MARC’S REPORT ABOUT TONICA EVENT 1953 4,000 Words

. Marc W. Kohler

73 Moorland Avenue

Cranston, Rhode Island 02905

401-785-3250

February 27, 1996

Federal Bureau of Investigation

10 Dorrance Street

Providence, Rhode Island 02903

To Whom It May Cocern:

The purpose of this statement is to describe a murder that I

believe that I witnessed in July 1953, and my attempts to

discover the truth of those memories. The second reason is to

request the FBI’s help since I have concluded that the murder was

covered up, and that people in the area of the event continue to

cover it up. Finally, if my memories are true, then I also

remember a second murder which I would like to research, and the

potential exists that the perpetrators of these two murders may

have committed as many as a dozen other killings .

.I am sorry if this statement is long, but I want to cover as much

as I think you need.

The memories:

On the morning of December 1, 1995, I woke up from a dream with

a memory of taking a little girl about four or five years old

from a cabin when I was a little boy. She came with me, and my

Father and I drove her to a campsite near a rQad. Once there, we

both had sex with her. I believe that my Father took both still

and 16mm movie pictures of the events. There were other sexual

acts which I remembered in bits and pieces. About a week later,

I remembered watching as my Father strangled her and buried her,

wr~pped in a blanket and tied with a yellow cord. She wore no

clothes. Other memories have come back including seeing a second

girl, maybe two years old, raped, photographed and killed, too,

but I cannot remember the details of that murder enough to place

it in any specific state.

Are these memories real?

Repressed memories are certainly a difficult subject to discuss.

The outrageous nature of these memories has left me shocked, and

depressed. So, if it turned out that they are not true, Dr.

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Jonathon Wolston(401-421-0060)has asuured me that they would then

be a cover for other memories. I have been seeing him and Dr.

Richard Dannenfelser(401-331-9120) for post traumatic stress

syndrome from childhood sexual abuse which until December, I had

had no memory of any specific incidents.

So, are these memories true?

1. Dr. Wolston told me that my physiological reaction to the

memories, feelings of terror, helplessness, deep sadness and

guilt, and the loss of ability to function effectively in the

world all pointed to the memories being real since false memories

do not usually create such a reaction.

2. There is one memory which I have had ever since I was an

adult, I have remembered seeing baby shoes stuck on the tops of

two small saplings which had been cut off about two feet off of

the ground. I have always thought that I saw these shoes in some

trees near my original home in New Jersey, but after visiting

there in 1980, I learned that the place that I thought I saw

these shoes did not exist. There were no trees near the end of

my street; Overlook Avenue ends at a straight drop to a railraod

track. .

3. In May of this year, I was driving on Route 37 West to Route 2

South. When I came bff of the ramp onto 2 South just North of

the Medical Center, I no longer knew where I was. I drove back

up onto 37 East, and did not know where I was until I reached

Post Road. Dr. Wolston thinks this was a flash back to the drive

that I, my Father and the little girl took to the forest where

she was killed.

4. Have Iexperienecd hypnotism? Yes. From October 1995 to May

of 1995, when I could afford health insurance, Dr. Wolston did

about five hypnotism sessions. These sessions were called

“surveys” of feelings about specific subjects such as “Sex”, “My

Father”, “Humiliation”, etc. I did not have any memories during

these sessions except the image of my Father’s shirt at the end

of the “Humiliation” survey.

5. I ~ pretty much have remembered the details of both

incidents in my memory including details of her clothes and my

Father’s actions. If you need specifics as to what occurred, and

how she was treated, I can provide those, but they may not be

needed for the purposes of this statment unless you deem it

necessary. For instance, in the second killing, at one point, I

was asked to wash the girl’s body with a hose since it had gotten

covered with sand and dirt. She does not respond to the cold

water, so I have concluded that she was dead at that point.

What exactly was the crime and how was it committed? What 1S the

background of the perpetrators, and why would I think that my

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Father, and one of his acquaintances would be capable of such

acts?

My Father and Mother met at an art studio run by a Mr. and Mrs.

