by Mike Riley
That same month, investigators exhumed and examined Ridulph’s body, but no new evidence was found.
Wary of going to trial with only circumstantial evidence, the prosecution decided to first move forward with a case against Tessier for another sexual assault he had allegedly been involved in – the gang rape of his own sister.
With the same prosecutor taking the lead in both cases, the first went to trial in the spring of 2012. Evidence included police reports about Tessier’s interest in young girls. Witnesses included his sister, other siblings, and the girl he was accused of sexually assaulting when he was a police officer in 1971.
The defense argued that his sister’s story could not be corroborated. She had not told her story to anyone else before Tessier had been arrested for Ridulph’s murder, and there was no remaining physical evidence to suggest rape. After so many years it was highly unlikely that there would be any physical evidence to collect, whether the act was consensual or not.
Tessier did not take the stand, and after just one day of deliberations the judge dismissed the case, saying that the prosecution had failed to prove that a rape had occurred.
Undeterred, in September of 2012 the same prosecutor took Tessier to trial for Ridulph’s murder. Their argument was that at first he meant to only kidnap Ridulph, but then ended up killing her instead. Evidence included the original autopsy reports. Though, perhaps learning from the first trial, as there was no physical evidence of sexual assault, they did not raise it at all in this trial.
The defense’s argument was similar, there was no physical evidence linking Tessier to the crimes, and law enforcement was unable to prove he had even been in the area on the day in question. They also accused the prosecution of being under pressure to close the case after the alleged deathbed confession from Tessier’s mother became publically known.
There were many witnesses for the prosecution, including Ridulph’s childhood friend from that fateful day half a century ago, Kathy Sigman. Also testifying for the prosecution were both Ridulph’s and Tessier’s siblings, law enforcement from several states, and another childhood friend of Ridulph’s, who testified she had been separately approached by “Johnny” and given a piggy-back ride.
Additionally, the prosecution had three inmates who had been in jail with Tessier testify that he had admitted to them that he killed Ridulph. However, their stories were inconsistent, with cause of death ranging from strangulation with wire to smothering. Was there any truth in their testimony, or were they simply in it for themselves or for reasons unknown?
Again, Tessier did not take the stand in his own defense. This time however, the outcome was different. On September 14, 2012, he was convicted of both the kidnapping and murder of Ridulph. Already seventy-three when convicted, he was given a life sentence with the possibility of parole. Unfortunately Ridulph’s parents died in 1999 and 2007 and did not live to see the guilty verdict handed down in their daughter’s murder.
It’s now known that Tessier, was among the original list of suspects, and had even been questioned by the FBI during the first investigation. However after he had been interviewed and had an alibi given by his parents for December 3rd, law enforcement did not have Sigman try to identify him.
This was largely in part because he had been given a polygraph by law enforcement, and he passed. Back then, it was believed impossible for a guilty man to pass the test. In modern times we know that there are several ways that lie detector tests can be manipulated and fooled.
The discovery of the true killer was also hampered by the fact that most local law enforcement believed it impossible that such a terrible crime could have been committed by someone who lived in their town. They believed that it had to be the work of a trucker or someone else just passing through. Only the FBI was looking at local suspects.
Was Ridulph killed immediately after her abduction, or would she perhaps still be alive today had police shown Tessier’s photo to Sigman when Ridulph was first abducted? There are many moments in this case that would likely be vastly different had they occurred today.
Ridulph’s childhood friend who went home for her mittens when Ridulph was taken says that Tessier also stole her childhood. As well as living with survivor guilt, for the rest of her childhood many parents would not allow their children to ever play with her, afraid that the then unknown killer would come back for Sigman and take their child too.
Even after her family moved to another part of town she could not escape. As a teen, the mother of a young man interested in asking her out told him in front of Sigman “Don’t you know who she is? …can’t you find someone else?” The young man however was not deterred, and he would marry Sigman in 1969.
Tessier requested a new trial and was denied at sentencing. However his appeal continues today.
It is believed that the murder of Maria Ridulph is the oldest unsolved murder that eventually resulted in an arrest and conviction in the history of America.
Vanished for Forty Years
Victims: Cheryl Kay Miller and Pam Jackson
Location: Vermillion, Clay County, South Dakota
Suspect: David Lykken
Date Disappeared: May 29, 1971
Date Solved: September 2013
Backstory:
Vermillion, South Dakota is located at the very southeast corner of the state, very near the Iowa and Nebraska borders. Today it is the home of the University of South Dakota and has a population of around 11,000 people. In 1971, its population was just around 1,000.
Cheryl Kay Miller was born on November 16, 1953 to parents Helen and Melvin Miller. She had three sisters, Linda, Dawn and Rita, just 9 when Cheryl disappeared, and one brother Allen.
