Narrator (Crime House host) (24:15)
In 1984, Mel Willsie was a detective and 16 year veteran of the Marion County Sheriff's Department. He joined the force as a fresh faced 18 year old eager to make his name. Now at 34, he was one of the few detectives in Indiana who hadn't ever been assigned to the Burger Chef case. That was about to change. In November 1984, six years after the Burger Chef murders, Nell received a tip from an Indianapolis Star reporter. A man incarcerated at the Pendleton Correctional Facility while wanted to speak to someone about those four kids who got killed in Speedway back in 1978. More specifically, he wanted to confess to killing them. After spending his whole adult life chasing criminals, Mel was immediately wary, especially after finding out who the inmate was and what he had to gain by confessing. 34 year old Donald Wayne Forrester was just starting a 95 year sentence for a 1979 sexual assault and kidnapping. During the crime, he repeatedly assaulted a young woman at gunpoint in the backseat of his car while an accomplice drove. The woman was terrified Forrester was going to shoot her, so she leaped from the moving car and ran to a nearby house for help. Now, two years later, Forrester was the one asking for help. He was scheduled for a transfer to the state prison in Michigan City, Indiana as a sex offender. Forrester feared for his life at the state pen where his crimes would be severely looked down upon in exchange for a confession in the Burger Chef murders. He wanted to stay out of Michigan City. Mel Willsie initially thought this was just another red herring. Forrester had plenty of time while awaiting his trial to read up on the Burger Chef murders. He knew how eager investigators were to solve this particular case and that they'd be willing to do him a favor if he could help them solve it. So Mel moved slowly. First he investigated Forrester's past to confirm if it was even possible that he was the killer. That part of the story checked out. Forrester was living in Speedway at the time, having just gotten out of prison for another sex crime. Next, Mel wanted to see if Forrester knew anything about the case that he couldn't have read in the papers. Detectives applied for a court order to bring Forster to Marion County Jail in downtown Indianapolis. The order was approved and Mel spent more than two years working with Forster to obtain hard evidence. The more Mel talked to his new suspect, the more legitimate his story seemed. Here's what Donald Forrester told Mel about the night of November 17, 1978. James Frate, Jane's brother who was arrested for selling cocaine, owed money to a local gang of drug dealers. Forrester was one of them. That Friday night, Forrester and three of his associates broke into the Speedway Burger Chef. Their plan was to threaten 20 year old Jane. They hoped she'd be scared enough to put the pressure on her brother to pay up. But 16 year old Mark Flemmonds, who was already well over 6ft tall and studied karate, had made Jane a promise. That summer, after a string of fast food robberies nearby, he told Jane he'd protect her if anything ever happened at Burger Chef. According to Forrester, Mark kept his word. The fight took Mark and the drug dealers back out of the restaurant towards the gang's van. As they continued to scuffle, Mark's head struck the bumper of the van and he collapsed. The dealers believed they'd killed him in full view of his three co workers, Jane, Ruth and Daniel. They'd signed up to scare a young 20 year old woman, not to do time for murder. The criminals panicked and forced all four Burger Chef employees into their van. They thought Mark was already dead and planned to dump his body. The dealers didn't want to leave any witnesses so they planned to kill the other three employees there too. The story sounded plausible, but Mel still needed hard evidence. So he asked Forrester to show him where they had killed the kids. He took Mel directly to the crime scene. There, Forrester pointed out exactly where each of the bodies had fallen. He was even able to describe their positions. In preparation for this trip, Mel had reviewed detailed photos of the crime scene which most likely weren't available to the public. Forrester's description matched them perfectly. Mel was starting to believe he really had the killer in his grasp. Still, Forrester's disturbing level of knowledge of the crime scene wasn't enough to seal the deal. He could have gotten that Information out of someone else during his time in prison. Maybe the real killer or a police officer with loose lips. However, Forster said he could lead Mel to the.38 caliber shell casings he disposed of after shooting Ruth and Daniel. That might be just enough to file charges. Mel spoke to Forrester's ex wife. Incredibly, she confirmed that Forrester had taken her to the crime scene a few days after the battle bodies were removed. She remembered him picking up some shell casings there which he brought home and flushed down the toilet. That toilet, which had since been sold along with the forester's old house to a new owner happened to be connected to a septic tank rather than a city sewer. Shocking even themselves, the detectives found the casings. They appeared to match the bullets found in Ruth and Daniel's bodies. After years of hard work police finally had their first real piece of physical evidence. It still wasn't enough because the gun used to kill Ruth and Daniel was still missing. If the shell casings were somehow a coincidence maybe flushed by somebody else charging Forrester could mean letting the real killer go free. So in late 1986, Mel and his team prepared for another round of interviews with Forrester. Maybe he could tell them something more definitive about the other men who were there that night. A corroborating witness would go a long way towards proving his story. Then the unthinkable happened. A police source leaked Forrester's confession to the press and he suddenly clammed up claiming his entire confession was coerced. On December 22, 1986, authorities announced that no charges would be filed against Forrester. Mel's department shipped him off to Michigan City State Prison. Once again, the investigation was closed. Since that devastating blow, there's been little progress made in the case. Over the years, the investigation has been briefly reopened in response to a tip only to close again when it doesn't pan out. In 2006, while dying of cancer, Donald Forster wrote letters to several people. One of them went to a person he'd named as an accomplice back in 1984 when he first confessed to the murders. Although the FBI redacted the letter a cover sheet describing its contents suggests Forrester apologized for implicating his acquaintance. Later that year, Forrester died. It seems he went to his grave maintaining that at least some elements of his confession were false. Mel Willsie, who took Forrester to the crime scene and Virgil Vandegrift, the investigator with a knack for hypnosis both think Forrester did it. They consider the case solved even though no charges were ever filed. Ken York, who worked with the Indiana State Police at the time, disagrees. He believes the crew of fast food robbers he found living in Franklin, Indiana were to blame, and Ken claims the so called bearded man made a deathbed confession to his son who reported it to police. The police sergeant who is in charge of the case from 1998 until 2018 also suspects a fast food burglary ring of five men. He won't say who they are, but based on his description, it's likely the same group Ken York thinks did it. These days, there's a new detective in charge of the case, Indiana Police Sergeant Bill Dalton. He took over in 2018 with big plans. In interviews he talked about new advanced forms of DNA testing as well as using AI to find patterns in old case files. Dalton even released new images of the knife used to kill Jane Freight in hopes of getting a fresh tip from the public. So far, his efforts have been fruitless, but Dalton isn't giving up yet. The most recent development in the case was a somewhat symbolic one. On March 21, 2024, 46 years after the murders, the Speedway Burger Chef building was demolished. Although we can still hold out hope, it seems like we may never know for sure who killed Mark Flemons, Ruth Shelton, Jane Freight and Daniel Davis. But if we can't get them justice, maybe the next best thing is to remember them as more than just murder victims. At just 16, Mark Flemons was a loyal son and brother, a devout Jehovah's Witness, a musician and a chivalrous friend. As an aspiring martial artist, he promised to always protect his sisters and the women he worked with. Ruth Shelton was a promising 17 year old computer science student who balanced church choir practice with a packed schedule of AP STEM classes. Jane Freight was hard working, practical and ambitious. She was poised to become one of Burger Chef's youngest store managers, all before her 21st birthday. At just 16, Daniel Davis already knew he wanted to join the Air Force. His desire to serve his country was matched by his passion for aviation. The robber or robbers who broke into the Speedway Burger Chef that night in November 1978 took a few hundred bucks from the registers. But they also stole something of infinitely greater value. Everything these four promising young people would have contributed to the world. Thanks so much for listening on Carter.