Wally in New York City in 1940. Mr. Wally was an engineer, and

Mrs. Wally was a professional illustrator specializing in drawing

children. Her work appeared in the John Wanamaker Catalogs of

that period. I speculate that these were pedophiles and

pornographers, and your records may back this up. Another

photographer, Fred Rundey, would convince young women from the

New York YWCA to have films made of themselves as a way of making

“commercials” for the studio. At that time, though, there would

have been no place to show such a “commercial”. Another

photographer named Walter Crocker or Crockett from New Jersey was

named by my Aunt Phyllis as also being connected to this group,

though neither my mother or aunt think anything was wrong with

these studios. It is purely speculation on my part.

At my parents wedding which was held in Elmhurst, Illinois, in

1943, my Father met Thomas Pryde, who was the accomplice to the

killing that I witnessed.

The Murder:

The vicitm was Karen Smith(b. approx. 1947, Chicago, Illinois).

My memory was that she was named Anne, Andrea, or Adriana

“Stone”, and when we leave the cabin where she was staying, she

acted like she knew us, or more specifically, knew my father.

Karen and one of her oldersisters(I do not know how many

children were in the Smith family), Sandra, grew up in a troubled

neighborhood of Chicago. The two girls had been referred to

social services due to child sexual abuse, and were, in part,

being cared for by the Onward Neighborhood House, an adoption

agency, with help from volunteers. from the Elmhurst

Congregational Church. My Grandmother, Mrs. Blanche Kelley was

bringing the two girls home one day to the Smith house, and

discovered Mrs. Smith on the floor of the kitchen, having a baby.

At that point, my Grandmother removed the two girls from their

home, and for awhile they stayed with my Grandparents and ~enJ~

members of the Congregation. At some point in 1952, they ended

up staying with Mr. Thomas and Alice Pryde on their

pheasant/turkey farm in Tonica, Ilinois. The Pryd~ planned to

adopt the two girls.

In June of 1953, my Father, George Matthew Kohler(Deceased

2/19/94), my Mother Janet Kelley Kohler, my brother, Roger(b.

4/20/45), and myself(b.12/3l/47) went to Ilinois to celebrate

the fortieth wedding anniversery of Blanche and Dewitt

Kelley(originally from Oglesby, Ill.), my mother’s parents. The

wedding annivserery occurred on 6/25/53, and the party was held

on Sunday 6/28/53. At the party, Tom and Alice Pryde told

everyone that Karen had returned to “the home” or “her home”

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becasue “she did not like the farm.”

It is my opinion that Karen was not returned to the “horne”, but

was placed at a cabin about 2 miles from the farm. I do not know

who would have taken care of her or whether both Mr. and Mrs.

Pryde were involved in this ruse. Then, on Thursday, July 2 or

Friday, July 3, I traveled with my father to take Karen from the

cabin, abuse her, kill and bury her. When my·father killed her,

he said to me, “You will always obey me, or else!”

Evidence and Cover-up:

I will try to organize this in a way that places the most

important evidence first, and not in chronological order as I

encountered it.

1. Ellen King, her cousin, and mother: Ellen and her husband

Ben King own Kishauwau on the Vermillion, a group of cabins on

the Vermillion River in Tonica which was owned by the Boy Scouts

in the 50s; I called the campground looking for a commercial

cabin operation which had had a history of a kidnapped child.

This was before I realized that Karen was not kidnapped, but

allowed to be taken by her adoptive father.

While they had no memory of a kidnapping, Ellen did remember that

the body of a little girl had been found in Tonica. A dog found

her head, and then her cousin remembered that the body was found

later “wrapped and tied in a blanket.” Ellen remembers it

vividly occurring when she was six years old, which would have

been before May of 1954. She does not know how she heard of it.

Her Father worked for Marquette Mining, and cleared land for the

company. At least five skeletons were found on that land and

buried in the Lowell Cemetary. (See Josepoh Lyle Ott, below). So,

it is possible that Karen’s body was found, but never made it

into the newspapers of the area at the time.

2. Who was Thomas Pryde? Torn er~de worked for the Lasalle

county road department until his ~etirement. When he retired,

he raised turkeys and/or pheasants, and gave them away at

Thanksgiving. He served as a Supervisor of Vermillion township

for many, many years. According to Joseph Lyle Ott, the

caretaker for the Lowell cemetary, when Torn Pryde died, the

filing cabinet in his house with all the death records from the

township disappeared, and its contents have never been found.

