http://swpare.blogspot.com/2013/10/40th-anniversary-of-debbie-makel-murder.html
Fellow Blogger who has been following a 40 year old murder mystery of a young girl
A fellow Blogger who likes to travel around and explore western pa like I di also has found info on a muder from 40 years ago which he goes into depth on.
http://swpare.blogspot.com/2013/10/40th-anniversary-of-debbie-makel-murder.html
http://swpare.blogspot.com/2013/10/40th-anniversary-of-debbie-makel-murder.html
Pittsburgh Girl missing 50 + years no trace. But lots of theory's and another from Beaver County 4 years earlier never found as well
I was very young when Maryann Verdecchia went missing after leaving for school and no trace of here has ever been found. My late friend Grizzly claimed the school janitor grabbed her and killed her and put her body in the school incinerator to dispose of it.
The accused janitor is long gone and not talking and there was even a site dug up in Baldwin Boro near where a school on Brownsville road is was where a man claimed when he was a kid he saw a minister bury
body near by but there has been so much ground movement there is no way to ever know.
body near by but there has been so much ground movement there is no way to ever know.
I know a Former Scoutmaster who at one time was an auxiliary police officer who helped to look for Mary
Ann and it haunts him to this day they could not find her.
Again the question has to be asked if there is ,or has been an active serial killer or killers in these parts.
Haunted 13 Bends Road in Harmar twp is there any truth to it? or the other 13 bend road in Boston Pa.
A local legend which persists to this day is about 2 roads Campbells run road in Harmarville which can be accessed near the old Harmar Mine and another at the end of the Boston bridge as you go over Pa route 48
in Boston towards Elizabeth. you turn left on to a road with 13 bends that's dead ended.
The story goes that an orphanage was located along the road and there was a terrible fire there and many of the children died and if you park along the road while dark and put baby powder on your vehicles windows that the children s hand prints will appear as will there images in your rear view window as drive away scared at your encounter of their hand prints and you will be chased down the roads by mysterious cars at night .
None of this is the truth and nothing to it as far as I or any one else can determine.
Even more bizarre is how the 13 bends road in Harmarville fits into the picture.
There was in fact an old orphanage which sat along Renzie Road way back off the road which burned in Boston area but it was well after it closed and fell into disrepair no children s or adults life where lost.
In fact a very similar type fire happened over in the McDonald / Burgettstown Pa area where old orphanage /Juvenile home vacant many years and back an impassable road burned down last summer.
It seems too many people have too much time on their hands to make up a bunch of hog wash intended to scare people like no face charlie the green man and others.
the 13 bends you go down you count 13 you come back up you count 12 also nonsense
Now other than the fact these roads are in dark isolated spooky areas there is nothing to it. The roads do not even have 13 bends look up the coordinates on Google earth.
Now whats weird about this whole situation is how 2 towns same 2 stories partial truth to both story's
just like the green man story he was only in one town yet he was supposedly in south park
now that's weird . Did some one like a story so well they made up the story and brought it to there own town? Appears so.
in Boston towards Elizabeth. you turn left on to a road with 13 bends that's dead ended.
The story goes that an orphanage was located along the road and there was a terrible fire there and many of the children died and if you park along the road while dark and put baby powder on your vehicles windows that the children s hand prints will appear as will there images in your rear view window as drive away scared at your encounter of their hand prints and you will be chased down the roads by mysterious cars at night .
Even more bizarre is how the 13 bends road in Harmarville fits into the picture.
There was in fact an old orphanage which sat along Renzie Road way back off the road which burned in Boston area but it was well after it closed and fell into disrepair no children s or adults life where lost.
In fact a very similar type fire happened over in the McDonald / Burgettstown Pa area where old orphanage /Juvenile home vacant many years and back an impassable road burned down last summer.
It seems too many people have too much time on their hands to make up a bunch of hog wash intended to scare people like no face charlie the green man and others.
the 13 bends you go down you count 13 you come back up you count 12 also nonsense
Now other than the fact these roads are in dark isolated spooky areas there is nothing to it. The roads do not even have 13 bends look up the coordinates on Google earth.
Now whats weird about this whole situation is how 2 towns same 2 stories partial truth to both story's
just like the green man story he was only in one town yet he was supposedly in south park
now that's weird . Did some one like a story so well they made up the story and brought it to there own town? Appears so.
Ghosts of a deadly 1927 national labor strike which came to Harmar Coal Mine comes back to haunt crew building new Hulton Bridge
As you ride over the soon to be replaced Hulton Bridge named for a local politician in Oakmont Pa. you cross into Harmarville now known as Harmar twp. and its like two completely different worlds.
