Ackroyd wasnt sure. Cops did a thorough timeline of Kayes morning so that detail came from those records. 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. To do that in a way that was going to keep a readers interest through five installments was herculean. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. Some of the most important sources never appear in the print component of this project. At one point before the trials, investigators had returned to Camp Sherman to re-enact theories of what had happened. My goal all along was to limit reader confusion. She got this sustained ovation from the audience. Bottomly teamed up Crombie with Killen and Nakamura to run the mystery to ground. Dave, Beth and I spent a lot of time deep in the woods where these women were assaulted, killed and abandoned. I relied on hundreds of pages of transcripts from police interviews with Ackroyd for some of these details. Forensic experts and search-and-rescue workers spent nearly a week looking for her remains. 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. Im not sure what the reader gains from reading a detailed description of a rape. Dave worked the drone and Beth wandered off alone to look for a way to capture what Marlene saw that early morning 40 years ago. I wanted the story to be easy on the reader. Ackroyd was raised in the small logging town of Sweet Home, Oregon. The aging killer headed to the door and returned to his cell. Parts of Melissas body were gone, probably dragged away by animals. A father himself now, Byron gets a catch in his voice when he talks about it. She woke to find his fingers squeezed tight around her legs as he dragged her out of the truck. What they didnt know: The teens likely were already dead. What allowed you to finally crack open a story that had been lost for 40 years? The state didnt take the case to a grand jury. Some of these details were included in police reports. Cops did a thorough timeline of Kayes morning so that detail came from those records. Ackroyd was spotted there at least three times after they went missing. Like Mark Foster, one of the cops who worked on the Kaye Turner investigation. They grew up in small towns about 90 minutes inland on Highway 20 and shared a history infused with drugs and alcohol. Ackroyd considered her for a long moment, then reached into the back of the truck and held out a dingy pair of plaid pants. She was at turns enraged and guilt-stricken. In England, after a revolt of the barons, he was forced to seal the Magna Carta (1215). She was patient as I drilled down into the particulars of what she wore, her hairstyle and what it was like to leave her baby girl behind for the night. She wore the buckskin boots her husband bought her even though the couple couldnt afford them. Rachanda and Byron Pickle in an undated photograph. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. Was there ever a concern about libeling Ackroyd before he died and rendered the question moot? We chose to go with the legacy of the investigation. I did not have any models in mind. Still, police seemed skeptical. Then he started swinging at her with his hand.. How did you decide which characters to include in the epilogue? Maybe thats why these are the cases that stuck with investigators. The state had continued to pay out Ackroyds $3,624 monthly public employee pension even while he was in prison. We encourage you to research and examine . John Arthur. Why? She handed police a brown paper bag with clothes Marlene wore on the night of the attack. She clung to her boots, which shed grabbed from the clearing. [3] In 1978, along with an accomplice, Roger Dale Beck, abducted and murdered Kaye Turner. 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. It doesnt conclude with a dramatic trial in a packed courtroom. It was the last time any cop talked to Ackroyd. Her case remained unsolved. It was one of those details I tucked away knowing Id use it somewhere. Weeks after the teens disappeared, Ackroyd was finally arrested for Kayes murder and booked into the Jefferson County jail in Madras. When the family returned to Sweet Home later that week, Melissa wasnt there. We talked about this stuff pretty much nonstop at work and when we hung out together outside of work. He was caught trying to steal equipment and supplies. They met once a week in Bensons office to dive into thousands of pages of old files, spending hours devouring details about the case. 