Unsolved 1962 Houston Torso Murder
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Wednesday, JANUARY 31st, 1962
A truck driver witnesses a bushy-haired man, about 30 years old, 5'8", about 180lbs in the process of dumping 2 cardboard boxes by a culvert alongside Highway 59 SOUTH between 9:30-10pm. He was reported to be driving a black or dark blue 1961 Chevy station wagon.
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Saturday, FEBRUARY 3rd, 1962
An unidentified woman's torso was found by two fishermen looking for bait (Jim B. Sumner, 26, of Shepherd & his brother John H. Sumner, 41, of Livingston; articles have their names wrong but their daughters verified their correct names). The torso was missing the head, limbs, and organs. The torso was cut in half. Half in one box, half in the other. The body was bloodless and appeared washed. Wire poked through different parts of the torso, which police believed was used as a sort of handle to maneuver the body. A burlap bag found 20 feet from the boxes contained the woman's intestines, a baby bib, a bra, and a handkerchief. San Jacinto county Sheriff Lewis Woodruff investigates the scene.
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Sunday, FEBRUARY 4th, 1962
An autopsy is performed by Houston pathologist, Dr. Joseph A. Jachimczyk. He determined she had died about 5-8 days before she was found. He estimated the woman to be about 40-45 years old, 5'8"-5'10", 180-200lbs. The torso alone weighed 121 lbs. She possibly had gray hair, though red or light brown hairs were found on clothing left with her body. No fatal wounds on torso, but she did have a cute below her right breast. They were unable to determine if it occurred before or after death. They also found bite marks on her torso. She had an appendectomy scar and appeared to have borne children previously. Dr. Jachimczyk believed the "crude cuts" were made with anything from a hatchet to a dull pocket knife, and the arms and legs were pulled from the sockets. Toxicology report showed a blood alcohol content equivalent to 8 beers.
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Tuesday, FEBRUARY 6th, 1962
Two boys find a pair of severed ears in a tightly closed jar near El Campo, Texas. Houston pathologist, Dr. Joseph A. Jachimczyk suspected they may belong to the unidentified woman though it was never confirmed. One key note was that the ears seemed to have been preserved.
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Tuesday, FEBRUARY 13th, 1962 & Wednesday, FEBRUARY 14th, 1962
Police hold a 24-year old man and his teenaged common-law wife overnight for questioning in relation to the case. The man was once a milk truck driver for Borden's Dairy in Houston just 5 weeks prior, where one of the cardboard boxes was traced back to. He matched the description of the "bushy-haired man" the truck driver witnessed dumping the boxes on Jan 31st. He was also suspected, but never indicted in the strangling death of a bar waitress found in a cemetery in Conroe, Texas in 1959. He passed 5 polygraph tests and was released.
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Tuesday, FEBRUARY 13th, 1962
38-year old carpenter from Victoria, TX was arrested in a cafe for public intoxication and theft and brought in for questioning. He was found with 11 unopened pairs of women's hosiery which he admits he might have stolen from a local store. He also admitted to being in El Paso, but not Florida or Georgia. He was released after questioning.
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Friday, FEBRUARY 16th, 1962
Around 20 investigators from 4 states (Texas, New Mexico, Georgia, and Florida) meet for 9 hours at the Texas Rangers Headquarters in Houston to go over similarities and differences in homicide cases involving torsos in each of their jurisdictions. Some believed it was the work of a serial killer. Others thought different suspects were responsible for each of the cases.
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Saturday, MARCH 31st, 1962
Investigators question a convict at a Florence, AZ prison. The man was a male nurse at the time, but formerly worked at a funeral home in Houston. He had been released from a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana in November 1961 but was arrested again in Tucumcari, New Mexico on March 5th, 1962 on forgery charges. A bloody cloth was found in his car when he was arrested.
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Friday, MAY 18th, 1962
Investigators question Darlington W. Shaw, age 51, of Santa Monica, California after he was suspected of killing and dismembering his wife, leaving her body parts in 3 different southern California counties. He also had ties to Texas and New Mexico.
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Monday, AUGUST 27th, 1962
Investigators question Willie Joe King of Galveston, age 27, an Army private who admitted to shooting, killing, and dismembering his friend Private Joseph "Joe" J. Poye, age 23, of Many, LA and disposing of his body parts along a stretch of highway between Augusta and Macon, Georgia after a bank robbery in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma on April 20th.
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Wednesday, DECEMBER 31,1969
Investigators still don't have answers
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