There is a Pryde Photo Shop in Oglesby, Illinois, and I would

like to find out exactly what kind of films are being processed

there today.

3. What has local Law Enforcement done about my memories? When I

first conta,cted the Center for Missing and Exploited Children

about my memories, they referred my name and number to the New

Jersey and Illinois State Police Departments. I received a call

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from a Captain Temple from the New Jersey State

Police(609-882-2893)within 48 hours of the referral. At that

point, I did not know where the cabins of my memory w~nor the

name of the little girl, but he and I concluded that the cabins

could not have been within driving distance of my home in

Belville, New Jersey.

I NEVER received a call from the Illinois State Police. I

finally called them, and reported to them my memories and

suspicions. I spoke to Ms. Stephanie Peske(217-785-3324), who is

a civilian# and who answers the Missing Children’s line for the

Illinois State Police. I have spoken to her many, many times,

keeping her filled in on everything that I discovered. She has

claimed to have sent a report “up North”, but to this day, I have

not gotten one call from an officer of the Illinois State Police.

At the Sherriff’s Office of LaSalle County(815-433-2161), I spoke

to the Sherriff, Don Maggi who turned it over to a Captain

Templeton. Captain Templeton spoke to me once, but has refused

to take any of my calls, or return any of my calls for six

weeks. The Chief Deputy Coroner, Ms. Jodi Bernard(815-434-8268),

was the only person who gave me more than the time of day. In fact,

she did her best to find the record of Karen’s body being found,

but she explained to me that the records for that time-period

were kept in individual’s homes, and the county records were far

from complete. On the other hand, Captain Templeton did not say

anything about missing records. He said, and quite emphatically,

that NO BODY was found in LaSalle County in either 1954 or 1953.

I have no idea why he would say something like that unless he was

trying to hide something, and that is why I decided to contact

the FBI. He acted like he knew the Pryde who owns the photo

shop.

Mr. Harlan Warren,(815-433-0l41)the State’s Attorney for LaSalle

County in 1953, also has no memory of a body being found. Howard

Ryan, the past Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, was

Mr. Warren’s Assistant, and he has no memory of it either. The

question is how can the King family remember it so vividly, but

no one in law enforcement does?

4. My mother’s story changed from December I to today. My

mother knows that my Doctor and I think I that I was sexually

abused as a child. When my memories carne back, I told her that I

thought the incidents occurred while we were visiting in Ilinois

in 1953~ I DID NOT TELL HER THAT I SUSPECTED THAT MY FATHER WAS

THE PERPETRATOR. Each time we have spoken about it, I have said

that I cannot see the perpetrator’s face.

In the beginning she said that the two girls at the Pryde Farm

were sisters, but during the first week of January, she changed

this story, claiming that the second girl. “Never was at the farm

much, was not a sister, and was as old or older than Sandi

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do. Martha describe’s Sandy as being a “very private person.”

One problem that I realize in this is that sooner or later, if my

memories are true, my mother will find out what I remembered. If

she has to know, I would like to be informed first.

6. The Streator Library

Libraries will do research for people based on the

difficulty of the request and the time available. In December, I

contacted many newspapers, and most of them referred me to their

local libraries to find the microfiche for the 1950s. Darren

Walker at the LaSalle News Tribune started doing this at the

request of Jodi Bernard. I spoke with Ms. Mary Defenbaugh at the

Streator Library to see if they had any reports of a body being

found reported in the Streator Times Press. She went through the

summer of 1953 up to December 31, 1953. Then, she said she

was “working” on the period after 12/31/53. When I called up two

weeks later, she very coldly informed me that she could not work

on this project anymore, and that if I wanted any information, I

should contact the LaSalle County Sheriff’s Department. If you

remember, this is the same office that refused to respond to my

calls. Her attitude was one of a person who had been “ordered” to

do something. I let it go, but called her again this week. This

time I offered her $ 8.00/hour to continue her search. She said

she did not have the time. I do not believe her. The economy is

not good enough, nor is $ 8.00/hour a low wage for doing this

kind of research. She said she did not have the time. I believe

she found out something, and someone has told her not to talk to

me about it.

