A few months later, in 2013, the Linn County district attorney took Rachanda's case to grand jurors. 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. Plus reading it aloud again and again and producing a condensed online timeline helped uncover themes and discrepancies. Show All. Did the girl ask you to pull over and have some fun?. His voice came through the speaker. [4] Ackroyd's step-daughter Rachanda Pickle went missing in 1990. Ghosts of Highway 20: John Arthur Ackroyd's alleged reign of - reddit John was the youngest son of Henry II . So here: Whos responsible for this carnage? 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. The answer was no. 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. For Kaye. It was my way of acknowledging to the reader that this has been an epic tale that wont have a Hollywood ending. Structurally, what was your intention? What was your source and why did you use it when so many other times you chose to paraphrase speech? carteret county, nc arrests A father himself now, Byron gets a catch in his voice when he talks about it. As the truck motored west, the man in the passenger seat wanted out. The DA knew Ackroyd had changed his story and admitted he had talked to Kaye the morning he encountered her on a run. The girl, 13 years old, had never been found. 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. It doesnt conclude with a dramatic trial in a packed courtroom. John Arthur Ackroyd was a state highway mechanic whose route took him along Route 20 from the Cascade Foothills to the Pacific Ocean's coast. Ran into a deer, Ackroyd said. I t was the last time any cop talked to Ackroyd. No, the bewildered dispatcher said, thats not true, not with children. This story is complicated and confusing. This is a dramatic scene Ackroyd walks into the Sweet Home shop spattered with blood and offers a strange explanation. Dave listened to a lot of Bruce Springsteen. If we said we really needed to go to California, she said yes. Ackroyd returned to the periphery. I built this profile from those various sources. Her calendar at work noted recent liaisons with the men. Now Kaye, Rachanda, Melissa and Sheila are dead. Investigators Ron Benson and Linda Snow, with the Lincoln County District Attorney's Office were preparing to present the evidence against Ackroyd for the murders of Swanson and Sanders to the grand jury when Ackroyd passed away. Ackroyd, now 63, went over the timeline of the day Rachanda disappeared, spinning the same old lies. These are important stories to be told, he wrote. Its a testament to taking a second or third look with fresh eyes and newer forensic techniques at old crimes. Her case remained unsolved. It was a great detail that I needed to work into the story. How and why did you settle on that approach? They simply felt they had enough. John Arthur Ackroyd, Serial Killer on Apple Books Dave, Beth and I spent a lot of time deep in the woods where these women were assaulted, killed and abandoned. They assumed the two had gotten a ride from friends. Dave Killen was the video editor and genius behind the documentary series that accompanied the stories and Beth Nakamura was the gifted photojournalist whose work captured the subjects and remote landscape where these crimes took place. Why did you open the series this way? They kept their exasperation in check, rarely raising their voices as they combed fine details for any new revelation. For now, I just want the reader to know something triggered their interest in what happened to Marlene and leave it at that. If you had to characterize the way the system worked in the Rachanda Pickle case, what words would you use? The last time the two saw each other, Rachanda was in the backseat of a Chevy Blazer headed home. She often wore a black leather jacket that her parents paid for on installments. It was as close to a breakthrough as theyd get. Ackroyd spun the same story from then on. When the family returned to Sweet Home later that week, Melissa wasnt there. It meant losing me in the rotation. I spent considerable time trying to answer this very question. Do you or any of the detectives have any suspicions why it was sealed? Pretty much all the details of the attacks and deaths are sickening in the series. We felt and processed their profound grief. 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. First thing I thought of was: How can you be hurt in this kind of beauty?" Gillmore knew Ackroyd had abducted a runner near Highway 20. When cops went back to her years later, she apparently felt more at ease talking about what really happened. A dozen or so work crews called the junction home. Overseas, he was investigated for selling marijuana and going AWOL. She clung to her boots, which shed grabbed from the clearing. John | Facts, Reign, Legacy, Family Tree, & Magna Carta And it had not been told, said Bottomly, now the Oregonians editor. Now and then, like here, you use complex sentences. Now, a woman had gone missing, triggering a massive search that made headlines clear to Portland: Husband fears kidnap: Turner searchers losing hope, one read in The Oregonian four days later. And to explain why this story has currency and impact today. In 1992, he was sentenced to five life terms in prison for the abduction and murder of Kaye Turner. Melissas parents awoke to find the young women gone, their tent empty. [5] It was my way of saying the state felt they had enough to prove this case and thats as close as this case would get to justice. This is a woman who has suffered in silence, alone, for decades, and here she was getting this kind of delayed justice. Now and then, like here, you use complex sentences. In passing, the piece mentioned that the killer might have been involved in other murders. 