CRAWFORD COUNTY TRUE CRIME TOUR 2025 : "LITTLE LOST CHILDREN". PART 1
My dear friend and brother in law, David Keith has come for a visit. 40 years ago (or almost) DK was the designated "Senior Young Adult" when we were all young and beautiful. He is an actor (The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Nomadland etc.,) He's a Connecticut Yankee. We lost his dear wife, and my wife's sister, Melissa Smith a few years ago. He's tall, gangly. reserved and thin. A better looking Ichabod Crane.
I had tossed out the idea of showing him the Henryville Murder tour...and he was intrigued. Past visits have led to the quaint streets and river front of Madison Indiana which he loved. Added cinematic interest came from the story of how "Some Came Running" was filmed here in Madison.
We also toured Hanover College and took in the long long river view available there. Before that, we took a drive westerly and telling the tale of one of my wife's favorites of my stories about one of my cases from the 90's, wound up at the Overlook Inn in Leavenworth.
HIRED BY A CHILD*********************
The 'story' begins with me sitting in my office in Jeffersonville @ 1993 when I receive an unusual call.
"Hello Mr. Mosley, my name is Darryl Ruby* and I am calling for my brother"
Me: "What's the story"
DR: "My brother is in the Crawford County Jail. They got him charged with Arson. Say he burned down the Leavenworth General Store. He's just 17."
Me: "17? Well how old are you???"
DR: "Me? I am twelve...but we heard you were good and my brother don't need to be in jail".
As one might imagine, twelve year olds from the remote wilds of Indiana don't usually have a pot full of money to hire lawyers with...but I was intrigued and I worked something out with the family. My client was, indeed, 17 years old. I called him "Stringbean" because he was about 6' 3" tall and probably weighed in at about 110 lbs. Like my bro-in law, he was another Ichabod Crane.
Prosecuting was my dear friend Cheryl Hillenburg. I love Cheryl. She is tiny, ferocious as a terrier but with a heart and an eye for being fair. She was also sensitive to the fact that the community demanded something be done because, though no one was hurt, the Leavenworth General Store had been burned.
The General Store was well over a century old and was a beloved community fixture. It was still going strong in the 1990 when this incident occurred. The people of the town...even the county demanded justice! My client, though a juvenile, was quickly waived into adult court along with his two co-defendants who had been in on the caper. I fought the waiver arguing Stringbean had no...ZERO criminal record but...twas not to be. He would face real adult prison!
***************************** MOTIVE***********************************
In the world of criminal law, the young lawyer swiftly learns that "motive" is NOT an element of crime. the Prosecutor does not have to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, WHY someone committed a crime...only that a crime was committed. Motive belongs more in the world of criminal investigation ...that if you can figure out why a crime occurred , you may often learn WHO committed the crime.
But, as all good trial lawyers know, you don't have to have a motive...but it sure is easier to sell a story to a jury if you have a nice understandable motive. So, whether you are a prosecutor or a defense lawyer, it's a good idea to figure out just what was the MOTIVE?
In my case, my mild mannered client hardly seemed the type to be a fire bug. I have represented several arsonists in my near 40 year career. So I flatter myself to be able to judge the 'type'. For example, We had a 'home grown' fire bug in Jeffersonville, "Bobby"* that I was appointed by the judge to represent. My client then was a lone wolf with a gruff voice, a somewhat childish demeanor and lived with his mom and dad at age 40+. He was accused of burning down an empty house. I learned, while investigating the case, the local city fire chief was well aware of his proclivity. Poor Bobby would get all wound up like a top with tension and anxiety that only setting big fire seemed could relieve. Rather than try to stop it...the chief recommended he set fire to garbage dumpsters....that seemed to provide the relief urgently needed. This worked well for Bobby for a few years. But then, his urges got the best of him. But, it sort of took the starch out of the prosecutors case when they learned that, actually, the chief of the fire department was actually urging him to set fires in town.
One sunny day, when that case was over, I was having a cup of coffee at a sidewalk table. Bobby rolled up on a motor scooter. He was smoking a cigar. On the floorboard of the scooter were two gas cans.
Heyyh Misher Moossely! Thranks a millions for hellllping me wifth my case!" OMG.
So far as I know....no. buildings were burnt down that day.
Anyway, back to Stringbean. I wanted to understand if he had done it and if so, why did they do it? One of the other juveniles had already confessed so there wasn't to much mystery about the "DID you do it" part. I mean, the building had been burnt and the other boy admitted. So here's what the story was...
********"Why to burn down a general store"****************************
Well, it was another Saturday night out in what city folk call 'the boonies'. Leavenworth isn't much of a 'town'. You might call it just a hamlet. There's a church, the Overlook restaurant and the general store. Stringbean was riding around in one of his friends cars. It was dark. There was nothing to do. They decided to pull a caper. Somebody had the idea to break into the General Store and steal some candy. They also had nice pocket knives in there so they nabbed a couple pocketfuls of candy and a few pocket knives. Stringbean was assigned the job of 'lookout'. He stayed in the car and watched for 'the cops'. Entry was made by busting out a window of a door in the rear of the building. The caper was a success!! The boys hopped in the car and away they went with their loot! YAY!!!
But, as they drove around the dark country roads, gobbling their stolen candy...one of the boys got to thinking...."Wait...we didn't use gloves. Our fingerprints will be all over that place".
Now, here is where if, like me, you have been around criminal cases for a long good while you want to just slap the shit out of these kids. So, sure, this qualifies as a 'burglary' under the law....but...nobody...I mean NOBODY is going to get too excited and vengeful for a few teen boys stealing some candy and pocket knives. Next, nobody...and I mean NOBODY is going to do a CSI like forensic investigation of a broken door window and dna, laser testing of the inside of a ....PUBLIC place where everyone in the county's fingerprints are apt to be found. OMG. But, our young would be Dillingers were too young and ignorant to know that.
And so, it was decided to circle BACK to the scene of the crime....and BURN THE BUILDING DOWN to destroy the evidence of them breaking in to steal, literally candy bars and knives. Once again Stringbean was the lookout.
The criminal master minds had just turned their misdemeanor juvenile court cases into High Felony cases in Adult Court. BRILLIANT!!! (as my buddy Stan would have said).
********************************************************************
* ( I have changed the names of these folks to spare them any embarrassment)
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