He had already raped a young mother by the time he happened upon Kaye the day before Christmas in 1978. I used a massive spreadsheet for reference. It was a great detail that I needed to work into the story. Today, both men insist they should have done more to protect Sheila Swanson and Rachanda Pickle from a killer. Its dramatic and I wanted to draw it out for the reader. This is a dramatic scene Ackroyd walks into the Sweet Home shop spattered with blood and offers a strange explanation. The day after Christmas, experienced trackers whod joined the search made a disturbing discovery in a clearing near the area where Ackroyd saw Kaye. Now the district attorney could use his sisters death to keep Ackroyd from hurting anyone else. Bewildered by the explanation, the men watched as Ackroyd washed up. As for what happened to Rachandas body, Ackroyd gave no clue. Why? I had some of these details from my initial interviews with Marlene, but Kelley pressed me to go back for more, to really flesh out that evening in detail. Old coworkers told Benson and Snow how theyd seen Ackroyd around a highway project near a gravel logging road off Highway 20. He eluded police even as their suspicions about him deepened. Pronunciation of John Arthur Ackroyd with 1 audio pronunciation and more for John Arthur Ackroyd. Who was this guy and what made him tick? Organization, extensive footnoting and a decent system for records that involved seven three-ring binders helped me keep it all straight. By then, Ackroyd was a suspected killer who had frustrated police for more than a decade. It was so essential to the chronology that the cash-strapped county that tried Ackroyd years later flew in a Timex exec from the East Coast to testify about the watch and its timekeeping. This is a crucial moment where Ackroyd is confronted with one of these crimes, in this case Rachandas disappearance. The Question and Answer section for The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. Mommy loves you too much, she whispered to her daughter, asleep in a bassinet. How did you decide which characters to include in the epilogue? It made sense to strip it down. She wrote it down on a pack of cigarettes. Why was it important to do so? Each of the multimedia elements in powerful in its own right. Highway worker after highway worker said they werent there that night, they couldnt vouch that it had happened. Where did it and the other information about Kayes run come from? I relied on interviews with a detective and the woman deputy to reconstruct this scene. Their childhoods had been nightmarish under Ackroyds roof. How did you decide on these and did they form part of the narrative strategy? Talking about some other people that are dead up in that area., Oh, said Ackroyd, now youre trying to lay some others on me?, No, Im just asking you, the detective said. The body count tied to Ackroyd was now up to four. In a war with the French king Philip II, he lost Normandy and almost all his other possessions in France. Buy John Arthur Ackroyd, Serial Killer by Ruth Canton at Mighty Ape Australia. She always made the project a priority and didnt make me feel like, Oh, God, Im not contributing or my colleagues are having to pick up the slack. An acquaintance told a detective how he once watched in horror as Ackroyd, then a young man, hacked up puppies using a machete, saying the dogs were his and nobody else could have them. Peter Ackroyd, (born October 5, 1949, London, England), British novelist, critic, biographer, and scholar whose technically innovative novels present an unconventional view of history. He didnt respond. How were you able to describe his breathing? Tagged: The Oregonian. You know, he said, both of you sitting there pointing your fingers at me, and I didnt do nothing.. She spotted two young women she knew. "I remember it was beautiful because it was all green and little flowers blooming, little tiny ones. This let us quickly introduce the five women we write about but also put them first in the mind of the reader. Her calendar at work noted recent liaisons with the men. They were thin slats of wood. Was it difficult to learn about Kaye Turners husband since her murder? A young deputy played Kaye. Prosecutors didn't have a body. John Arthur. Ackroyd was jailed in 1993 for a 1978 . When you have one you really hang tight to them. What role did she play? By this point, it was time to flesh him out. The memory of an infamous crime, one year earlier, was still fresh in central Oregon. I knew from the time Id spent with her that shes a strong person, and Day 1 of this series didnt capture that. Ackroyd was one of many leads they pursued. The story reaches its powerful chronological conclusion. adrian ackroyd - 28 wellington road burton joyce, nottingham adrian ackroyd - 8 bowmans way sedgebrook, grantham adrian arthur ackroyd - 15 old mill court upton, chester adrian arthur ackroyd - 15 old mill court upton, chester adrian arthur ackroyd - 15 old mill court upton, chester alan ackroyd - 8 holmfield, ossett Its also a testament to the human need to find answers and how these disappearances and Ackroyd himself affected people who knew there had to be a connection. Police at one point speculated that Melissas alleged theft of glassware from a local meth cook might have gotten them killed. Why the shift? The other man in the truck told police that Ackroyd wasnt the violent type and the woman was drunk. How do we create a person's profile? Their stories have another connection: One man - John Arthur Ackroyd - is linked to all five crimes. When cops went back to her years later, she apparently felt more at ease talking about what really happened. It wasnt long before teenagers Melissa Sanders and Sheila Swanson disappeared from a camping trip to the coast. He said he was with his friend and hunting companion, Roger Dale Beck. 