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. Marlene Gabrielsen was John Ackroyd's first known victim, and the one who survived. Its dramatic and I wanted to draw it out for the reader. 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. Linda Ackroyd, who now goes by the last name Monville, says she doesnt know if Ackroyd molested her daughter. He thought she was pretty, he said, and noticed that shed begun to develop. katelyn akins disappearance. I built this profile from those various sources. It ended with a gripping five-part, 7,000 word narrative, a gallery of haunting photos and a heartbreaking documentary that leave no doubt about the guilt of a serial killer, but precious little solace for his victims. There was nothing in the record that showed where this request came from or why it had been sought. Please take me home.. You end this section by withholding what happened with the grand jury. Now we knew that he was definitively linked to this little girls case. Structurally, why did you decide to break here for a biography of Ackroyd? He returned to duty last year as a volunteer deputy with the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office. And Harmon hadnt uncovered any physical evidence linking Ackroyd to Rachandas disappearance. The process compounded his grief. After one year, the couple divorced, but they continued to live together with Linda's children. We encourage you to research and examine . She thinks those factors played a role in their handling of the investigation. I think I just ran him through one of our databases. bridal shower wording sample for guests not invited to wedding; family life resurrection eggs story printable. My editors, Therese Bottomly and Margaret Haberman, told me over and over to think about scenes and to identify cliffhangers. 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. Besides the journalism awards, what was the reaction? What lay behind this approach? In 1986 he became the . But Ackroyd was already serving a life sentence. His father worked as a truck driver and his mother was a homemaker. Beth Nakamura / The Oregonian/OregonLive. He struggles to breathe and its clear he takes time to move around. Why? My editors, Therese Bottomly and Margaret Haberman, told me over and over to think about scenes and to identify cliffhangers. For a man suspected of murder, Ackroyd was impassive under intense grilling by Salsbery and McAnulty. Sheila often slept away from home but stayed in touch with her mother. Its a testament to taking a second or third look with fresh eyes and newer forensic techniques at old crimes. [1] He married Linda Pickle in the mid-1980s. She and her husband planned to spend a night at the Sisters Rodeo. This is the area where Marlene Gabrielsen was raped off Highway 20 by John Ackroyd. Was that a conscious decision? He was using a paddle at that time. The other man in the truck told police that Ackroyd wasnt the violent type and the woman was drunk. It was the kind of menial task you might give a rookie detective. You were here with her.. Why? Her jeans appeared to have been cut. Despite all the tantalizing coincidences and Ackroyds apparent eagerness to place himself at the scene of the crime, investigators could find no physical evidence definitively linking him to the killing. The reporting team pored over thousands of police reports and court records, interviewed dozens of witnesses, survivors and investigators and traveled out of state to confront a critical source who hadnt responded to their requests for information. If you change your mind and want to show me, Harmon called out, let me know.. Ackroyd heaved his body out of the chair. We talked about this stuff pretty much nonstop at work and when we hung out together outside of work. 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. Kayes killing serves as the cliffhanger at the end of Day 1. How do you know how long it took? Despite having a rape kit showing evidence of the assault, her story was disbelieved by authorities. Happier times. Biography. john arthur ackroyd childhood john arthur ackroyd childhood Ackroyd knew, too, the dirt spurs that led off the highway and into the forest. This time, he drove them up a logging road and into the woods. The young mother managed to survive. Had police believed her, none of the subsequent murders committed by Ackroyd would likely have occurred. What are the chances that two serial killers were active during the same time and place? John Arthur Ackroyd was an American murderer and suspected serial killer. Her hair was matted with sticks and dirt. Ackroyd entered a no contest plea to his stepdaughters murder. How did you track down Laront? Constant references make Highway 20 a character in its own right? Yes, we saw Highway 20 as its own theme and character. Beth Nakamura/ The Oregonian/OregonLive. Eventually, the investigation stalled. I was working with a massive amount of information, a long span of years and a huge slice of Oregon geography. Her husband was abusive and she drifted from Ackroyd. The nut graf is: One woman was raped, four others disappeared. 