Great details, especially the belt. In 1992, he was sentenced to five life terms in prison for the abduction and murder of Kaye Turner. When cops went back to her years later, she apparently felt more at ease talking about what really happened. Police at one point speculated that Melissas alleged theft of glassware from a local meth cook might have gotten them killed. Load the dishwasher. How can you say with certainty that he would have heard the river? A father himself now, Byron gets a catch in his voice when he talks about it. Over two decades, four women disappeared and one was raped off the same stretch of road in rural Oregon. Ackroyd dodged the accusations at the time, but police revived Kayes case in 1990 amid an unsuccessful investigation to solve the disappearance of Rachanda Pickle, Ackroyds 13-year-old stepdaughter. This is a dramatic scene Ackroyd walks into the Sweet Home shop spattered with blood and offers a strange explanation. It was a sensational crime that remains unsolved. 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. In 1992, he was sentenced to five life terms in prison for the abduction and murder of Kaye Turner. Its a testament to taking a second or third look with fresh eyes and newer forensic techniques at old crimes. Vulnerable and adrift, Melissa and Sheila knew nothing of Ackroyds sinister background when he entered their lives. Marlene Gabrielsen was John Ackroyd's first known victim, and the one who survived. I produced a separate online version of the story with more than 150 footnotes showing the interviews and records that supported crucial passages. In exchange, he agreed never to seek parole. So Dave and I drove a couple hours south to the Turner home Noel had remarried in the years after Kayes death and knocked on the door. They were investigating the killing of a young woman on an isolated stretch of road outside Sisters. I read the book while reporting this story and we made a trip to Cline Falls park during one of our trips to central Oregon. Ackroyd wasnt sure. Explore genealogy for John Ackroyd born 1839 Halifax, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom died 1921 Temuka, South Canterbury, New Zealand including father + descendants + more in the free family tree community. Shed need evidence so police could find him later. But none of these seemed to work. At other times, friends saw her with a black eye and a wound from where hed ripped out a patch of her hair. Linda and John Ackroyd left for work, she as a housekeeper at Black Butte Ranch, a resort community about 30 minutes away, and he as a highway mechanic. I wanted the reader to grasp the precarious position these women were at the time they disappeared. He saw another highway worker driving through Camp Sherman that morning. My sister was denying it. She spotted two young women she knew. In the end, they identified four victims who investigators believe died by Ackroyds hands, and documented a history of police and prosecutorial incompetence that allowed Ackroyd to go on a killing spree for two decades. It lets the reader know that this could be an important turning point in the story. Ackroyd earned low grades in school; his high school diploma was marked special education. He was a loner, bullied and beaten by classmates. It was the last time any cop talked to Ackroyd. Was that a conscious decision? Overseas, he was investigated for selling marijuana and going AWOL. Marlene waited in the truck, afraid to move. Even before hunters had stumbled upon the teens remains, Ackroyd told a friend: They are assuming its me.. I checked that with Byron, Rachandas brother. John Arthur Ackroyd (October 3, 1949 - December 30, 2016) was an American murderer and suspected serial killer. And to explain why this story has currency and impact today. One of the best investigative reporters in the state had written episodically about it, but nobody had put it all together. The district attorney asked Byron if he supported a plea deal or if he wanted Ackroyd to stand trial. Do you or any of the detectives have any suspicions why it was sealed? It was one of those details I tucked away knowing Id use it somewhere. We had a lot of discussion about the ending. Did you discover Jane Morris in the trial transcript? We talked to grieving loved ones. The report was a summary of what he told police. The ending because you want to leave readers with a meaningful and hopefully memorable coda, the lasting impression. I dont know that its the theme. At the same time, a dozen investigators working the Turner case seized on Ackroyds shifting accounts. Somebody could have just come in, he said, knocked her over the head, throw her over the shoulders and just walk out without anybody seeing her. She had been drinking and her husband was known to local cops in their small town. The watch played a key role in helping to pin down when she was killed. Prosecutors didn't have a body. The trackers noticed two sets of footprints preserved in the frozen ground. Later that morning, the door to the house opened unexpectedly. How much was revision involved in accomplishing this? She had two children, Rachanda and Byron. He knew it was Ackroyd who had eventually led police to her remains. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. The story also features an annotated version using footnotes identifying all your sources? The couple had since divorced and Pam had moved to California. He drove another 12 miles down the road and stopped in front of her mother-in-laws house in Lebanon, where shed asked him to drop her off. John Arthur Ackroyd (died December 30, 2016) was an American murderer and may have been a serial killer. Ackroyd was in no mood to talk this time. 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. The report was a summary of what he told police. He is the author of the acclaimed non-fiction bestsellers London- The Biography and Thames- Sacred River as well as biographies of Ezra Pound, T.S. I know from watching Dave Killens powerful documentary that much of what you summarize in the story, especially peoples voices, appears there instead of the print narrative. Why did you decide to tell it in the omniscient third person as you do so much of the story? Hanna was returning to his place in Camp Sherman after working the night shift. A dozen or so work crews called the junction home. Cops did a thorough timeline of Kayes morning so that detail came from those records. Melissa and Sheila had waited until dawn to leave the familys campsite. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. Who was this guy and what made him tick? I wanted the reader to hear Ackroyds reaction when confronted with the detectives suspicions. The details throughout are extraordinarily vivid. Why bother? I looked for ways to make that as seamless as possible. The beginning because you have to engage and explain but not overpromise, all the while getting the tone right. Most nights, the pair could be found at Sharis in Lebanon, where teens and adults gathered to talk on CB radios and drink coffee. Linda Ackroyd, who now goes by the last name Monville, says she doesnt know if Ackroyd molested her daughter. Their stories. Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian/OregonLive. She listened to pop stars Debbie Gibson and Wilson Phillips in her bedroom and teased her brother, who was her protector and playground companion. The general store in Camp Sherman, Oregon, where John Ackroyd showed up to report he had discovered some clothing in the woods that might've belonged to Kaye Turner, whose disappearance in 1978 caused a stir that lingered for years in this small vacation community just off Highway 20. What was the justification to go ahead and use them in a family newspaper?. She clung to her boots, which shed grabbed from the clearing. Ackroyd knew, too, the dirt spurs that led off the highway and into the forest. Karens case and the others from that era were all but forgotten. No deception detected, the polygraph examiner determined. Both reports are attached to this post. She vanished on July 10, while Linda was at work; Ackroyd took the day off, and was the last person to see the teen alive. 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. Marlene, then 20, got up to leave. I was working with a massive amount of information, a long span of years and a huge slice of Oregon geography. Sheila often slept away from home but stayed in touch with her mother. In a war with the French king Philip II, he lost Normandy and almost all his other possessions in France. The conference room where we met to discuss this story features a wall-sized whiteboard. Christine and Kim discuss the excellent documenatry--"Ghosts of Highway 20" regarding John Arthur Ackroyd, a state highway worker who had access to roam the state. Peter Ackroyd, (born October 5, 1949, London, England), British novelist, critic, biographer, and scholar whose technically innovative novels present an unconventional view of history. Historical Person Search Search Search Results Results John Arthur Ackroyd (1902 - 1997) Try FREE for 14 days Try FREE for 14 days. Extraordinary because the court sealed the plea and effectively silenced Rachandas brother. The case went cold. across her mind as she drifted to sleep: The inside door handle was gone. Tagged: The Oregonian. The two camps on the ending: Stop at Ackroyds death with a scene of a cop looking around the killers cell for a confession but finding nothing. Why did you go to this trouble? An ominous lead. My mom was yelling at John to stop. If we said we really needed to go to California, she said yes. It was moving and unexpected. Ackroyd, going to Newport for work that day, encountered the teenagers somewhere along the highway and offered them a lift, just as he had in the past. Kaye and husband, Noel, had joined friends on a holiday getaway at Camp Sherman, a vacation and fly-fishing retreat along the pristine Metolius River off Highway 20 with a two-room school, country store and 200 year-round residents. The spring camping trip to Newport was supposed to mean time with family, but she and Sheila took off the first chance they got. The style of the series is elliptical in that it leaves out information, such as dialogue, names of source and other details. He talked his boss into letting him drive 750 miles to California to find out. 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. When he returned, she asked for his phone number to help identify him but also to make him think she liked him. Did you tear off her bra? And narratively, the detectives and their work showed connections among all the cases. How did you decide on these and did they form part of the narrative strategy? We encourage you to research and examine . Read the story. Hunters had found the bodies of two young women who had vanished during a camping trip on the coast. The lead prosecutor has a formidable memory and kept meticulous notes that were part of the case file. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. Several parts conclude with a cliffhanger, effectively designed to keep the reader reading. Plus, in an era of smartphones, a Timex wrist watch gives readers the sense that this crime happened in another era. It felt clunky to me to stop and quote a source. I like how direct, clean and certain Hanlons quote is here. I relied on hundreds of pages of transcripts from police interviews with Ackroyd for some of these details. Sheilas ankles were bound with leggings. I heard the river on one of those trips and took the liberty of saying he would have heard it too if his windows were rolled down. His wife, Pam, said the two men were around the trailer for most of the morning, which helped give Ackroyd an alibi. Beth Nakamura / The Oregonian/OregonLive. 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. He ripped off her jeans with such force, the pants split from the waist to the ankle along the inseam. At 17, Melissa was tough-talking and independent. In scene after scene, over a couple of long days as the Christmas holiday approached, the investigators playing Ackroyd and Beck would snatch her off the road. The police detective who originally investigated the rape was long dead, so we couldnt ask him. I dont think we talked about that because he died so early in my reporting. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. 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. You handle time very effectively, jumping from minute to minute, day to day, month to month and year to year, eliding what came between without the reader feeling a sense of having missed something. He showed signs of a disturbed mind.