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. One of the victims, Terri Jentz, wrote a book about what happened and her search for her assailant. The men at first said theyd hunted coyotes but later changed their stories to say they were poaching deer. For convenience, the salient portion of each report is transcribed below. A new prosecution would be too expensive. One man committed all the crimes and he is held responsible for the first time here. Among the files were details from grand jury testimony, which included precise accounts of Kayes state of mind and the days and hours before and after her disappearance. Ackroyd was raised in the small logging town of Sweet Home, Oregon. How did you locate her? I read. They didnt hear from Ackroyd, who had decided not to testify. 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 answered right away and was willing to tell me about her experience so the three of us headed to Salem to interview her. She hadnt been out since her daughter was born three months earlier. It moved around a bit until it landed here. Ackroyds low libido was the source of such open conflict that Lindas teenage son, Byron, knew of their troubles. But as we approached publication, Therese (Bottomly) said I needed to connect with Noel. A dozen or so work crews called the junction home. Once, when a clock fell off a shelf, he beat her with a homemade paddle. After the rape, Ackroyd slapped the knife against his grimy jeans held up by orange suspenders. Great verb choice! In one stunning development, he revealed that hed seen Kayes decomposing remains two months after her disappearance but never thought to call police. He was convicted of a sex crime in Minnesota, served seven months in prison, and moved to California. Then Ackroyds teenage stepdaughter disappeared and a new group of investigators reopened Kayes case. Melissa and Sheila had waited until dawn to leave the familys campsite. The dialogue and scene-setting details how Ackroyd tapped his leg with his knife, for instance came from interviews with Marlene. She read some drafts early on. He listened quietly and wept. Pretty bleak. 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. This is the story of, Rachanda Pickle, Kaye Turner, Marlene Gabrielson, Melissa Sanders, Shiela Swan, and potentially many others. It also won best special section in the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Associations annual awards. Then he said he left. McAnulty wondered if an ex-wife might see the events of the distant past in a different light. Its definitely hard to read but written, I hope its seen, with deliberation and circumspection. who said that they had a rocky childhood, and their father abused their mother to the point that she left the family. 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. Be sure to examine it, as it makes for compelling and highly instructive reading. Hello, Sign in. Those footnotes helped me sleep at night. A Forest Service rangers account of seeing Ackroyd that day in a sno-park near Santiam Junction hours later than Ackroyd claimed blew a hole in the highway workers alibi. Police had done extensive interviews with his supervisors and friends as well. Highway workers told them the rivet was a common part they carried on the job. It turned out that Jane Morris had an earlier brush with Ackroyd as well, months before Kaye went missing. Kayes killing serves as the cliffhanger at the end of Day 1. I knew this would be an essential scene. I asked him for an interview. It lets the reader know that this could be an important turning point in the story. They began walking along U.S. 101, covering more than six miles to the turnoff to Highway 20, then headed east. This is another of the few times when we read extended dialogue, a hallmark of classic narrative. Why? He enlisted in the Army after having been accused of felony theft. She was alone with Ackroyd, a big man who reeked of sweat and freshly cut wood. What happened?. Why was it important to do so? Its dramatic and I wanted to draw it out for the reader. By then, Becks ex-wife had lost touch with Ackroyd but remained fond of him. He made a brief stop at the house he shared with his mother in Sweet Home, his hometown. The reports dont shed light on why they doubted her. You aim to anticipate the next question theyll have. She denies that he beat her kids. Polygraph "test" of Marlene K. Gabrielsen conducted by Sergeant Phil R. Ensminger of the Lane County Sheriff's Office . The cops cheered. Then, two decades later, in 2010, another detective picked up the file. There were no somber words from the bench about justice served, no deathbed confessions. The prosecutor, Bill Hanlon, and newspaper accounts. Its damning circumstantial evidence linking Ackroyd to the deaths of these two women, Melissa and Sheila. John Arthur Ackroyd (October 3, 1949 - December 30, 2016) was an American murderer and suspected serial killer. It seems clear that for many of those involved, including most importantly the victims and their families, the system (and to a larger extent society) failed them. The project was a true collaboration. Maybe it was the girls development, he told police, that drew a predator to the junction. Pretty bleak. 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. Ackroyd would recycle the same stories. Their stories have another connection: John. In a 7,000-word series, its important at the start to clearly establish who and what readers will encounter as they stay with an unfolding narrative. I knew this would be an essential scene. Ackroyd was charged with Rachanda's murder in 2013, and pleaded no contest. 