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. My mom was yelling at John to stop. I spoke with his coworkers and friends. The woman demurred. He steadfastly maintained his innocence, admitting only that he had seen Kaye that morning and found her remains. His parents worked as a maintenance man . Four years after they started, Benson and Snow had strung together enough evidence to take the double murder to a grand jury. These are key characters in this story. 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. Did you use an outline or timeline to keep things straight in this convoluted case? She was 20 at the time. It took weeks the woman had changed her name since the early 1990s but she remembered the men and their names. Sheila Swanson and Melissa Sanders were murdered in 1992, in Lincoln County, Oregon. She went missing in 1990 12 years after Kayes killing and just down the highway. Ackroyd shuffled into the courtroom, where Byron sat in the gallery clutching a photograph of his sister. We bounced ideas off each other and checked facts. He died in prison in 2016.[6][7]. They grew up in small towns about 90 minutes inland on Highway 20 and shared a history infused with drugs and alcohol. Mystery still shrouds much of what happened during Ackroyds final encounters with his victims, and thats not likely to change. That may have also played a role in their response. I wanted to absorb all of the material I had collected and then tell the story with authority. The cause: heart disease. At one point before the trials, investigators had returned to Camp Sherman to re-enact theories of what had happened. Over two decades, four women disappeared and one was raped along the same stretch of road in rural Oregon. Sometimes they would drive away and turn back to get her. They sat around the fire drinking beer. Narrative is not typically what Ive done. On one of our many reporting trips along Highway 20, the three of us tracked down the approximate location of the attack based on Marlenes account and police reports. It was a poignant detail in a horrifying account. By this point, it was time to flesh him out. My footnotes for this passage: Oregonian interview with Byron Pickle: They had paddles. Biography. It was the first time shed seen him since that summer morning. Beth Nakamura / The Oregonian/OregonLive. In 1992, he was sentenced to five life terms in prison for the abduction and murder of Kaye Turner. When you have one you really hang tight to them. What role did she play? My editors advised me at one point to look for ways to mix things up with more complex sentences and longer graphs. Janes heart raced as she crouched over her handlebars and sped toward the nearby country store, listening for the sound of the truck behind her. How did you reconstruct the details included in this long section about Marlenes rape and the aftermath? At the end, we took questions from the audience and I introduced Marlene. I asked her about his clothing. By now, investigators knew who they were dealing with. 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. On a personal level, after the project ran, the Northwest Film Center hosted a free screening of the documentary. 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. Structurally, why did you decide to break here for a biography of Ackroyd? Peter Ackroyd | Biography, Books, & Facts | Britannica Prosecutors didnt have a body. Over two decades, four women disappeared and one was raped off this same stretch of lonely road in rural Oregon, which winds through some of the Northwest's most spectacular scenery. He claimed she turned down his invite . What was your source and why did you use it when so many other times you chose to paraphrase speech? Some of the most important sources never appear in the print component of this project. The focus seemed wrong. He recalled the blood, Ackroyds unlikely story and the odd timing. Ackroyd stopped. Did you discover Jane Morris in the trial transcript? Great verb choice! These are key characters in this story. And Bill Hanlon, the prosecutor who helped put Ackroyd away. How do we create a person's profile? The Oregonian/OregonLives five-part series on John Ackroyd details crimes that include sexual abuse, rape and murder. This detail is so specific. We relied on each other for support. Once, when a clock fell off a shelf, he beat her with a homemade paddle. There were no somber words from the bench about justice served, no deathbed confessions. 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. Why did you open the series this way? It took a lot of force to break them. I wasnt sure what to call it. I tried to picture this scene. My goal all along was to limit reader confusion. Polygraph "test" of Marlene K. Gabrielsen conducted by Sergeant Phil R. Ensminger of the Lane County Sheriff's Office . Most nights, the pair could be found at Sharis in Lebanon, where teens and adults gathered to talk on CB radios and drink coffee. An ominous lead. John Arthur Ackroyd - Wikipedia Seemed like the most hopeful note on which to end a series that didnt offer much light.

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