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. That morning, the detective looked around the disheveled cell and surveyed what was left: Ackroyds stash of food, a cane and his prison-issued clothes. You know, he said, both of you sitting there pointing your fingers at me, and I didnt do nothing.. Harmon, the investigator who spent hours interviewing Ackroyd, was there, too. I burned through so many leads before landing on this one. It was moving and unexpected. Tagged: The Oregonian. We spent countless hours together on this project. The dishes werent in the dishwasher and the floor wasnt vacuumed. Ending with her in this way allowed me to highlight her resilience. She rode her bike in the lane just outside the door and took a bus to grade school in Sweet Home. What sources did you rely on to reconstruct the events of your trial? The nut graf is: One woman was raped, four others disappeared. Harmon kept the tone conversational as he directed Ackroyd back to Rachanda. Your lead is a classic roundup that focuses on several people or events. But its worth noting that it took many years for this particular serendipity to play out. He had diabetes and a bad heart. He pointed a handgun at her and ordered her to stop. Her husband was abusive and she drifted from Ackroyd. He said he returned home to find his stepdaughter under a blanket on the couch. Their stories. This is what we heard at the Youth Club in the early 1970's through to the late 1980's, when most nights were party nights, men were men and girls were girls and you met on the dance floor. Over time, the two made painstaking progress. Why did you go to this trouble? He said he gave her a pair of pants because she had torn hers while taking them off. The police detective who originally investigated the rape was long dead, so we couldnt ask him. How were you able to describe the dispatcher as bewildered? She admitted it could have been her. After leaving drama school in Birmingham in 1970, John worked for 10 years or so in repertory theatres all round England, playing dozens of roles. They simply felt they had enough. I knew this would be an essential scene. Would is a conditional verb indicating the consequence of an imagined event or situation. Their deaths exposed Ackroyd as a serial killer and raised the possibility of other killings. 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. I knew those important voices would have their say in the video so it liberated me to write with more authority. Within months, without a body or physical evidence implicating Ackroyd, so did the investigation. And a seat cover, they said, could have been in Ackroyds state rig. Google says its about a half-hour to Sisters, the nearest town where the family would have bought groceries. You dont describe the rape, instead skipping over graphic details. I relied on interviews with a detective and the woman deputy to reconstruct this scene. Or go back to the people left behind, particularly Marlene, who had lived to tell her story and felt heard for the first time. I never got a clear answer about why it was sealed or who made that request. Harmon was more direct when he returned to the prison a second time. Why? Like Kayes watch and her hair in the birds nest, this Fireball detail is one I knew I would use. Her Timex wristwatch read about 8:15 a.m. She saw it as a way of letting readers know how much work went into this series. At 17, Melissa was tough-talking and independent. 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. I knew I wanted to use this somewhere in this series. Back then, if traffic was light and his window was rolled down, Ackroyd would have heard the South Santiam River rushing alongside the highway as he headed west out of Sweet Home. Peter Ackroyd, (born October 5, 1949, London, England), British novelist, critic, biographer, and scholar whose technically innovative novels present an unconventional view of history. It seemed like decent shorthand for conveying the remoteness of this area. She cleared the way for me to be able to do this on a day-to-day basis. Beth Nakamura / The Oregonian/OregonLive. Read the story. I was working with a massive amount of information, a long span of years and a huge slice of Oregon geography. Load the dishwasher. 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. His name was John Arthur Ackroyd, who would join the ranks of Ted Bundy, Green River Killer Gary Ridgway, and other notorious predators who have trolled the Pacific Northwest for vulnerable and marginalized women. Read "John Arthur Ackroyd, Serial Killer" by Ruth Canton available from Rakuten Kobo. In exchange, he agreed never to seek parole. He appeared to become sexually aroused when shown a pair of pants that police had found in the woods and initially suspected belonged to Rachanda. Did you and your colleagues ever worry whether readers would care about cases that happened so many years before? But, worried about the possibility of parole in the Turner case, they took their chances. Kelley Benham French read one of those footnoted drafts and suggested that we publish them all. Why did you decide to tell it in the omniscient third person as you do so much of the story? Like Kayes watch and her hair in the birds nest, this Fireball detail is one I knew I would use. Why did you open the series this way? We needed to say that. Raised in southern Oregon, she was an only child who remained close to her parents and had recently returned from a visit. FamousFix profile for John Arthur Ackroyd including biography information, wikipedia facts, photos, galleries, news, youtube videos, quotes . To read the story without annotations, click the Hide all annotations button, which youll find just below the social media