The Burger Chef Murders
The Burger Chef Murders
On November 17, 1978, four young employees working at a branch of the now-defunct fast-food chain Burger Chef in Speedway, Indiana were kidnapped as part of a robbery. The bodies of all four — assistant manager Jayne Friedt (20), and staff Ruth Ellen Shelton (18), Daniel Davis (16), and Mark Flemmonds (16), On Sunday their bodies were discovered by walkers 20 miles from the restaurant. While investigators believe they have identified some or all of the perpetrators, without physical evidence they have not been able to prosecute those who remain alive.
Victims
One November night in 1978, four teenage employees Jayne Friedt (20), and staff Ruth Ellen Shelton (18), Daniel Davis (16), and Mark Flemmonds (16) of a Burger Chef joint in downtown Indianapolis mysteriously disappeared. Not only was the restaurant left completely unattended, but the facility’s safe had also been cracked open.
Surprisingly, police concluded a search of the Burger Chef almost immediately. Given that only about two thousand dollars (adjusted for inflation) had been stolen, officers assumed the teens had simply gone for a joy ride. They figured the matter wasn’t urgent or serious enough to warrant an immediate investigation. Even worse, as the restaurant was scheduled to open in the morning, the new employees came in and cleaned the place, getting it ready for another day of service. What they didn’t realize while cleaning was that they were also eradicating incriminating evidence and clues towards the horrific incident that had taken place in the homicide-free town of Speedway. It is jarring to think that the police allowed something like this to happen. To add insult to injury, the only photograph of the crime scene taken was after the place was wiped spot-free and was opened to customers.
Concern started to grow within the missing victims’ families when none of the four showed up the next day for work or at home. The Chevrolet Vega of Jayne Friedt was found abandoned in the middle of the town that same day. The car was partially unlocked, and foul play was immediately suspected. With the police seemingly more involved, a widespread search began for the missing four. On Sunday, a few hikers were hiking through the deep woods of Johnson County, 20 miles away from the Burger Chef restaurant, when they came across four bodies, all of them brutally murdered.
After calling the police at the discovery, it was confirmed that the bodies were of none other than the missing employees of the Burger Chef restaurant. Different methods of murder were chosen, with Davis and Shelton gruesomely executed, being shot multiple times with a .38 caliber revolver. At the same time, Friedt was stabbed so violently that the blade of the knife broke inside her chest. Flemmonds met an even more tragic end with the autopsy concluding that he was beaten to death by a chain-like object. Flemmonds ultimately passed away by choking on his blood. Interestingly, the police found valuables such as watches and money on the victims who were still wearing their Burger Chef uniforms that led them to believe that the motive behind the murder could be more than just a robbery gone wrong.
Witness
On the night of the murders, a 16-year-old eyewitness saw two suspicious men in a car outside the Burger Chef just before closing. Both men were white and in their thirties. One man had a beard; the other was clean-shaven with light-colored (“fair”) hair. The police had models of the suspects created in clay to assist the investigation.
Investigation and Suspects
The investigation started with full force, with the Indiana police giving the case its highest priority. The leading theory at the time (despite the oddities at the crime scene) was a botched robbery. They believed that Flemmonds, who was covering a shift for one of the other employees, recognized one of the robbers. In an attempt to not leave any evidence behind, the robbers kidnapped them, leading them to their eventual demise.
Even with the clay models, the police were unable to find any leads. This was until a man at a bar in Greenwood, a city not far away from Speedway, flaunted about being one of the killers of the Burger Chef murders. He was soon brought in for interrogation, but after passing a polygraph test, he was released. Considering that the general scientific community agrees that the polygraph test is inaccurate in its assessment of the person being truthful or not, the Speedway Police Department’s complacency was once again on display. However, the man did give out descriptions and details of a gang of fast-food chain robbers operating in the area that could be linked to the murders.
Following this lead, the police began searching the vicinity, and it was in Franklin, Johnson County that they came across a man that fit the description of the bearded clay model. Shockingly, when he was called into questioning, he shaved his beard for the first time in over 5 years. Another man who fit the description of the fair-haired man’s model was also called into questioning, having spent time in jail for robbing fast-food restaurants. However, without supporting evidence, both of them were let go despite being given numerous plea bargains. After this, the case went cold, and even though the police increased the radius of the investigation to cover most of the country, investigators failed to come up with a lead.
Later Investigation
It wasn’t until 1984, six years after the incident took place, that Donald Forrester, a man in the Pendleton Correctional Facility, called the police to confess about the Burger Chef Murders. He told the police that he was one of the murderers and can provide information to the law in exchange for him not being put at the infamously violent Indiana state prison.
The police were skeptical at first, but after Forrester started pinpointing the exact location of the bodies that were found and told the police about the broken knife that was lodged in the sternum of one of the victims — something that wasn’t well known to the public — his credibility was boosted. He confessed to killing Davis and Shelton by shooting them with his accomplices. He claimed that he went to collect a debt that Friedt’s brother, James, owed, and after Flemmonds tried to intervene with his accomplices and Friedt, a fight ensued, which left Flemmonds unconscious. Thinking that Flemmonds was dead, they abducted all 4 employees so no witnesses would be left behind and proceeded to kill them in the woods. His story gained more credibility after he told the police that he flushed down the .38 caliber bullet casings used to shoot Davis and Shelton in the toilet in his old house.
Upon investigation, police did end up discovering the same casings. It seemed that with the help of Forrester, the police would soon catch the remaining perpetrators. However, in a cruel twist of fate, someone leaked insider information from the police that Forrester was working as an informant for them. Upon hearing this, Forrester stopped cooperating with the police completely, claiming that he was forced into giving his confession. Donald Forrester would never speak of the Burger Chef murders again and died in 2006 in custody from cancer, taking with him any information that led to the tragic demise of four young, bright, but incredibly unfortunate individuals on that fateful Friday in 1978.
The State Police detective now overseeing the Burger Chef case is 1st Sgt. Bill Dalton. Dalton is a veteran state trooper who got the Burger Chef assignment in February after the retirement of Detective William Stoney Vann, who had managed the case since 1998. Vann thought he had figured out who had done the killings, but he couldn’t prove it. Other investigators have had different ideas. In the first weeks after the slayings, more than three dozen detectives from five
agencies, including the FBI, swarmed the case.
Showing the knife blade, for example. It was no pocket knife but rather the kind of knife that would be kept in a leather sheath and worn on a belt. In 1978, which was the height of disco, a knife on a belt would have been an unusual accessory.
“I’m hoping someone will remember” a person who back in the day wore a knife on his belt, Dalton said. “I’m hoping this will generate some tips.”
Over 40 Decades
Tips have never stopped coming in. Dalton said he has received about a dozen. The Speedway Police Department also regularly receives tips and turns them over to the State Police, said Jim Thiele, the Speedway department’s investigations chief. The amount of evidence gathered over the years includes interviews with hundreds of people who have a theory or thought they might have seen something suspicious. The investigators’ notes alone fill more than two dozen thick, three-ring binders.
For more stories that are similar, check out my Youtube channel at Cold Case Project by clicking here
