CRIME HUNTER: Did mob murder women who vanished from Indiana Dunes?
· Toronto Sun
See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source
With every passing minute, the temperatures in Chicagoland tilted ever closer to scorching.
Visit somethingsdifferent.biz for more information.
On July 2, 1966, Chicago experienced the kind of summer day that would be described as “oppressive.” Temperatures would hit a scorching 34 C. By 10 a.m., it was already 31 C and soaring past 33 C at lunchtime.
There was not a cloud in the sky, only figuratively. Hovering over the good vibes that Fourth of July weekend was the distant war in Vietnam that was delivering the children of the working class home in body bags and closer to home, racial tensions simmered.
Indiana Dunes was perfect on a hot day
But with a boffo soundtrack and sunshine, that weekend seemed like a good time to go to the beach, cool off in Lake Michigan and catch some rays at Indiana Dunes State Park along the southern shore. Less than an hour east, it was an ideal escape from the sweltering city.
And that was exactly what Ann Miller, 21, and her girlfriends, Patricia Blough, 19, and Renee Bruhl, 19, decided to do. The trio arrived at the beach around 10 a.m. that Saturday and planted themselves about 100 yards from the water’s edge.
“I saw her the day before,” Blough’s sister Janice told Dateline NBC in 2023 . “She was still living at home, but she was coming in at all hours of the day and night.”
On July 2, 1966, Patricia never made it home. Nor did her friends.
The investigation was a head scratcher out of the starting gate. What could have happened to the women?
Who was the mystery man?
Indiana State Police said that the trio were spotted “sunning themselves, swimming, and talking.” ISP Capt. Ron Galaviz noted they “were last seen boarding a Tri-Maran-type boat” described as white with a turquoise interior. It was between 16 and 18 feet long.
Captaining the vessel was a well-tanned, lone white male, about 20 or 22, with wavy dark hair and wearing a beach jacket. Miller, Blough and Bruhl boarded the vessel and sailed westward. They were never seen again.
At sunset, they noticed that the beachgoers’ blankets and belongings remained in the sand.
“She was my big sister and I loved being with her,” Janice Morandi said. “I loved her dearly.”
Cops suspected the women were murdered but at first glance, none of them seemed the type to become victims of kidnapping let alone homicide. But there was one red flag that drew the cops attention.
Heiress’s body was never found
All three were enthusiastic horsewomen who rode their steeds at George Jayne’s Tri-Color Stables. And among the items recovered from the beach were phone numbers for George and Silas Jayne.
Silas Jayne was a gangster suspected in a slew of deaths over several decades, including the suspected 1977 murder of Brach’s Candy heiress, Helen Vorhees Brach. Her body has also never been found. Jayne was tight with the Chicago Outfit.
The brother’s feuded and George’s assistant, Cheryl Rude, was blown to smithereens when a bomb went off under her car. Cops suspect the young women may have seen who planted the bomb. But luckily for Jayne, the sheriff who planned to investigate was mysteriously killed in a farming accident.
Notably, one of Jayne’s henchmen had a boat similar to the one seen at Indiana Dunes. Oddly, investigators were told the boat was destroyed by fire.
“She was a wonderful person,” Janice said, adding that the siblings spent hours with their horses. “I wanted to be with her all the time. We would walk, I mean, probably 25 miles to get to a horse farm. We would do anything to be around horses.”
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
‘I’m in terrible trouble’
Deep down she knew her sister was dead, noting that a day before she disappeared Patricia “looked scared.”
“She started crying. She never cried,” Janice said. “She said, ‘I’m in terrible trouble.’”
At the time, her sister was dating a married man. A query if she was pregnant elicited a vague response.
Twenty years after the women vanished, the Chicago Tribune ran a bombshell story on the case stating that one of the trio was pregnant. That led to whispers of an offshore abortion mill, the sort of thing controlled by the Mafia in the pre-Roe v. Wade era.
“The rumour was maybe they were performing abortions and, you know, to do an abortion on water,” Janice said. “Maybe something went wrong and they had to kill them all.”
However, cops said that angle was investigated but there was nothing solid. In addition, Bruhl was having marital problems, suggesting the missing women had run away.
The Tribune reported that police found an unmailed “Dear John” letter in Renee’s purse addressed to her husband, suggesting she wanted to leave him. Again, cops got nowhere on the runaway angle.
Dodgy doings at the track?
But all roads led back to murder, possibly involving the race horse Patricia owned. Again, cops hit a dead end on that avenue of inquiry. However, Galaviz the cop said there was some equine funny business.
“There was one race in question that the jockey of Patricia’s horse may have pulled the horse back so that it did not win the specific race,” he said, adding that the jockey was questioned and fired.
Now, 60 summers have come and gone since the mysterious events at Indiana Dunes. Answers remain blowing in the warm summer breeze.
FOR MORE AMERICAN CRIME STORIES CHECK OUT MY CRIMESCENEUSA SUBSTACK AND SUBSCRIBE