Episode 3:
“I don’t remember much”
We will look into Jennie’s side of the events along with the witnesses from the following days after the robbery and attack.
You can listen to episode 3 everywhere you get your podcasts or you can listen here:
As covered in episode 2 with Kevin’s side of events, investigators initially worked off of Kevin’s composite sketch of a blonde, curly haired teenager along with his version of events.
This was because Kevin was able to communicate what happened in more detail at the time. Jennie was in extreme recovery and healing and couldn’t put a lot of her energy towards the investigation.
She was busy trying to survive.
November 25th, 1974
Jennie is able to communicate.
Could only speak in a whisper and answer questions by shaking her head.
December 28th, 1974
Jennie is released from North Memorial.
March 31st, 1975
Jennie gives her first official statement to the police at the Golden Valley police department.
She doesn’t remember a lot about the first time the suspect came into the record shop and browsed the store. She was watching her TV set.
Jennie stated she didn’t take much notice of him seeing the suspect mainly from the corner of her eye.
“Somebody came in. He walked in once and he left and he came back and he had a gun, a rifle in his hand and he set it on the counter and he asked me to open the till. I opened it and started to give him the money and there were two customers in the store, they were giggling and he turned around and started to fire at them and I ran and turned on the burglar alarm and I picked the telephone and he tried to shoot me through the curtain but he missed.
Then he came back after he’d shot the other two and shot me three times – I don’t remember much.
Then he shot me and then he went and took some money – he came back and I think he went out to another room again once – then he back and he thought that I was dead – well he asked me,
“Aren’t you dead yet?”
Then he pulled out his knife and then he started.”
Jennie passes out at this moment and her next memory is someone stepping over her body trying to use the telephone to call the police.
Jennie remembers the suspect pulling the sharp instrument out of a side pouch he was wearing.
To her the instrument he had looked like a meat cleaver only smaller.
Kevin stated he suspected that the sharp instrument was rolled up in the white towel.
Jennie doesn’t remember a white towel at all during the attack or when the assailant walked in.
When investigators asked Jennie about the physical description of the killer she stated:
“He had long dark hair, kind of straggly, he had a parka with the hood up, he was skinny kind of, kind of I don’t know, I think he was tall, he had a little mustache, glasses, that’s about it.”
She estimated that he was about 5’9.
When Kevin saw Jennie’s composite he said,
“Now that I get to thinking about it, I think he did have glasses, I am almost sure of it. I am sure that Jenny had a lot better look then I did, but I am sure that he had glasses now”
One reason Jennie’s composite sketch may differ from Kevin’s – is that the suspect was wearing a blue parka with orange lining around the hood portion.
This was pulled over his face, covering his hair, so to Kevin that may explain why he thought the suspect had blonde, curly hair.
When investigators asked Jennie how far the assailant had his hood pulled up, she responded,
“I could just barely see his hair.”
She said you could see his brown hair poking through the hood near his shoulder area.
When Jennie was shown Kevin’s composite – she said it looked somewhat like the guy but the description she gave was a lot closer to what he actually looked like.
Jennie had worked at “Down in the Valley” for about one year before this tragic event took place.
Earlier that year, owner Steve Hyland’s house was destroyed in a fire which resulted in his dogs being killed.
Someone close to them received a call where the caller stated,
“Next time we’ll get the store.”
Jennie didn’t know much about these events other than what Steve told her.
She said Steve had been ripped off a lot of times.
They had known each other for about 10 years. Steve had dated her sister for about the duration of their time knowing each other.
Investigators were interested in learning more about Steve as a potential drug angle for the crime especially since he was in Mexico while this was happening.
Police question why he was in Mexico to begin with.
When they questioned Jennie about this, she said he was only vacationing there.
Steve Hyland always remained clear that he was not involved in any drugs or knowing of anything regarding drug selling at his store.
Jennie’s battle was difficult and took years. She required plastic surgery and progress was painfully slow. Steve organized a fund to help with medical bills.
Both Kevin and Jennie were healing, wanting justice and now afraid and looking behind their backs waiting to come face to face with their attacker again.
Jennie has tried desperately over the years to find the attacker. She makes up most of the case file when it comes to suspects and searching through mugshots with the police.
They both were shown pages and pages of different line ups of men and suspects and nothing stood out.
April 16th, 1975
Jennie and her sister were arriving from Miami to Mpls but had a layover in Milwaukee.
Jennie believes she saw the man who shot her.
She was absolutely positive that it was him.
She followed the man to observe how he walked and he had walked exactly like the assailant had during the attack.
Jennie was too excited to think of letting an airport policeman know.
It should be noted that at no time in the past has Jennie come to this office with any information as to parties she has seen looking like the person that assaulted her.
She would pick men out of a line up sometimes but only in terms of this kind of looks like the guy.