Oakmont a wealthy river town Harmarville a blue collar working town with a coal mine and small industry.
The mine which shut down in the 1980's produced bituminous coal used in the production of steel
but in 1927 it became embroiled like many other coal mines across the nation in a bitter fight to unionize coal miners. and Harmar like other mines called in the Coal & Iron Police a private commissioned Police force
that was nothing more than legalized thugs and which would eventually turn into the Pa. State police.
http://debs.indstate.edu/a505s5_1928.pdf
Oakmont a wealthy river town Harmarville a blue collar working town with a coal mine and small industry.
but in 1927 it became embroiled like many other coal mines across the nation in a bitter fight to unionize coal miners. and Harmar like other mines called in the Coal & Iron Police a private commissioned Police force
that was nothing more than legalized thugs and which would eventually turn into the Pa. State police.
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| Harmar Coal Memorial near fire station |
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| Typical Coal & iron badge and officers below |
These thugs had absolute power and as the violence in nearby Russelton poured into the valley
The Coal and Iron police committed assaults and murder at will .
During the time period it was rumored that many a miner who had pushed to unionize disappeared
into the Allegheny River off the Hulton bridge wrapped in chains and dropped into the river.
Rumors of these tales went on for decades .
But then the state decided to replace the very old Hulton bridge with a new bridge and as engineers started exploring the old river basin under bridge. low and behold they started finding many lengths of chain as reported in the papers.
So it looks like the rumors where true. Even my friend Grizzly talked about the Coal & Iron Police dropping body's off the bridge as well. Of course every one is ready to poo poo the whole thing as you will find chain and every imaginable thing in the river but to find as much as they did where they did you have to wonder.
besides the story's of what went on during the strike there is also a road nearby rumored to be haunted as well called 13 bends which I will be writing about as well. and all this with in minutes of unsolved missing people and killing of a Verona Cop.
Murder of Small Town Butler County Police Chief goes on 30 +years unsolved
Saxonburg is a sleepy little town in Butler County off of Route 228 not much goes on there except for the annual Penns Colony Festival and fireman's parade .
That was till one cold December morning in 1980 then Police Chief Gregory Adams a family man and greatly loved by the town was found shot and bleeding to death in the Agway Supply company parking Lot and a notorious criminal is suspected of committing the heinous act but which has never been proved is still on the run .
That was till one cold December morning in 1980 then Police Chief Gregory Adams a family man and greatly loved by the town was found shot and bleeding to death in the Agway Supply company parking Lot and a notorious criminal is suspected of committing the heinous act but which has never been proved is still on the run .
nid=1129&dat=198101http://news.google.com/newspapers?09&id=R4BIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8G0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=1747,1193968
The man suspected of doing the crime a known criminal Donald Eugene Webb was believed to be in the small town to scope out a jewelry store for a burglary and has never been heard from again other than in a letter sent to local FBI office supposedly sent by him in which also claims he did not shoot the chief .
If he is still alive he would be a very old man by now.
You might think small town jeweler how much could he have gotten in this case? Well as you can see from the pictures above this small town had money. It also has a small company at the time which would grow into a leading developer of commercial lasers.
So he might have been after the jewelry store.
But he could have also been there to scope out wealthy home owners as well for a burglary or even some of the local business if he suspected they had something of value but that would take extensive knowledge he did not have of the businesses in town all small and no payroll to hit and besides he was a burglar not a stick up man and by then business payed by check not by cash kept in a safe over night and burglarizing a commercial business was not his thing. He was looking for things he could easily fence or sell without question . If it even was him and since he is not talking know one knows for sure but he looks good for the crime as they say.
Why FBI and police have come to this conclusion has never been fully disclosed .
But near this town a young girl named Cheery Mahan Disappeared. a few years later in 85
So he might have been after the jewelry store.
But he could have also been there to scope out wealthy home owners as well for a burglary or even some of the local business if he suspected they had something of value but that would take extensive knowledge he did not have of the businesses in town all small and no payroll to hit and besides he was a burglar not a stick up man and by then business payed by check not by cash kept in a safe over night and burglarizing a commercial business was not his thing. He was looking for things he could easily fence or sell without question . If it even was him and since he is not talking know one knows for sure but he looks good for the crime as they say.
Why FBI and police have come to this conclusion has never been fully disclosed .
