Beck and his wife lived in a trailer not far from Camp Sherman, where Kaye had disappeared. Benson and Snow set out to find the men who had the strange encounter with Ackroyd. Now, two years after Rachanda went missing without a trace from the family home, the young women who left a camping trip were dead. 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. Later that morning, the door to the house opened unexpectedly. A thought skittered She recalled how Marlene had arrived at her house, sobbing, saying something terrible had happened. Highway worker after highway worker said they werent there that night, they couldnt vouch that it had happened. How and why did you settle on that approach? 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. A spare style is my natural tendency. 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 I have the audio of this conversation. It started when a supervisor in the Linn County Sheriffs Office assigned McAnulty to organize press clippings from the early days of the investigation. Her face and name are tattooed onto his left bicep, a memorial to the aunt his children never knew. I knew I wanted to use this somewhere in this series. Hed planned to fix snowplows but decided to take the day off after learning parts hadnt arrived, a claim that baffled his supervisor, who said there was plenty of work to keep Ackroyd busy. The two had history that extended to childhood. Google says its about a half-hour to Sisters, the nearest town where the family would have bought groceries. Did you discover Jane Morris in the trial transcript? We worried about this constantly. 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. She wanted to make sure he knew what was coming. He was drawn to Melissa and Sheila, making a point to chat them up. 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. Their stories. The woman demurred. She was alone with Ackroyd, a big man who reeked of sweat and freshly cut wood. 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. We relied on each other for support. It was scary. As investigators scoured the woods for clues, a state police trooper rested against a tree. Over two decades, four women disappeared and one was raped along the same stretch of road in rural Oregon. If I put 50 dollars on a gamble that there wasnt punishment in a week I would lose that 50 dollars. When John snapped, it was scary. She was married to one suspect and romantically involved with the other. It made sense to strip it down. Why did you decide to tell it in the omniscient third person as you do so much of the story? 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 dont know that its the theme. He was willing to talk. It provided readers with a sense of place but also helped propel the story along. Detectives didnt dwell on the highway worker. I would imagine there were several possible structures for the series. She admitted it could have been her. I built this profile from those various sources. In 1992, he was sentenced to five life terms in prison for the abduction and murder of Kaye Turner. They were scrappy and streetwise high school dropouts. They were restless and broke, living an itinerant existence, drinking too much and keeping dangerous company. How did it affect you and your colleagues? This time, the DA says come on down and I met with him and his chief deputy and they basically walked me through the grand jury presentation. The shopkeeper, Christine Weston, recognized him. No evidence, physical or otherwise, ever linked Ackroyd to any of them, but their timing and proximity to Highway 20 prompted investigators to wonder if the mechanic had a hand in them. You felt a tremendous obligation to the victims and their loved ones in telling this story. Again, he didnt respond. 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. 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. Marlene flew out of the pickup, a blur moving toward the house. Read Full Profile. There was stuff I wanted to say about them that didnt really fit in elsewhere so this seemed like a good spot for that. New Zealand. The focus seemed wrong. We bounced ideas off each other and checked facts. Overseas, he was investigated for selling marijuana and going AWOL. It lets the reader know that this could be an important turning point in the story. Kayes killing serves as the cliffhanger at the end of Day 1. Why dont you quote directly from his statement? Few kids lived there and the ones who did werent Rachandas age. I dont think we talked about that because he died so early in my reporting. Covering thought leadership in journalism, 2023 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, It was pure serendipity. What lay behind that decision? It was one of those details I tucked away knowing Id use it somewhere. Why was it important to do so? What was your reaction when you discovered it? But I had to keep it tight so I tried to convey the crime and its horror as succinctly as possible. Were other approaches considered? Why? She said no and he left. The Turner case file filed a metal file cabinet and was a reporters dream as far as narrative details. It felt clunky to me to stop and quote a source. John Arthur Ackroyd (October 3, 1949 December 30, 2016) was an American murderer and suspected serial killer. 