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 had been drinking and her husband was known to local cops in their small town. Though Ackroyd offered their mother stability, the teens dreamed of the day they could leave home for good. In our meetings early on, I filled every square inch of the board with dates, victims, themes, etc. Its a combination of rhythm the variety is more interesting and simply finding ways to weave in the necessary details of who, what, when, where and why without overwhelming readers. 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. Its not a transcript. This is a dramatic scene Ackroyd walks into the Sweet Home shop spattered with blood and offers a strange explanation. Is that what youre saying? This spectral photograph opens Ghosts of Highway 20, a stunning multimedia narrative series published last December by The Oregonian/OregonianLive. We interviewed key witnesses and reviewed thousands of pages of police and court records, some of them previously secret, to hold Ackroyd accountable and give some measure of justice to the women he attacked. The Oregonian/OregonLives five-part series on John Ackroyd details crimes that include sexual abuse, rape and murder. Ackroyd wasnt sure. Police scoured his work truck. Some of the most important sources never appear in the print component of this project. She talked about how it was late spring. That may have also played a role in their response. His partner, Detective Will McAnulty, sat nearby. She clearly is trying to process why a mother would wait so long to report that her child has disappeared from a remote highway compound. Ackroyd did little to look for her and later picked up Linda from work. Ackroyd obviously is the catalyst of destruction. The cold case investigation was current and provided real-time detective work that was an aspect of the story that we hadnt yet explored. How were you able to describe the dispatcher as bewildered? Prosecutors said she also had been raped. Trauma had seared these details into her memory. I burned through so many leads before landing on this one. His shirtsleeves were rolled up. Recently read an excellent series by the Oregonian, "Ghosts of Highway 20" on suspected serial killer John Arthur Ackroyd, who was active in Oregon from the late 1970s, operating on a remote stretch of US Highway 20 between Bend and Newport, where he was employed by the State Highway Department. She saw it as a way of letting readers know how much work went into this series. George was born on March 29 1875, in East Bierley, Yorkshire. Hes a grandfather now. We talked about this stuff pretty much nonstop at work and when we hung out together outside of work. They ran away from home with plans to make it to California. During his school years, he was a loner who was bullied. Kelley Benham French read one of those footnoted drafts and suggested that we publish them all. Beck had bragged to family members about killing Kaye. Did you assume readers would know what a Fireball is? By this point, it was time to flesh him out. Beautiful scenery but what this man did was not beautiful in any sense. The girls mother eventually moved to California and remarried. On one reporting trip to the Oregon Coast, I walked the campground and stood in the area where the women made their final call. No, the bewildered dispatcher said, thats not true, not with children. This post is a long one, everyone. She had been drinking and her husband was known to local cops in their small town. Marlene started this series and it seemed fitting to end with her. . Hopefully for many of you, to bring back some fond memories and get your foot tapping. At . Bill Hanlon, the district attorney in Jefferson County, wasnt surprised when the call came from a prosecutor in Linn County, where Ackroyd lived. The interview sputtered to a halt. We spent time with Marlene, the lone survivor. In the courtroom, she turned to face Ackroyd. They looked for similarities how none of the victims had been buried, for example. They met once a week in Bensons office to dive into thousands of pages of old files, spending hours devouring details about the case. What was your source for this description of Ackroyds temper? I asked him for an interview. Our partnership was the projects secret ingredient. I checked that with Byron, Rachandas brother. Oh my God, her mother-in-law said, opening the door. I knew I wanted to use this somewhere in this series. It was on one of them that hed raped Marlene Gabrielsen a year before Kaye Turner disappeared. Also, Ackroyd was a local guy whose mother worked at the police department as an office worker. Ackroyd was born on October 3, 1949, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Police photos showed her watch in the woods near where her partial remains were found. One resembled the waffle soles of Kayes Nikes. 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. The extraordinary arrangement meant Ackroyd would die in prison. His false teeth had been knocked to the floor. I produced a separate online version of the story with more than 150 footnotes showing the interviews and records that supported crucial passages. Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian/OregonLive. How did it affect you? There were days when we were depleted after doing interviews or looking at these files and crime scene photos. The couple had since divorced and Pam had moved to California. (Getty Images) If you've been following the five-part story of John Ackroyd, its conclusion might leave you hanging. Police and court records. 