But near this town a young girl named Cheery Mahan Disappeared. a few years later in 85
never to be heard from again and maybe it was not Webb at all but the person responsible for her disappearance as well a criminal with nothing to loose unlike Webb who at most would have done a few years and been back on the streets why would Webb shoot the officer very unlike a serial burglar to do something like this. Like I have said in other articles I believe a serial killer or killers has been operating in these parts for many years now and if I am right and this person was stopped and the chief become suspicious of them you can understand why he was shot. But shot by a career criminal burglar? I leave that conclusion up to you .
40 Acres in Baldwin Boro a great place for young men to have fun and adventure and an area with its own 30+ years mysteries
Bounded by Becks Run Road , Glass Run Road and E. Carson Street also known as Pa Route 837
40 Acres which is mostly in Baldwin Boro ( Not to be confused with Baldwin Twp.)
Has been the playground for kids and young adults for many decades an abandoned piece of property due to fact of the numerous coal mines under its thickly wooded hill sides it has been lore to many tales and legends none of which seems to bare out . However there has also been its share of Criminal activity as well from underage drinking party's to stolen cars being dumped and stripped to an occasional body dump and suicide victim so as kids you never went alone at least in pairs and with a knife or club as a weapon in case you ran into trouble exploring its vast area and its old coal mine workings all of which have been sealed after couple kids got lost in a mine one time you could also have sticks catch on fire in the many holes from underground mine fires which popped up all thru the property . Supposedly there are still miners body's in one of the old shafts after a collapse and explosion but I have not as yet been able to verify it. There was even an attempt to develop the property which has fallen thru after Charles Betters bought it and wanted to build a casino and race track. He has done some digging and removing of surface coal but that's about it with some housing being built .The Old J&L Steel Research Center is long closed and now a private school for at risk adjudicated youth .
As a young man I spent many a Saturday afternoon exploring the area and luckily never ran into any bogie men but we where always ready. I have been wanting to go back and retrace my foot steps but my health has prevented it.
The place pretty much stayed out of the news till one valentines day in 1980 when a Michael Rosenbloom from Shady side went missing along E. Carson Street where his girlfriends car was found he was driving and Baldwin Police impounded it. and it started a fire storm of controversy that Baldwin Police
covered up or where involved in his disappearance . All of which I believe was a big bunch of Hog Wash and nothing more than a bad decision to CYA regarding the back dated letter when they realized they screwed up and State Attorney General agreed and found no wrong doing on the part of Baldwin Police unfortunately it would put a black mark on them regardless which is a shame they have many highly professional officers on the force as I have interactions with them with customers property's and to see what this force had to go thru was just wrong.
As you read thru the various articles you will see all the controversy and also the fact a mysterious skull showed up during the search which also and has not been identified . So what happened to Michael?
good question.
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| site where Michaels car was found |
Was one of his dealers or some one he possibly cheated after him and caught up to him along E. Carson?
Years later A young iron worker and drug user from suburbs would disappear in next door Homestead and it was determined he was killed chopped up and disposed of so it not out of the realm of happening.
This whole area is a hot bed for drug dealing a car wash on Becks Run road I put a security system into in 90's was often the site where junkies from suburbs would meet dealers from St. Clair Village section 8 housing up off Becks Run as the suburban kiddies where afraid to go up there we caught many a suspected drug transaction on the car washes cameras.
This whole area is a hot bed for drug dealing a car wash on Becks Run road I put a security system into in 90's was often the site where junkies from suburbs would meet dealers from St. Clair Village section 8 housing up off Becks Run as the suburban kiddies where afraid to go up there we caught many a suspected drug transaction on the car washes cameras.
Did he end up in the river and drown as a result of his drug use?
never saw that the river was even checked . You also have railroad and an old oil terminal now gone and scrap yard where any of these places checked dd he go for help?
Was he picked up by a robber highway man type killed and dumped some where?
There are always rumors of body's being dumped down old mine shafts and there are documented cases of it happening.
Was he even a victim of a serial killer?
Like I said I really think one has been operating around here
There is also another possibility at that time there where many Russian Immigrants who moved into and around the area and rumors of the Russian Mob operating in the area involved with drugs and if he crossed them.
There is also another possibility at that time there where many Russian Immigrants who moved into and around the area and rumors of the Russian Mob operating in the area involved with drugs and if he crossed them.
To make it even more interesting this is also close to where the mysterious B-25 bomber went into the river and was never found also. But thats a story in it self.
They are all possibilities and we will never know till a body is found if ever or some one confesses like in the Homestead case and as far as I know the reward for $25,000 is still being offered. I feel bad for the family not knowing all these years. and hopefully they will have closure some day.