After her parents split up she went to live with her grandparents, Nick and Pearl Jensen. Grandmother Pearl was very ill and near death when the tragedy occurred.
Pamela Jackson was born on January 24, 1954 to parents Adele and Oscar. Her family consisted of brothers Darryl and Jerry and sister Kay. Pam was the youngest. The family had a farm where Pam was involved in 4H and other rural activities.
Miller was a tall girl at approximately 5’ 10’’, and weighed 130 pounds. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. Jackson was a brunette with hazel eyes, and stood shorter at approximately 5’ 8’’ and weighed 150 pounds.
Both girls were juniors at Vermillion High School and 17 years old. They both worked at Vermillion Hospital. They had plans to go to California upon graduation with Cheryl, also known as Sherri, becoming a dress designer and Pam a dressmaker.
On The Day In Question:
On the day of their disappearance in May of 1971, they had been driving down rural roads, traveling to attend a party in a gravel pit at a lake, about fifteen miles south of Beresford, South Dakota. The town was about 30 miles away from Vermillion.
Earlier that day the girls had both visited Miller’s grandmother, who was in the hospital. They then stopped to talk to some boys outside a church. A fellow attendee of the church, David Lykken, was a friend of Jackson’s. He did not attend the same school as the girls, but the party the girls were attending was only a few miles from Lykken’s home.
Miller and Jackson asked the boys for directions, and then started to follow them to the party at the gravel pit. The girls were driving a 1960 beige Studebaker Lark. At one point the boys lost track of the girls in their review mirror, and continued on to the party.
Miller and Jackson never arrived.
Investigation:
A friend and classmate, LuAnn Sorensen-Denke had also planned to follow Miller and Jackson’s car to the party. At the last minute however she decided that the roads were too dangerous and turned around. However, she has reported that Jackson knew those roads very well, and she was confident that her friends would have been fine.
Sorensen-Denke, along with other classmates, has raised concerns about how the case was initially investigated. They believe there was a delay in starting the investigation by the police. One of the boys in
the car has reported that he was never interviewed in relation to the girls’ disappearance.
For years after their disappearance he often wondered what happened to them. He claims it should have been easy to find the girls. The only thing between their last sight of the girls in their rear view mirror and noticing they were gone was a creek.
There were also rumors from some others who knew the girls that they had run off to live in a hippie commune, or had driven off to travel to California. However those who were closest to the pair have disputed these claims. A friend described them both as “…very family oriented, very church oriented.”
The area was extensively searched, but nothing was found.
The disappearance of Miller and Jackson would remain a mystery for another forty years. In September 2013 a fisherman was walking near Brule Creek in Beresford, South Dakota. He saw the wheels of a car sticking out of the water, very close to a bridge. The gravel pit the girls had been traveling to was less than a half mile away.
The car was pulled from the creek. It was clear that it had been there for a very long time, and was badly damaged. However the license plate could still be read, and it matched the car the girls had been driving. The skeletal remains of two women were found in the car.
Current Status:
The case of the disappearance of Miller and Jackson was one of the first cases handled by South Dakota’s Cold Case Unit when it was formed in 2004.
The bridge near where the car was eventually found had been inspected every two years for at least the last twenty years. How did authorities miss finding the car lying there all that time? It’s been suggested that if just an axel or single wheel re-emerged that it may have been ignored by anyone who spotted it.
It was a relatively common practice back in earlier times for landowners to discard old farm equipment and vehicles in public waters. They were said to help prevent erosion along the banks.
The week before the car was found there had been a large amount of rainfall, which caused flooding in the creek. Perhaps it was enough to dislodge things long hidden from view.
Jackson’s friend David Lykken ended up leading a life on the dark side. He was almost tried for the kidnapping and murder of both Miller and Jackson, after being implicated by a jailhouse snitch.
His own sister also recalled memories under hypnosis of seeing the girls’ car at their parent’s farm. The trial was scheduled, but prosecutors dropped the charges after it was discovered that the snitch lied.
Lykken however was already in prison for convictions on multiple unrelated charges of rape and burglary. For those crimes he was sentenced to more than two hundred years in jail. Many still believe that he was at least involved in Miller and Jackson’s disappearance. If he was, at least justice has been partially served.
The current theory from investigators is that Miller and Jackson were killed when their car accidently left the gravel road and drove into the creek. When the car was discovered, it was still in third gear, the keys were in the ignition, and the headlights were set to on.
Personal items for both young women were found in the car. There was no evidence of alcohol. One tire was damaged. Did they suffer a blowout and veer off the road? When the accident happened, the bridge was still new. Perhaps it confused Jackson, despite her being familiar with the roads in the area.