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. I work for Channy, he told Ackroyd. Ackroyd disclosed yet another curious detail: He hadnt been alone on Christmas Eve morning. The annotated version that ran online was a much shorter version of my own footnoted drafts of this story. Ending with her in this way allowed me to highlight her resilience. For more than a month in late 1993, Ackroyd sat impassively in a courtroom at the historic Jefferson County Courthouse in downtown Madras, about an hours drive across the high desert from where Kaye had disappeared. It was a 30-minute drive to the nearest store for milk. He was the only son of an office worker at the local police department and a maintenance man. At first, shes just taking the info from Linda Ackroyd. Within days of the discovery of Melissa and Sheilas bodies, police zeroed in once again on the highway worker. Ackroyd worked out of Corvallis and continued to roam the highway. Her description provided a distinct sense of place. She listened to pop stars Debbie Gibson and Wilson Phillips in her bedroom and teased her brother, who was her protector and playground companion. What the heck happened to you? Laront asked. The police detective who originally investigated the rape was long dead, so we couldnt ask him. She admitted it could have been her. Police at one point speculated that Melissas alleged theft of glassware from a local meth cook might have gotten them killed. How did you reconstruct the details included in this long section about Marlenes rape and the aftermath? The body count tied to Ackroyd was now up to four. Though investigators were certain he was behind her disappearance, they couldnt prove it. Peter Ackroyd, (born October 5, 1949, London, England), British novelist, critic, biographer, and scholar whose technically innovative novels present an unconventional view of history. John was the youngest son of Henry II . Sometimes they would drive away and turn back to get her. He had an older and younger sister. I spoke with his coworkers and friends. Historical Person Search Search Search Results Results John Ackroyd (1850 - 1913) Try FREE for 14 days Try FREE for 14 days. 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. Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian/OregonLive Ending with her in this way allowed me to highlight her resilience. He said very little that day but thanked us for making the trip. I also wanted to touch on the idea that this story served as a form of justice for Marlene. Byron recalled regular beatings. Kayes remains sat forgotten in the Jefferson County Courthouse until three years ago when court staff came across them. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Several thousand when all was said and done. That was something that kept me up at night, having to describe this landscape, these small towns, how to breathe life into people who died a long time ago, these investigations that were very old. I asked my colleagues if they thought readers would know about Fireballs and the consensus was yes. Here is the . The circumstantial case rested on a basic theory: It was unlikely that anyone but Ackroyd, now a convicted killer, had harmed the girl. For now, I just want the reader to know something triggered their interest in what happened to Marlene and leave it at that. The time had stopped. Laront remembered the night when a bloodied Ackroyd came into the shop. He enlisted in the Army after having been accused of felony theft. I did not do nothing. Kayes final hours remained a mystery. Where did it and the other information about Kayes run come from? Mike Harmon, a longtime investigator with the Linn County Sheriffs Office, worried Ackroyd had a shot at parole. The highway worker had hurt Rachanda, stuffed her into a garbage bag and hauled her away, Linn County Sheriffs Detective Jim Salsbery said during one of their interviews. He was the middle child between two sisters. The story reaches its powerful chronological conclusion. These are heartbreaking stories of isolation., We asked Crombie to tell us about the process of producing the project, and the emotional toll it took, and then to help us annotate the reporting and writing of Ghosts of Highway 20.. They wrote down his habit of taking time off around the disappearances, as hed done with Kaye and Rachanda. Bill Hanlon, the district attorney in Jefferson County, wasnt surprised when the call came from a prosecutor in Linn County, where Ackroyd lived. Why? 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. 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. She often wore a black leather jacket that her parents paid for on installments. I was so bewildered by this I was unclear where this was going and then he said, And when he entered his plea. You can hear me echo him on my recorder, When he entered his plea? I was so stunned that (Ackroyd) had done that, a no contest plea, and that there was no record of that in the court system. Initially, he told police hed passed Kaye without stopping. She had tried to warn police about Ackroyd. They were critically wounded but survived. In 1992, he was sentenced to five life terms in prison John Arthur Ackroyd - Top podcast episodes Marlene Gabrielsen was John Ackroyd's first known victim, and the one who survived. Serial Killer John Arthur Ackroyd was a true monster. Vulnerable and adrift, Melissa and Sheila knew nothing of Ackroyds sinister background when he entered their lives. Seemed like the most hopeful note on which to end a series that didnt offer much light. The answer was no. John Arthur Ackroyd - Wikipedia 1926 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd 1927 The Big Four 1928 The Mystery . It was moving and unexpected. Burly and barrel-chested, Ackroyd favored jeans and blue work shirts from the local Sears. Like Mark Foster, one of the cops who worked on the Kaye Turner investigation. He wouldnt admit to killing the girl, but he wouldnt deny it either. The process compounded his grief. He even pretended to aid in the fruitless search for the girl. Marlene Gabrielsen was John Ackroyd's first known victim, and the one who survived. At one point before the trials, investigators had returned to Camp Sherman to re-enact theories of what had happened. His mother told a detective that shed peeked out the window that night and seen Marlene in the front seat of her sons truck. 