendency. Sandy Turner, Noels wife, answered and greeted us warmly. He dropped off Linda at the resort and continued east on Highway 20 to the state maintenance shop in Bend. We went back in our clips. What triggered the new investigation? Ackroyd, now 63, went over the timeline of the day Rachanda disappeared, spinning the same old lies. We gobbled up newsroom resources and space online and in the paper, but theres a limit and thats the reality of the job and format. Im not sure what the reader gains from reading a detailed description of a rape. Was it difficult to have to summarize so much of the story when your reporting had turned up more than enough details to dramatize the action? John Arthur Ackroyd was an American murderer and may have been a serial killer. Later that night, Marlene and her husband argued when he said he wanted to head off with a couple of friends. In other scenes, Beck grabbed her as Ackroyd looked on. Seven months after it ran, Crombie continues to receive emails and letters from readers grateful that these forgotten women have been remembered. Most of what I came up with centered on Ackroyd. It made sense to strip it down. It lets the reader know that this could be an important turning point in the story. st thomas the apostle catholic church mass schedule Over the course of hours of interviews with The Oregonian/OregonLive, she unburdened herself of every ugly detail. I had to rely on their description of what he said. The judge didnt remember the circumstances and the lawyers for each side pointed fingers at one another. Ackroyd was born on October 3, 1949, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. I thought about it, but I never done it.. It was my way of saying the state felt they had enough to prove this case and thats as close as this case would get to justice. And, most significantly, the teens friends confirmed what investigators had long suspected: Ackroyd had been sexually abusing the girl before she vanished. She talked about her plans to run in Camp Sherman, inviting a friend to join her that morning. In 1992, he was sentenced to five life terms in . Beck left Oregon. They had to get him. Your lead is a classic roundup that focuses on several people or events. He married Emma Richardson on 30 July 1927, in Clayton, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. But the story cant be fully appreciated without viewing Killens gripping documentary; so far its YouTube views top 847,000 hits and 22.6 million minutes of viewing time, Bottomly said. The report was a summary of what he told police. Melissas mother died, too. Did you assume readers would know what a Fireball is? Oh my God, her mother-in-law said, opening the door. The anecdote revealed that Ackroyd knew Melissa and Sheila and that the young women were comfortable enough with him to climb into his truck.

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