2 young Tarentum boys go out to play in cold and disappear over 30 years and no clues Was it the River Hag / Witch?
Up the Allegheny River from me is the town of Tarentum Pa.
a small working class town with a big industrial stainless steel mill one of the last in the county.
and one day 2 young boys Jon Debkowski and Gabriel Meinarcin went out to play after school in December of 1982 and disappeared never to be seen again .
A woman claimed she saw 2 boys who matched the description playing among the river ice a very dangerous thing to do.
and one day 2 young boys Jon Debkowski and Gabriel Meinarcin went out to play after school in December of 1982 and disappeared never to be seen again .
A woman claimed she saw 2 boys who matched the description playing among the river ice a very dangerous thing to do.
Blood Hounds traced the kids scent to the river but nothing was ever found of them not one trace to say they where their and fell in or where abducted.
But one Psychic claimed they would be found under the ice near where Bull creek enters the river.
Divers looked and nothing was found ,how ever Bull creek it self has a legend of an Old Hag or River Witch who has the power to attract children to the creek where she grabs them and drowns them. Now most people will poo poo this or say they never heard such a bizarre thing. But I personally meet a woman named Rose who lost a young brother in the creek near the old tour ed coal mine entrance many years ago in 60's when he slipped under the very fast and strong waters and she claims she saw the image of the Old Hag in the creek ,who grabbed and kept him down under the creeks water and she could not rescue him. No one believed her then saying it was her imagination and hysteria playing games with her .In the 70's as a boy scout I helped with a stream improvement project in the upper section of Bull Creek and can attest to the strong currents . But plenty of dead body's have shown up in that part of river and the creek as well as drownings over the decades.
is there anything to the Hag probably not but the rumors persist and the creek and river have always been an attractive nu-sense.
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| Bull Run and Allegheny River |
Now there is a very strong under tow in the Allegheny River which is very deceiving and can grab and drag you down in its current I know I swam in the upper river as a young boy scout and 2 different times did the 150 mile boot & paddle canoe trip from Tionesta to Pittsburgh.
I will never forget going thru one of the locks at one of the dams higher up the river and when we came out the hat of a young man hanging on a branch stuck in a small island below the dam this was all they ever found of him that summer when he was swimming and got too close to dam while on a fishing trip in 1974. and people who do drown in the 3 rivers around here are often found miles down in Ohio and W. Virginia if their lucky to be found at all. but 3-4 body's a month show up in the 3 rivers around this area month after month be it accident ,suicide or murder.
So I have a very healthy respect for the rivers and I am always on my guard around them.
Just like the river men tell you beware of snakes on the deck.
Where the kids kidnapped by a pedophile that's also a possibility as well plenty of known sex offenders reside in the area. I have long suspected a pedophile or serial killer in the area.How hard would it have been for some one to pull up looking like a detective and take the kids away . Just like in the movie " Mystic River" There are plenty of cases of motorists being pulled over by phony cops in this area and I see plenty of suspicious looking detective /security like vehicles which I check out who they are because of the problems we have had in the past.I Call 911 when I see detectives pulling people over and it does not look right so it can be checked out .
We have a case going on right now in Indiana county where some one claimed to be a detective was shaking down a gun shop owner over an illegal lottery and killed him in his gun shop.He also was recently charged with assault when he tried to detain a young men in cuffs for throwing corn kernels at him .
thou at time I thought he was just some one being kind but then good thing I did not because you never know.
But dozens of people go missing in this area of Pa yearly never to be seen again.
Stanley B. Hoss Jr. a Bogie Man who left behind many Unanswered Questions
When I was a firefighter at Penn Hills station 224 we often had interaction with Verona Police Officers right on border of our territory One day while we where on an extended call in Verona and while tending the engine I got into talking with a young officer controlling the scene . He was saying how safe he felt being an officer in a small town which did not see all the action like big city dept did. I said to him I would never leave caution to the wind and for him to ask his chief who Stanley B. Hoss Jr. was . Needless to say after he talked to his chief he changed his mind.