buttons in the top right-hand menu, or at the top of your mobile screen. If we said we really needed to go to California, she said yes. I was riding in another car with a couple of investigators. Beautiful scenery but what this man did was not beautiful in any sense. It is a very convoluted story with a blizzard of facts, dates, people, incidents, etc. A spare style is my natural tendency. She went missing in 1990 12 years after Kayes killing and just down the highway. Most of what I came up with centered on Ackroyd. Why did choose to organize by chronologically, by victim? After Rachandas disappearance, Ackroyd was transferred out of Santiam Junction, where his connection to the case and his behavior made women uncomfortable. Historical Person Search Search Search Results Results John Arthur Ackroyd (1892 - 1953) Try FREE for 14 days Try FREE for 14 days. What was the justification to go ahead and use them in a family newspaper?. John Arthur Ackroyd (October 3, 1949 - December 30, 2016) was an American murderer and suspected serial killer. Their cases lingered in the communitys collective memory, and the local district attorney decided to reopen them in 2012, eager to identify potential suspects. It was scary. Click here to find personal data about John Ackroyd including phone numbers, addresses, directorships, electoral roll information, related property prices and other useful information. 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. That may have also played a role in their response. When the dispatcher asked why she hadnt called sooner, Linda said she assumed she had to wait 24 hours to report a missing person. The home showed no signs of foul play. Google says its about a half-hour to Sisters, the nearest town where the family would have bought groceries. 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. Its ugly to describe and imagine these killings. Jane, then 24, was on her bicycle, headed home from a waitressing job when she noticed Ackroyd standing near his pickup parked along the side of the road in Camp Sherman. 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. They led her into a small room with a desk. Over two decades, four women disappeared and one was raped along the same stretch of road in rural Oregon. He spent Christmas patrolling Camp Sherman, quietly marking Kayes disappearance decades earlier. Why the shift? In that way, the story feels unresolved. The cold case investigation was current and provided real-time detective work that was an aspect of the story that we hadnt yet explored. Then, two decades later, in 2010, another detective picked up the file. 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. Hanlon, whod spent his career practicing law in rural Oregon, knew of Ackroyd from reading a slim three-ring binder stashed in a cardboard box left behind by his predecessor. The police detective who originally investigated the rape was long dead, so we couldnt ask him. Their stories have another connection: John Arthur Ackroyd.A highway mechanic who targeted women on the long stretch of highway that he know so well from endless trips.Calm and collected on the exterior, his personality hid the predator that raged within. It was dark, around midnight. I knew from his coworkers that his truck likely didnt have AC. His voice came through the speaker. How much was revision involved in accomplishing this? In your Emmy acceptance speech, you singled out your editor, Margaret Haberman. Now he admitted hed not only stopped but also had spoken with her. The dispatcher asked: Who was the last person that saw her, do you know?. Detectives moved on. She hadnt been out since her daughter was born three months earlier. Thats when it got broken, over her rear. He took off a couple days the week Melissa and Sheila had gone camping. After the rape, Ackroyd slapped the knife against his grimy jeans held up by orange suspenders. Just as before, police turned up no physical evidence linking him to Melissa and Sheila. On Christmas Eve morning in 1978, she went out for a run in Camp Sherman, where she, her husband and friends planned to spend the holiday. First thing I thought of was: How can you be hurt in this kind of beauty?" No deception detected, the polygraph examiner determined. Be sure to examine it, as it makes for compelling and highly instructive reading. Dave listened to a lot of Bruce Springsteen. Ackroyd disclosed yet another curious detail: He hadnt been alone on Christmas Eve morning. One of the best investigative reporters in the state had written episodically about it, but nobody had put it all together. 