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. In the courtroom, she turned to face Ackroyd. 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. 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. Peter Ackroyd CBE, FRSL (born 5 October 1949) is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a specialist interest in the history and culture of London. Why did you go to this trouble? But Ackroyd was already serving a life sentence. Ackroyd was charged with Rachanda's murder in 2013, and pleaded no contest. Now he admitted hed not only stopped but also had spoken with her. Its dramatic and I wanted to draw it out for the reader. But the work of discovery keeps you going as well as the realization (maybe anxiety) that you must make a fair and supportable case and do justice to the time involved, the expense and most of all, the material. One man committed all the crimes and he is held responsible for the first time here. And a seat cover, they said, could have been in Ackroyds state rig. When John Arthur Ackroyd was born on 18 March 1902, in Bradford St James, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, his father, George Ackroyd, was 26 and his mother, Annie Sharp, was 25. The other man in the truck told police that Ackroyd wasnt the violent type and the woman was drunk. Son: Donald Ackroyd was born on 06/25/1971. Dave, Beth and I spent a lot of time deep in the woods where these women were assaulted, killed and abandoned. This section could perhaps have served as a nut graf, placed much higher in the story. He was the main suspect, but the case had vanished from local news reports even though her disappearance triggered one of the largest search efforts in the countys history. That beating she got was over, over the top. You shift now to the killer. This story is complicated and confusing. I sought to write a driving narrative that relied on detail, dialogue and description with a bedrock of reporting and research. The girl, 13 years old, had never been found. And it had not been told, said Bottomly, now the Oregonians editor. First thing I thought of was: How can you be hurt in this kind of beauty?" This time, he drove them up a logging road and into the woods. Kelley Benham French read one of those footnoted drafts and suggested that we publish them all. I looked for ways to make that as seamless as possible. By this point, it was time to flesh him out. Marlene put them on, holding tight to the waist to keep them from slipping off. Organization, extensive footnoting and a decent system for records that involved seven three-ring binders helped me keep it all straight. We bounced ideas off each other and checked facts. Thats when it got broken, over her rear. Source? Instead, they focused on Kayes husband and possible ties between Kayes disappearance and extramarital relationships she had with two men at the time. Biography. It doesnt conclude with a dramatic trial in a packed courtroom. At a time when journalists credibility is under assault, extensive footnotes seemed like a compelling way to show our work. Can you describe the collaboration between you, Dave Killen and Beth Nakamura? At first, shes just taking the info from Linda Ackroyd. What had the original investigators overlooked? How do we create a person's profile? Her jeans appeared to have been cut. The annotated version that ran online was a much shorter version of my own footnoted drafts of this story. Earlier in the year, shed finished a marathon, run two half-marathons and climbed Mount Washington and Three Fingered Jack. www.opendialoguemediations.com. Pronunciation of John Arthur Ackroyd with 1 audio pronunciation and more for John Arthur Ackroyd. He listened quietly and wept. Weeks after the teens disappeared, Ackroyd was finally arrested for Kayes murder and booked into the Jefferson County jail in Madras. The three of us had a favorite restaurant on the road. The style of the series is elliptical in that it leaves out information, such as dialogue, names of source and other details. Her body had never been found. Then Ackroyds teenage stepdaughter disappeared and a new group of investigators reopened Kayes case. She had two children, Rachanda and Byron. The extraordinary arrangement meant Ackroyd would die in prison. He had raped a young woman, led detectives to a runners remains off an isolated road in central Oregon and was the last person to see his stepdaughter alive. They climbed back into the truck and continued west on Highway 20. When you have one you really hang tight to them. What role did she play? Why? They met once a week in Bensons office to dive into thousands of pages of old files, spending hours devouring details about the case. You could, I assume, have used sources to describe this scene. Biography . He is most likely one of the Ghost of The Ghosts of Highway. Despite having a rape kit showing evidence of the assault, her story was disbelieved by authorities. Laront and a coworker sat on seats salvaged from old vans, talking about the night ahead. Why did you write it and place it here? They dont want the stigma and the shame associated with these crimes. The couple ate; then they had sex, significant because they almost never did. And Bill Hanlon, the prosecutor who helped put Ackroyd away. Its also a newspaper story, not a book. Ackroyd was raised in the small logging town of Sweet Home, Oregon. How did you settle on this entry point to their story? 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. Do investigators believe Ackroyd was responsible for these unsolved deaths? She wore the buckskin boots her husband bought her even though the couple couldnt afford them.