Editor’s Note:
Molly Rink, Part 2 will publish next week.
It was a dark and stormy night. Well… maybe not. I have always wanted to start a mystery story that way, so please allow me some literary license. This is a Halloween story after all. Facts are facts, but I have added some drama. Anyway, let me continue the story.
All seemed normal as Eleanor Jones walked home late from her job on that August Monday night in 1973. Later that night Bessie, Eleanor’s assistant at Oldland and Co. received a mysterious call. The male voice informed her that Eleanor would be absent. An emergency had come up. Eleanor’s mother was sick and Eleanor had left for Grand Junction to catch a plane. Bessie was new to her job and did not suspect anything unusual. Bessie called Mrs. Audrey Oldland to pass on the message. No one found this unusual. Eleanor had taken off several times before in the past.
Mrs. Oldland was not concerned at all until the next evening. Eleanor had not followed up to tell her how much time she would be taking off. Audrey Oldland found this out of character. Eleanor and Audrey were friends. The next morning, Audrey decided to contact Eleanor’s mother in Crowley. As soon as Mrs. Adkinson answered the phone sounding very much un-sick, Mrs. Oldland knew something was not right. The quick-thinking Mrs. Oldland pretended this was just a casual call and did not mention Eleanor being missing. She did not want to needlessly alarm Eleanor’s mother. After hanging up, Mrs. Oldland immediately called the Sheriff’s Office.
Undersheriff Ron Hilkey took the call. Calls to other relatives resulted in no useful information. Hilkey and Mrs. Oldland decided to go to Eleanor’s house. They were greeted at the door by Don Hoerl, a gentleman known to be residing with the widow Jones. Don seemed to be relaxed and at ease as Hilkey asked if he knew where Eleanor could be contacted. They were using a clever ruse so as not to not alert Mr. Hoerl. Ron explained that Mrs. Oldland needed Eleanor’s help in finding some bookkeeping records. Hoerl repeated the story that Eleanor was on a trip and that he also was expecting a call from Eleanor. When Mr. Hilkey quizzed Hoerl on Eleanor’s alleged trip, flight number and hotel arrangements Hoerl could not answer, which concerned Hilkey. Undersheriff Hilkey returned to the office and checked with the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department.
Close friends were becoming concerned and revealed that Eleanor had become increasingly afraid of Hoerl. Friends said Hoerl became infuriated when he saw Eleanor with another man. Albert Kirkpatrick, Hoerl’s boss, commented that Hoerl had been acting strange for weeks.
Undersheriff Ron Hilkey visited Hoerl again and asked politely if he could look around the house. Being a cautious man, Hilkey loosened the pistol in his holster before entering. Not finding any clues, Hilkey stood next to a chest-style freezer while conversing with Hoerl. As Hilkey leaned on the freezer, he was overcome by an urge to open the freezer. He also knew that if he opened it without a search warrant, anything he found might not be admissible in court.
By Thursday, with fears mounting, authorities decided to search the house for clues. Deputy District Attorney George Benner and Sheriff Bob Kracht entered through the garage and checked the furnace room while Ron Hilkey checked the car and then walked inside to continue the search. He walked directly to the freezer that had earlier given him such suspicions. As he opened it, he found the usual frozen food packages on top, but they were scattered over something wrapped in brown plastic bags. When Hilkey moved one of the packages, he could see human toes, a foot, frozen hard and white. Astonished, he called out to Kracht and Benner. The coroner, Dr. Dave Eskelson was called in and a manhunt started for Hoerl.
A warrant was issued for the arrest of Don Hoerl, the prime suspect in the strangulation of Eleanor Jones. A description of his 1963 Chevrolet pickup and his description of 6 feet, 170 pounds, brown hair, hazel eyes, and dark mustache was posted in hopes of catching the fugitive. Hoerl was last seen in Meeker buying a few groceries about 10:30 a.m. Thursday. He left town without a trace. His picture was circulated, and someone reported seeing him traveling between Baggs, Wyoming and Crescent Junction. Don Hoerl was headed for the Canadian border. He was familiar with the Northwest and went into hiding.
Hoerl crossed back into the U.S. and was captured by the authorities in St. Maries, Idaho, on Aug. 29, 1973. He was returned to Colorado where he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, strangling poor Eleanor in a jealous rage. Hoerl confessed to choking Eleanor while she sat in her chair, then dragging her into the bedroom. There was still movement, so Hoerl placed a pillow over her face, suffocating her. Hoerl was paroled just over seven years after killing Eleanor and ghoulishly storing her body in a freezer.
Ron Hilkey talked to Hoerl off the record later and asked him bluntly, what would have happened if Hilkey had opened the freezer the day he leaned on it. Hoerl told him, “One of us would have died that day.”
By ED PECK
