![]() Burgan became police chief after the town fired Copeland a year after the killings.Īn investigation into connections between the drug ring and the abduction-murders led nowhere.Ĭramer and Lindsay continued chasing other leads. Speaking on the record for the first time, Burgan, who eventually became chief and retired in 1990, said that by 1978 the force was roiled by distrust and dissatisfaction with Copeland. Instead, the officers returned to the restaurant and staged things after the fact - after the restaurant had opened to customers that Saturday.Īt the time of the murders, William Burgan served as an assistant to Speedway Police Chief Robert Copeland. As it turned out, the pictures weren't taken when the Speedway police initially responded to the crime scene. Cramer said he didn't remember which officer first spotted the little details: the thick ice cubes glinting in Jayne's soda, the dark shadows and rays of sunlight. There was also something odd about the police photos taken at the Burger Chef from the night of the abduction. The Speedway police allowed the Burger Chef to open the next day, rather than closing it down to preserve evidence of the abduction. Crucial evidence, like the employees' uniforms, was mishandled, Tom Davidson, an early investigator, told Insider. They botched the investigation from the start. Cramer, in some ways, has been consumed by that addiction for decades. The futile search for a clear pattern became addictive. When I learned of the Burger Chef murders, I felt drawn to the confounding details: the inexplicable kidnappings the three different modes of killing a series of false leads and missteps in the investigation. You amass the evidence, ask for a comment, wrap it all up in a tidy package, publish, and move on to the next story (ideally). A tip leads to a flurry of phone calls, emails, maybe a dense packet of documents. Stories about trends in the grocery industry or big-box-store employees tend to be clear. In my day job, I cover the retail industry. ![]() But once you get him talking about the Burger Chef murders, it becomes clear why he's stuck. He'll become uncomfortable putting himself out there, uncertain whether yet another interview will do any good. Ashley Flowers of "Crime Junkie," a podcast that skyrocketed to 18 million downloads over two months in 2019, covered the case in the series "Red Ball." She, too, interviewed Cramer.Ĭramer will often say he's not sure there's a point in talking to so many people about the case. Two Speedway locals, Chris and Alley Davis, delved into the case in the first season of their "3C Podcast." The hit comedy podcast "My Favorite Murder" devoted an episode to Burger Chef. The Australian filmmakers Adam Kamien and Luke Rynderman are producing a documentary on the killings, featuring Cramer as one of their primary interviewees. True-crime enthusiasts, both in Indiana and around the world, see a case replete with lurid potential. He'd been beaten around the face and left to choke on his blood. Mark was farthest from the others and closest to the main road. Jayne's body lay 50 to 75 yards away she'd been stabbed twice in the heart, the knife's blade broken off inside her chest. They'd each been shot multiple times in the head and neck. Ruth and Danny lay facedown, side by side just off the gravel path. Whoever took them had pulled off the main road onto a lonely gravel path in the woods, the kind that local teens might've used as a make-out spot.Ī couple who lived a few hundred yards away from the site discovered the bodies two days after the abductions. They had driven, or had been driven, down into Johnson County, at least half an hour away. The missing - Jayne Friedt, 20 Ruth Shelton, 17 Danny Davis, 16 and Mark Flemmonds, 16 - had been abducted between 11 p.m. ![]() When Cramer showed up for work his commander filled him in on the latest. The Indianapolis News blasted the story on its front page: "Four Missing After Speedway Robbery." Word of the disappearances rippled out through Indianapolis and its suburbs. But by the next morning, they still hadn't been found. Why risk taking the employees? Cramer figured the kids would turn up, shaken but alive, before dawn. Late-night fast-food robberies tended to fit a simple pattern - get in, grab the money, and bolt. It didn't sound like a typical hold-up case. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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