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. 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 knew all along I wanted to make a passing reference to this crime because it was such a horrible act that touched on some of the same themes as Ackroyds crimes. 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. How did you decide which characters to include in the epilogue? I dont know that its the theme. But I had to keep it tight so I tried to convey the crime and its horror as succinctly as possible. Yes, youre right. A report from the trial in the Bend (OR) Bulletin. When I outlined each days story, I focused on cliffhangers, kickers and which scenes could propel the narrative. A few days later, I received a handwritten letter from Noel. Despite having a rape kit showing evidence of the assault, her story was disbelieved by authorities. Melissa Sanders was 17 and from Sweet Home. First thing I thought of was: How can you be hurt in this kind of beauty?" Then a confession by a convicted murderer sidetracked detectives before they determined he was lying. At other times, friends saw her with a black eye and a wound from where hed ripped out a patch of her hair. He mentioned it only after a pair of state police troopers approached him a couple of weeks later. Your lead is a classic roundup that focuses on several people or events. We will go through the lives and deaths of Kaye Turner, Rachanda Pickle, Melissa . Ackroyd was raised in the small logging town of Sweet Home, Oregon. Sandy Turner, Noels wife, answered and greeted us warmly. Peter Ackroyd is an award-winning historian, biographer, novelist, poet and broadcaster. He worried hed become a burden for his family. The dialogue and scene-setting details how Ackroyd tapped his leg with his knife, for instance came from interviews with Marlene. The unglamorous task fell to Ron Benson, an investigator for the district attorney, and Linda Snow, a retired legal assistant. Why? Then Rachanda Pickle, Ackroyd's 13-year-old stepdaughter, disappeared. We needed to say that. Call the police, Marlene said. It wasnt far from where the teens remains were found. He said very little that day but thanked us for making the trip. Im not sure what the reader gains from reading a detailed description of a rape. Marlene put them on, holding tight to the waist to keep them from slipping off. And this guy basically got away with it.. Now he admitted hed not only stopped but also had spoken with her. In 1992, he was sentenced to five life terms in prison for the abduction and murder of Kaye Turner. st thomas the apostle catholic church mass schedule I knew from his coworkers that his truck likely didnt have AC. In 1992, he was sentenced to five life terms in prison for the abduction and murder of Kaye Turner. She told them how Ackroyd had once offered the young women a ride. The prime suspect all along, Ackroyd wasnt charged in the case. These are key characters in this story. John Arthur Ackroyd was an American murderer and may have been a serial killer. The annotated version that ran online was a much shorter version of my own footnoted drafts of this story. He has won the Whitbread Biography Award, the Royal . Did you have any models in mind, any that you studied before or as you were writing? Actually, the beginning and the ending were the most rewritten parts of the series, as we knew they would be. John Arthur Ackroyd - Wikipedia 1926 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd 1927 The Big Four 1928 The Mystery . Their bodies were found off a logging spur. Again, he didnt respond. A used rivet was discovered near her body. Marlene had hitchhiked plenty and didnt think twice as she squeezed into the front seat between the men. I asked her about his clothing. Trauma had seared these details into her memory. Melissa and Sheila joined a list of girls last heard from or seen late at night in coastal Lincoln County. Melissas mother died, too. Her mother left behind a short list of chores. The report was a summary of what he told police. Plus reading it aloud again and again and producing a condensed online timeline helped uncover themes and discrepancies. Help advance the Nieman Foundations mission to promote and elevate the standards of journalism by making a donation. I think I just ran him through one of our databases. She also knew he was from Sweet Home, not far from where Karen had used the pay phone to call a friend in the Midwest, just one year before Kaye Turner died. The district attorney said he was unable to talk about it something was prohibiting him. I remember him spanking her over one of those old school windup alarm clocks and it got broke and he was trying to fix it in and stuff and him and mom were talking about it and they were both getting heatedmom said to line them up and spank them until (one confesses) They were getting ready to line us up. He claimed she turned down his invite . That friend was Roger Dale Beck. They were investigating the killing of a young woman on an isolated stretch of road outside Sisters. Parts of Melissas body were gone, probably dragged away by animals. Why after two decades? What was your source and why did you use it when so many other times you chose to paraphrase speech? John Arthur Ackroyd (died December 30, 2016) was an American murderer and may have been a serial killer. And a seat cover, they said, could have been in Ackroyds state rig. I found her through Nexis, I think. Ackroyd had once speculated to police that his stepdaughter might not have been buried either. Benson made a four-hour trek to a courthouse three counties away, where a metal filing