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. So here: Whos responsible for this carnage? Yes and it was something I struggled with. In all, five teens disappeared on or around highways in the county from 1984 through 1995. She saw it as a way of letting readers know how much work went into this series. (en) dbo:birthDate: 1949-10-03 (xsd:date) dbo:birthPlace: dbr:Sweet_Home,_Oregon; dbr:Oregon; It was a single handwritten sentence. Ackroyd spun the same story from then on. Investigators suspicions deepened as his story began to shift. Ackroyd was in no mood to talk this time. She invited us in and we waited for Noel to return from running an errand. Earlier in the year, shed finished a marathon, run two half-marathons and climbed Mount Washington and Three Fingered Jack. Will McAnulty, one of the detectives, suggested they run through the scene one more time. Yes, youre right. Her description provided a distinct sense of place. She invited us in and we waited for Noel to return from running an errand. You could, I assume, have used sources to describe this scene. All these years later, the Turner trial would be the first step in bringing the killer to justice. The Life Summary of John Arthur. You aim to anticipate the next question theyll have. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Hes a grandfather now. Its amazing how much serendipity plays a role in this story, isnt it? The men at first said theyd hunted coyotes but later changed their stories to say they were poaching deer. I can hear her bafflement on the 911 audio, which Ive listened to over and over. From a writers perspective, the story behind the story is almost as fascinating. Son: Donald Ackroyd was born on 06/25/1971. Its definitely hard to read but written, I hope its seen, with deliberation and circumspection. Ackroyd earned low grades in school; his high school diploma was marked special education. He was a loner, bullied and beaten by classmates. 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. Why did you decide to tell it in the omniscient third person as you do so much of the story? The project won the integrated storytelling award from the national Society of Features Journalism, while The National Womens Coalition Against Violence & Exploitation awarded it the National Journalism Impact Award. It moved around a bit until it landed here. My sister was denying it. Why? George was born on March 29 1875, in East Bierley, Yorkshire. Once, when a clock fell off a shelf, he beat her with a homemade paddle. The Oregonian newspaper and others have alleged that Ackroyd was involved in the murder of several more women. John Arthur Ackroyd (died December 30, 2016) was an American murderer and may have been a serial killer. Then Ackroyd died and I approached folks again. When cops went back to her years later, she apparently felt more at ease talking about what really happened. The style of the series is elliptical in that it leaves out information, such as dialogue, names of source and other details. The rest haunted investigators who had pursued him through the years. The men spent hours talking to Ackroyd. These particular details are important as circumstantial evidence. 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. It was scary. Their stories have another connection: One man - John Arthur Ackroyd - is linked to all five crimes. We encourage you to research and examine these . There was nothing in the record that showed where this request came from or why it had been sought. He was convicted of a sex crime in Minnesota, served seven months in prison, and moved to California. Did you use an outline or timeline to keep things straight in this convoluted case? How could they forget? Where did it and the other information about Kayes run come from? Then theres Ackroyds first known victim. . They complemented each other: Benson, a veteran cop whod had a hand in investigating some of Lincoln Countys most memorable and notorious crimes, and Snow, a quick study with an impressive memory and a knack for spinning a mountain of clues into theories. The story also features an annotated version using footnotes identifying all your sources? His parents worked as a maintenance man and as an office worker at the police department. www.opendialoguemediations.com. 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. I understood how painful it could be to have us revisit this traumatic time in his life so I respected his decision. 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. Besides the journalism awards, what was the reaction? Marlene had hitchhiked plenty and didnt think twice as she squeezed into the front seat between the men. I am not going to gamble this guy getting away with it, Byron thought. 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. Decades later, their cold case murders were tied to suspected serial killer John Ackroyd. Did you use an outline or timeline to keep things straight in this convoluted case? Shed be back in an hour, in time for breakfast. One of the victims, Terri Jentz, wrote a book about what happened and her search for her assailant. It seems remarkable in hindsight that he managed to elude police despite such compelling circumstantial evidence and his rape a year earlier of another woman off Highway 20. Ackroyd stopped. He was using a paddle at that time. Structurally, what was your intention? Police scoured his work truck. I built this profile from those various sources. More than two years later, another set of investigators went looking for the police report detailing Marlenes account. His