Slaughter on North Lasalle
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Jim Strode also continued to work homicides following the North LaSalle Street case, and also eventually received a promotion to the rank of lieutenant. He retired in January 1987 and ultimately ran for and won the election to be a constable in Lawrence Township of Marion County. A constable in Indiana is an officer of the court, who helps serve the court’s orders. Jim, though, simply couldn’t stay away from homicide investigation, and is presently back at the Indianapolis Police Department working in their cold case squad.
Roy West retired from the Indianapolis Police Department at the end of December 2007. He now works as an investigator for the Marion County Grand Jury.
Detective Sergeant Pat Stark and Captain Bob Tirmenstein have both passed away, Bob in 1997 and Pat in 2003.
Carol Schultz, following the collapse of the North LaSalle Street murder case in 1996, moved to California, where she found a job writing for a national magazine. Carol eventually returned to Indianapolis and got married. She also finally decided to do what she really loved: She became a private investigator.
There are several of Robert Gierse’s, Robert Hinson’s, and James Barker’s relatives still alive after forty years, and in the writing of this book I attempted to contact them, but not surprisingly, received no response. Twice before, in the 1970s and 1990s, they were promised by the police that the murder of their loved ones had been or soon would be solved, and both times they were bitterly disappointed. It’s very likely that they believed after the second disappointment that the case would never be solved. I hope that by the publication of this book they can finally get some closure.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert L. Snow served for thirty-eight years in the Indianapolis Police Department, retiring in 2007 with the rank of captain. While at the police department, he served in such capacities as police department executive officer, captain of detectives, and commander of the Homicide Branch. He is the author of thirteen books and has had more than one hundred articles and short stories published in magazines including Playboy, Reader’s Digest, and National Enquirer.
Robert Gierse
Robert Hinson
James Barker
All photos courtesy of The Indianapolis Star unless noted otherwise.
Crime lab technician wheeling evidence-collecting equipment into the crime scene at 1318 North LaSalle Street, a residence shared by Bob Gierse and Bob Hinson. They and their good friend Jim Barker were all found dead there on the morning of December 1, 1971.
Diane Horton, girlfriend of victim Bob Gierse, is consoled by a friend at the murder scene.
B&B Microfilming Service Company, the business founded by Gierse and Hinson, had recently gotten off to an amazingly successful start.
Louise Cole, secretary at B&B Microfilming Service Company, couldn’t believe what had happened to her bosses.
Crime scene diagram of 1318 North LaSalle Street. ROBERT L. SNOW
Autopsy drawings of the throat wounds. Barker’s throat wound in particular shows that, even though bound, he likely struggled with his assailant.
ROBERT L. SNOW
Autopsy drawings of the head wounds. The diagrams support the belief that the victims were surprised and attacked from the rear.
ROBERT L. SNOW
Carroll Horton, ex-husband to one of the victims’ girlfriends, became a key suspect when the case was reopened in the mid-1990s.
GARY MOORE/ THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR
Floyd Chastain claimed to have been at the crime scene, and implicated Carroll Horton in the murders.
GARY MOORE/ THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR
Carol Schultz, investigative reporter for a local newspaper, resurrected the North LaSalle Street case in the mid-1990s.
GARY MOORE/ THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR
Joseph McAtee headed up the police investigation of the murders in 1971 as a Detective Lieutenant, and reopened the case in the 1990s when he was sheriff of Marion County.
Detective Sergeant Roy West solved the North LaSalle Street murders thirty years after they were discovered.
THE INDIANAPOLIS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT
Detective Sergeant Roy West at the New York City Morgue after the 9/11 tragedy. COURTESY OF ROY WEST