Even though we now know the final resting place of the girls, we may never know how their car ended up in the creek. Jackson’s father never gave up hope of finding his daughter, and was still searching for her to his dying day. Tragically, he passed away barely a week before the car and his daughter’s remains were found.
The 100th Denver Cold Case
Victim: Patricia Beard
Location: Denver, Colorado
Suspect: Hector Bencomo-Hinojos
Date of Crime: March 27, 1981
Date Identified: July 11, 2013
Backstory:
Very little is known about the victim in this case, Patricia Beard. She was born on January 1, 1949. Beard, who was thirty-two when she was murdered, was mentally disabled. She lived in a studio apartment on East 11th Avenue in Denver, Colorado.
On The Day In Question:
Just before 3:00pm on March 27, 1981, Beard was found lying dead inside her apartment. She had been left lying face up on her bed. Her robe was open, and her panties were left around her ankle on her right leg. Her slip had been pushed up over her genitals, and a used tampon was found near the body.
Friends and family had not seen her for several days prior to the discovery of her body. A family member who went to check on her discovered her partially clothed body lying on the bed.
Investigation:
The autopsy reported a laceration on her left breast. She also had a bone fracture and hemorrhaged extensively along her neck. She had been strangled. The official cause of death was asphyxiation. DNA evidence was taken from Beard’s body.
Investigating officers believe that the killer entered the home through a window. They also discovered a brick on the exterior of the building they believe was used as a foothold.
Despite investigator’s efforts, the murder of Patricia Beard would remain unsolved for twenty years.
Many years after Beard’s murder, as part of the Denver District Attorney’s office new focus on cold cases, the DNA evidence from Beard’s case was entered into an FBI database, and a match was found. The database gave the name of Hector Bencomo-Hinojos, a man who was fifty-three years old, and who was currently incarcerated in a federal prison for an unrelated crime.
Before he was informed his DNA had matched, Bencomo-Hinojos claimed that he did not recognize Beard when shown a photo, and also claimed he had never had sex with an African-American woman. Amazingly, even when informed of the DNA match, his denials continued.
Investigators also tracked down Bencomo-Hinojos’ wife. She told investigators that her husband was a physically abusive man. She told police that he would slap her across the face if she didn’t complete the ironing by the time he got home. She also reported that multiple times he had arrived home with what she thought were stolen goods.
Bencomo-Hinojos claimed he was looking after the things for friends, but perhaps they were evidence of other illegal activities, or even trophies taken from victims’ apartments?
Current Status:
As a result of the DNA match, Bencomo-Hinojos now faces extradition to stand trial for Beard’s rape and murder.
The case was the 100th cold case handled by the Denver District Attorney’s Office. The office has made solving cold cases a special mission. No other law enforcement agency in the world has solved more cold cases.
He Said, She Said
Victims: Yolanda Sapp, Nickie Lowe, and Kathleen Brisbois
Location: Spokane, Washington
Suspect: Douglas/Donna Perry
Date of Crimes: Spring of 1990
Date of Identification: September 2012
Backstory:
It was spring of 1990, and in Spokane, Washington multiple murder cases had caught investigators’ eyes. Over a time period of four months, three women were murdered: Yolanda Sapp (26), Nickie Lowe (34) and Kathleen Brisbois (38).
All three women were prostitutes and were also known to use drugs. Three bodies found in the same area within such a short timespan had the police worried. Was there a serial killer on the loose?
On The Days In Question:
The body of Yolanda Sapp was the first to be found, February 22, 1990. She was found in the 4100 block of East Upriver Drive.
On March 25, Nickie Lowe’s body was found in the 3200 block of East South Riverton, lying underneath the Greene Street Bridge.
Brisbois’ body was the last to be discovered on May 15, discovered on the west side of the Spokane River, near Trent and Pines. Each had been killed with a .22 caliber gun.
Investigation:
The three murder cases caught investigator’s attention, as it was unusual to have so many vict
ims in such a short period of time. From the beginning, investigators believed that they were seeing the work of a serial killer.
The case went cold, but it never left investigator’s minds. In 2005, Brisbois’ murder case was assigned to Sheriff’s Detective James Dresback.
At the time of the murders the ability to test DNA evidence was not as advanced as it is now, but evidence was still collected from the bodies of the three women.
By 2009 the technology for testing of DNA evidence had advanced to the point that detectives resubmitted the evidence. A lab scientist quickly alerted Dresback that a sample from under Brisbois’ nail had been successful in generating a full profile of a male. However the DNA had not matched anyone in the federal criminal database.
It would not be until September 2012 that the case would break wide open. A Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory technician was testing the DNA of Douglas Perry, who had been arrested back in March in Spokane.