Conclusions:

I think someone knows about this crime, and that there are others

murdered in this area. It is possible that the five corpse’s

found on the Marquette land mihgt be related to this group. Even

if Karen Smith is still alive, I know what I saw, and I think

people are preventing me from finding out the truth. During my

search, I not only found out that Tom Pryde had destroyed all the

death records in his home, but I also discovered that all the

death records be~re 1988 from Putnam County are also missing,

and the ones before 1993 are still being held by the previous

Death Inspector(Bobby Covoid 815-339-2231) Martha Yauch, the

current Death Inspector(815-663-5511), has no records dated

before her term started. I believe that these are not accidental

happenings. I wonder if the State Records are anywhere complete

for these counties over these time periods? Why would death

records have to be destroyed or hidden unless there were no

matching records at the State level? This suggests to me a

serious attempt to hide records in order to cover-up murders.

If my memories are accurate, that my father killed more than one

child, then he might have killed many more. Dr. Tulio

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Pryde.” She claims this to be true today. My Aunt Phyllis, Mr.

Richard Stare(303-777-1238), told me that the two girls were

defintelky sisters, and my conversation with Mrs. Martha McGinty

conferred this, too.

My mo~her was told that the reason that we had to go to Tonica

instead of staying in Elmhurst with her parents was because her

older brother, my Uncle Dewitt, was coming to town, and he and

his wife did not get along with my father. Aunt Phyllis pointed

out that Dewitt and Ida Kelley NEVER came to Elmhurst that week.

I believe that Karen was the reason for the trip to Tonica.

Last Friday, I finally contacted the States Attorney’s Office for

LaSalle County, they did not return my call. All I said was that

I wanted to report a murder from a while ago.

5. Mrs. Martha McGinty(708-741-1530 or 847-741-1530, the codes ~

just changed). Marth~~~s married to John Pryde, Tom and Alice’s ~f~

son. Tom and Alice~~ohn and Margaret twenty years before

adopting Sandy. John died in a car accident, and Mr. Ott told me

that there was a Pryde family row which resulted in Sandy leaving

Illinois and moving to Texas. In fact, when she left Illinois,

she took back her name of origin, “Smith”. For three decades, my

family told me that Sandy had gotten married, and her husband’s

name was Smith.

She is in communication with Sandy Olsen-Smtih, but would not let

me have her number or address. I had first told her that I was

writing a short story about two girls who went to a farm, and one

was returned to “the home”, but the other wasn’t. After three

days, I called her back, and told her the truth of my memories.

That was on Monday, February 26, 1996. To this day, I have not

heard back f~m her. She thinks that Karen is alive and well,

and thinks that she and Sandy spoke about her about five years .~

ago. -”’-<. (‘l.,\~ ~ +h~ ~’t- W””” ~-‘)~ ~ 4. I ~ ip,;;j<..e-“,- 1v SC<,.v t

Surely, there is a possibility that my memories could be of

another child, and if Karen is, in fact, alive, then that would

mean that I do not know the identity of the girl I saw killed,

but I still can research the body remembered by the King Family.

On the other hand, it seems truly suspicious that a girl of five

would not “like a farm.” Why would the social services allow

sisters to be separated? If Karen WAS placed in another home,

how would Sandy know? Aren’t adoptions secret? Mr. Durley

Boyle(815-925-7393), the State’s Attorney for that time in Putnam

County, Illinois, responded to my search, and said that he could

file for a court order to release Karen’s adoption records if we

thought she was a victim of a violent crime.

Due to my financial position, I have lost the long distance

calling on my telephone, so I have not been able to follow-up

with Martha again this week. This is something I would like to

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Pitassi(401–732-5656) from the Kent County Mental Health Center’

“is, an expe rf on,’childpo’rnography and ”’snuff”movies~'” He ha s

pointed’out that thes~ kind of movies wer~ being.made··~~ the.·

.~ifties~ and.Iamtrying to gethi~ to see if the image~ that I

rememb.ei.are~ j”n’fact\·available as.movies. So, if such- is the

case , I would. like .t.o.resea rch my father “s travel record’s and ‘. ~

co~mpare it to missing children in the area~ where, he. traveled~~

~nd ultimately; discove~ if.~ny of his accomplices are, stilt

acti’ve today. In his career, he had unlimited access to

: p~otographicsupplies. I would also like to check the old

invoices from his place of busiJ;1ess,and see if they ever billed

.~ _ph’?to.s,t.uC!io i~ the Tonica/Oglesby area z . _ v::’;” .