Because Stanley Hoss Jr. had killed a Verona Officer many years ago. in September 19 of 1969 along Plum Street on the Verona Oakmont Line on Plum Street after escaping from the now gone Allegheny County Work House Jail now RIDC Industrial Park.It would close a couple years after the escape. I still remember the work house and its towers and guards with shot guns walking the wall's riding by as a kid in the family car . I drove up and down Plum Street many years and shopped in very lot where Stanley killed the Verona officer and never realized it till my friend Grizzly told me the story. Apparently Hoss escaped stole a car came over Highland park bridge up Allegheny River blvd passing the jail on opposite side of river maybe to thumb his nose at them then was spotted by the Verona Patrolman who stopped him in the parking lot and was then shot and killed.
http://thejewishchronicle.net/view/full_story/15169847/article-Pittsburgh-attorney-reflects-on-crime-spree-that-shook-nation-?instance=news_special_coverage_right_column
Ironically while working at the Bank Centre as a maintenance man the gentleman who would re-leave me in evenings worked at the work house as the stationary engineer and often told of the day Stanley escaped and caused general chaos in the place as it was locked down . I would also make life long friends with my 12th grade biology teacher Barbara Novasol whose family owned property next to the jails apple orchards inmates maintained and I often got to explore the old no longer used orchards when I stayed with Barbara's family during the summer and took care of there property as a young man and her cousin Tony Skotak who owned property next to them on a couple different occasions had caught escapees trying to get away from the orchards and marched them by shot gun back to the jail.
But this is not the first time Stanley B. Hoss name has come up in conversation a late friend of mine Noel McCarthy who everyone called Grizzly knew Stanley Hoss as well he lived right near by him when he lived on the now realigned Saxonburg Blvd. at Pa.route 910 intersection the home Stanley lived in was demolished in the realignment he was a young man when grizzly knew him and he was trouble even then out stealing cars and such. In one of the Pittsburgh Internet news groups a relative of Stanley's appeared one time inquiring about his relative needless to say he was pretty shocked when rumors he heard about him where confirmed .
So it only seems appropriate a book titled "Born to Lose " which was also the tattoo Stanley sported would some day be written about him before his name was lost to history.
When I was a young child in 69 ,Stanley Hoss was like the bogie man as people would say his name to scare you and as this was a time when racial tensions where high and riots in city's was going on it just intensified things.
Yes they would catch Stanley and he would die in prison but not before revealing what he did with a woman and her daughter he kidnapped in Maryland and surely murdered and dumped there body's some where
before he was captured. But the memory's are fading and any one who had any interaction with him are now well into there 70's-80's and or have passed on so chances are the Mother and child remains will never be found or if they are it will be many years from now and hopefully they will be able to be identified and given proper burial and rest as for Stanley B. Hoss Jr. I am sure he is roasting some where in the bowels of Hell .
Because Stanley Hoss Jr. had killed a Verona Officer many years ago. in September 19 of 1969 along Plum Street on the Verona Oakmont Line on Plum Street after escaping from the now gone Allegheny County Work House Jail now RIDC Industrial Park.It would close a couple years after the escape. I still remember the work house and its towers and guards with shot guns walking the wall's riding by as a kid in the family car . I drove up and down Plum Street many years and shopped in very lot where Stanley killed the Verona officer and never realized it till my friend Grizzly told me the story. Apparently Hoss escaped stole a car came over Highland park bridge up Allegheny River blvd passing the jail on opposite side of river maybe to thumb his nose at them then was spotted by the Verona Patrolman who stopped him in the parking lot and was then shot and killed.
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| AVR & Plum Street |
Ironically while working at the Bank Centre as a maintenance man the gentleman who would re-leave me in evenings worked at the work house as the stationary engineer and often told of the day Stanley escaped and caused general chaos in the place as it was locked down . I would also make life long friends with my 12th grade biology teacher Barbara Novasol whose family owned property next to the jails apple orchards inmates maintained and I often got to explore the old no longer used orchards when I stayed with Barbara's family during the summer and took care of there property as a young man and her cousin Tony Skotak who owned property next to them on a couple different occasions had caught escapees trying to get away from the orchards and marched them by shot gun back to the jail.
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| RIDC Park |
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| Pa.910 & Saxonburg Blvd. |
So it only seems appropriate a book titled "Born to Lose " which was also the tattoo Stanley sported would some day be written about him before his name was lost to history.
When I was a young child in 69 ,Stanley Hoss was like the bogie man as people would say his name to scare you and as this was a time when racial tensions where high and riots in city's was going on it just intensified things.
Yes they would catch Stanley and he would die in prison but not before revealing what he did with a woman and her daughter he kidnapped in Maryland and surely murdered and dumped there body's some where
before he was captured. But the memory's are fading and any one who had any interaction with him are now well into there 70's-80's and or have passed on so chances are the Mother and child remains will never be found or if they are it will be many years from now and hopefully they will be able to be identified and given proper burial and rest as for Stanley B. Hoss Jr. I am sure he is roasting some where in the bowels of Hell .
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