cabinet held Kaye Turners case. I used a massive spreadsheet for reference. She got this sustained ovation from the audience. Hunters had found the bodies of two young women who had vanished during a camping trip on the coast. She talked about her plans to run in Camp Sherman, inviting a friend to join her that morning. Then 29, Ackroyd had worked for the highway department for nearly a year. Why did you go to this trouble? I dont think we talked about that because he died so early in my reporting. We were smacked by paddles and a lot of people who are are like, Oh big deal, a paddle. No, there was paddles that were designed with holes drilled in them and stuff and they would brag about it helps cuts through the air and you get a harder spanking. Ackroyd was very predominant in discipline. She often wore a black leather jacket that her parents paid for on installments. He was anxious and beaded with sweat even though the afternoon heat had faded. They led her into a small room with a desk. His excuse for his bloody arms and hands around the time Melissa and Sheila vanished was that hed just gutted a roadkill deer. View John Ackroyd results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. Linda Ackroyd, who now goes by the last name Monville, says she doesnt know if Ackroyd molested her daughter. Great details, especially the belt. It took 14 years to . From the outside, he seemed to lead an ordinary life: Raised in small-town Oregon, he hunted and fished, held a steady My sister was denying it. The focus seemed wrong. He glanced skyward. Melissas parents awoke to find the young women gone, their tent empty. 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 nut graf is: One woman was raped, four others disappeared. 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. I did not have any models in mind. Read "John Arthur Ackroyd, Serial Killer" by Ruth Canton available from Rakuten Kobo. Sense of smell is so evocative, yet writers rarely take advantage of its power. She went missing in 1990 12 years after Kayes killing and just down the highway. Ackroyd was incarcerated in Oregon State Penitentiary. Looking for John Ackroyd online? This time you dramatize the action instead of summarizing it. Pretty much all the details of the attacks and deaths are sickening in the series. Was it important to use it here? We encountered a lot of resistance from sources in the county that investigated the disappearance of Ackroyds stepdaughter. My editors advised me at one point to look for ways to mix things up with more complex sentences and longer graphs. I found her through Nexis, I think. He had an older and younger sister. 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. Ackroyd led investigators into the brush, about a half-mile off the road where Kaye had gone running the previous winter. The restive pair quickly grew bored and wanted their boyfriends to pick them up. Biography. She wanted to make sure he knew what was coming. The gruesome details implicated Ackroyd and suggested to investigators that hed returned to Camp Sherman weeks after the killing to check on Kayes remains. In 1992, he was sentenced to five life terms in prison for the abduction and murder of Kaye Turner. Do you consider this your nut graph? Something, likely a struggle, had knocked out the stem, stopping the watch. When the dispatcher asked why she hadnt called sooner, Linda said she assumed she had to wait 24 hours to report a missing person. Kaye had been raped and shot, Beck told Pam. All these years later, the Turner trial would be the first step in bringing the killer to justice. He spent Christmas patrolling Camp Sherman, quietly marking Kayes disappearance decades earlier. What was the justification to go ahead and use them in a family newspaper?. Ackroyd had offered his hunting buddy, Roger Dale Beck, as his alibi, but another jury found Beck guilty of murder in the Turner case, too. But what if the case turned on that clue? What followed likely altered the path of Ackroyds life, along with those of at least five young women and everyone who loved them. Its amazing how much serendipity plays a role in this story, isnt it? She wore the buckskin boots her husband bought her even though the couple couldnt afford them. Take hot dogs out of the freezer. The dispatcher asked: Who was the last person that saw her, do you know?. The two had history that extended to childhood. A hunter would likely overlook the bits of cloth and bone as nothing more than trash and animal carcasses. What are the chances that two serial killers were active during the same time and place? Serial Killer John Arthur Ackroyd was a true monster. After Rachandas disappearance, Ackroyd was transferred out of Santiam Junction, where his connection to the case and his behavior made women uncomfortable. Wasnt it strange that he was the last person to see Kaye and Rachanda alive? But they heard about forensic testing on Kayes clothing. Had police believed her, none of the subsequent murders committed by Ackroyd would likely have occurred. Trigger warning: This story includes details of a rape. Was that a conscious decision? They grew up in small towns about 90 minutes inland on Highway 20 and shared a history infused with drugs and alcohol. You could win the lottery four or five times before something like that would happen, Salsbery said. Shed be back in an hour, in time for breakfast. He claimed he invited her to join him on a drive to photograph deer on back roads near the junction. Local police didnt put much stock in the accuracy of the trackers findings. 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.
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