So~eth{ng’is not right here. I spoke with Darren Walker a~ the

Lasalle News Tribune. He called me after being asked by Jody

Bernard,; the Lasalle County Assistant Coroner. to research the

existence” of’ ariy Baby Does. being found in”1953-54 sLnce her

record~ did not have any. He was quite enthusiaisticto do the

,.”.re·seaf:ch to fLnd. the Baby Doe, .but; after, three weeks, he “never

.;found’the lime’ to look it Up.lI· Now ,’it s.eefns, that he too, does

‘not have the tim~ to do such a search, but I do not ~hink he or ‘

.hi s-assoc i a-te-have been able- to f i.nd anything. . .

I think this tight knit community is closi nq ranks to protect a

‘killer ~nd 1)is accomplices. If I had the money, I would fly out

to Illionis;and·try to get to the bottom of thi~ .. I am willing

to iay odds thq.t photographs of where they found Karen’s body

[.”._:will’conf1.rm my memories, ‘and reven be Li.ev evt hat.f her.e may be a’

. photograph’ of hei«shoes_ orr..t.sheo tree sapling .s.t.umps.o:.Fur.ther,_.

why has no one’ from. the III Lno i s State’ Police ever’ contacted me?

I woul~ like to confirm my memories, and I would like to find, out

who _is’ trying to hide all these deathrecrods .aridwhy?

Anot.hers issue has to do with the reliability of NCIC computer.

Chief Deputy’ corone r.Bernard ran a missing’ person last year in’ .

‘the 60mputer, and theri rin a’Jane Dow ~ith the s~me description.

Th~ co~puter did not find the match.· ..~urther; with death records

sealed, {t is ~lmosi im~os~ible’to match missing p~o~le with

unknowns. I think some effort shquld be made at a national level

to record ALL, past and present, unknowns and start matching them

to missing people reports. The situation, as it stands now, is

that if a perpetrator crosse~ state or courity’lines, the chances

of being caught are nil. The system militates iri favor of the

perpetrators. .

,

One last question, cahthe FBI help in trackin~pedpphiles on a

national basis? I ‘would suggest that the molesting of children be

made a Federal offense. Every day in Rhode Island, there are two

to thre’e-‘convictions of’maleci1ild-rriolesters. This means t.hat” –

every’ year, there are a hundrerd molesters who make it to jail

~helpes hundreds more escape discovery. For every active

activ pedophile there are hundred of victims.

This has to stop. 90%

of all drug users were physically, emotionally, or sexually

abused as children. By the time a child reaches school age, the

die has been cast.

I would suggest that convicted peodophiles be given whatever

therapy necessary to discover who their perpetrators were. Then,

we would be able to find the full extent of the perpetrator’s

history, and track done other possible offenders. I know that

this sounds like a modern day witch hunt, but I am sure pedophiles

are taking advantage of whatever rights that they have to violate

the law. If Tom Pryde and my Father, were able to kidnap and

murder Karen Smith with impunity, and now with the protection of

active law enforcement officials in Lasalle County, then it is no

exaggeration to think more capable and more organized pedophiles

are operating with much more success today.

Old Crimes? Surely, if I had the money or the position, I could

hire private detectives to research the truth of my memories and

even explore the integrity of current officials in LaSalle

county, but I don’t. Still, when I wanted to find the truth of

my memories, all that was available to me were current and active

law enforcement officers. This means that to explore an old murder,

the officer would have to take time away from current crimes.

So, perhaps there is a way to set aside some time, efforts, or

fund to discover and solve old crimes. I strongly believe that

they serve as a source of present day perpetrators, and the

solving of old crimes will lead to solving present day crimes,

and apprehending present perpetrators.

Thank you for your considertation in these matters.

Sincerely yours,

Marc Kohler