parents worked as a maintenance man and as an office worker at the police department. When parent conferences rolled around, no one showed up. Seemed like the most hopeful note on which to end a series that didnt offer much light. Mommy loves you too much, she whispered to her daughter, asleep in a bassinet. Police photos showed her watch in the woods near where her partial remains were found. They werent expected back until afternoon. My footnotes for this passage: Oregonian interview with Byron Pickle: They had paddles. The annotated version that ran online was a much shorter version of my own footnoted drafts of this story. I dont think we talked about that because he died so early in my reporting. What was the justification to go ahead and use them in a family newspaper? Youre going to do what I tell you, Ackroyd said, speaking for the first time, his low, raspy voice laced with a bit of a drawl. 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. You shift now to the killer. Police had done extensive interviews with his supervisors and friends as well. 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. Christmas presents Noel bought for his wife were wrapped and in the car. John Arthur Ackroyd was an American murderer, rapist and most likely a serial killer. He got creative: What if cops and prison officials arranged for Ackroyd to share a Christmas or Thanksgiving meal with his family on the outside? 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. What followed likely altered the path of Ackroyds life, along with those of at least five young women and everyone who loved them. The conference room where we met to discuss this story features a wall-sized whiteboard. Why did Pam Ramirez lie when first interviewed by the cops? One detective took time to sketch Ackroyds loose connections to Melissa and Sheila how he and the teenagers knew some of the same people in Sweet Home, his hometown. Was he ready to talk? How do we create a person's profile? She said her son was shy around women. This is a such a powerful, almost poetic detail. My editors advised me at one point to look for ways to mix things up with more complex sentences and longer graphs. Why did you decide to use Benson and Snow as a vehicle to transmit all this background? Was that a conscious decision? I wanted to show that at this point Ackroyd was a very sick man. Marlene, dizzy from alcohol, watched as he reached through the open window to unlatch the door from the outside. katelyn akins disappearance. She had been drinking and her husband was known to local cops in their small town. Their final call in the spring of 1977 came from a pay phone in Lebanon. Wasnt it strange that he was the last person to see Kaye and Rachanda alive? Her father waited a few more days before calling police, then the FBI. By then, The Oregonian/OregonLive also was investigating Ackroyd. 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. Did you have to listen to them to be able to write that sentence? Once, he invited neighbors over to watch horror movies, becoming so animated over scenes of women being chopped up that hed hit rewind again and again. Detectives wondered if he took a chance to kill again before his arrest. Would he give up the body? Faryion Wardrip. It was there that witnesses heard Ackroyd try to lure Melissa and Sheila to a party he said hed planned to host in Newport just down the road from where they would be camping. Explore genealogy for Arthur Ackroyd born 1882 died 1929 New Zealand including research + children + more in the free family tree community. The annotation: Storyboards questions are in red; Crombies responses in blue. Was the passage longer and, if so, how did you revise it? They were critically wounded but survived. Why did you choose to end the narrative with Marlene Gabrielson? Search by city, ZIP code, or library name Search Learn more about precise location detection. She fought back in every scene, but they all ended the same. Polygraph "test" of Marlene K. Gabrielsen conducted by Sergeant Phil R. Ensminger of the Lane County Sheriff's Office . Armed with an ax or hatchet, he attacked the women, both students at Yale University. The girls mother eventually moved to California and remarried. This is the area where Marlene Gabrielsen was raped off Highway 20 by John Ackroyd. 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. Her sneakers and socks were still on her feet. The ending because you want to leave readers with a meaningful and hopefully memorable coda, the lasting impression. 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. Police and court records. 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. Country. Marlene Gabrielsen was John Ackroyd's first known victim, and the one who survived. Melissa and Sheila had waited until dawn to leave the familys campsite. Oh, I think you do, Harmon said softly. I would imagine there were several possible structures for the series. Beth Nakamura / The Oregonian/OregonLive. 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.
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