She was 100% positive that the man in the airport was the one responsible.
This was investigated thoroughly and that airport even looked into any workers who may look like her composite but nothing turned up.
Investigators seemed to spend a lot more time with Jennie when showing her line ups of suspects and I’m not sure exactly why that is.
If Kevin wasn’t able or eager to go through that intense investigation or if they believed she had a better image of the guy they were looking for.
Kevin never really felt 100% confident of any suspect he was shown over 40 years of investigating.
He died not ever feeling like the case was completely solved and that his attacker and friend’s killer had been walking free, just getting to live their life.
I believe there are a few reasons for the differences in how Jennie and Kevin gave information other than witness statements usually do differ from one another.
The suspect never spoke to Kevin at all during the attack and was shooting from feet away towards him for most of the attack and then Kevin was on his stomach pretending to be dead for the rest of it.
The suspect from the beginning was only engaging with Jennie. Standing face to face with her, speaking with her, walking with her.
It makes sense to me that Jennie would have a different picture of the suspect than Kevin as her experience was a bit different.
However, Jennie did fade in and out and didn’t remember a lot of the attack – especially after the suspect pulled out the machete.
Kevin stayed alert throughout the attack but never faced the attacker and went mostly by sound.
The suspect focused on Jennie.
Another reason I broke up Kevin and Jennie into two sections to explain the composite sketches was so I could now explain the witnesses in this case.
You will find many witnesses who undoubtedly could have seen the actual attacker – but they all differ.
Now, let’s get into the other witnesses within this case.
A worker at the McDonalds across the street from “Down in the Valley” record shop stated that she helped an individual at approx. 6:45pm that night of the attack who fit Kevin’s composite closely.
The party she described was approx. 5′ 10″ with light blond hair, combed neatly over the forehead, parted on the left side.
The subject had a reddish complexion, possibly due from the cold weather, acne on the lower face and around the mouth. The subject looked young, appeared to be in the 19 years old, and seemed to be happy. He was wearing a Navy blue shiny parka which she described as a hood hanging down the back, about finger tip length.
She stated that he had ordered a shake and a meal. It should be noted that a McDonald’s malt cup had been found by one Officer in the outer doorway at “Down in the Valley.”
With this information, even though the hair did not match up to it being curly, investigators made a composite sketch from her recollection.
November 17th, 1974
This sighting takes place in a bakery shop on Douglas Drive in Crystal only about five minutes from Golden Valley.
The bakery shop owner and a friend who had made a purchase were conversing when they observed a party pulling on all the doors of the shop located directly across the street from hers.
This party after trying all the doors, and finding them all locked, then crossed Douglas Drive and came into her store.
She described this party as follows:
Approx. 5 ‘9, slender to medium build, curly blond hair, little bit below the ears with blue eyes. She also stated that he had kind of a dimple in the center of his chin. He was dressed in a white T- shirt wearing no jacket and no cap. He was also wearing blue jeans and she did not note the type of shoes that he was wearing. He was wearing no gloves and was shivering and appeared to be very cold when he came into the store.
When he entered the store he ordered six rolls and spent a short amount of time selecting these rolls. After she put them in a bag and rang up the total, he stated flatly that he didn’t have any money.
She then asked him how he expected to pay for them. He then stated that he was waiting for a friend and that this friend was supposed to have some money. She said to him that he’d better just leave the rolls on the counter and wait for his friend. At this point the young man walked out of the store.
When he walked out the door she also noted that on the back of his white T- shirt was a cross. The cross was at an angle and was a blocked out rather thick type of drawing. To the immediate right of the cross was the phrase “Christ is Risen” or something to that effect printed on the back of the T- shirt.
Her friend was now leaving the store to bring her purchase home and told the owner that she felt she shouldn’t be there alone with that type of person around and that she would run home quickly and then come right back to the store to make sure that she would be all right.
She lives close by and it would only take about 10 minutes.
While her friend was gone, the owner observed this party to be approaching the door once again.
As he approached the store she noted that he was wrapping a white object thought to be a towel or T- shirt about his right arm, wrapping it from his fingertips about 2/3 of the way up the arm towards the elbow.
He finished wrapping his arm with this object as he approached the door, then opened the door with his left hand and walked into the store again. He still had no jacket, no cap, no gloves, clad only in a T-shirt and jeans.
As he entered the store this time he said in a loud voice,
“I want my rolls”
She asked him if he’d found his friend and he stated,
“No, I want my rolls now”
Rather than make an issue of it she told him to take the rolls.
This party then left the store.
Her friend arrived a few minutes later – she had not seen him the second time.
She didn’t call the police at that time.
She was worried about her name and store being in newspapers.
Upon being shown Kevin’s composite sketch, she said immediately it closely resembled the man she saw that night.
Then she stated that the hair was wrong – it should be a little bit flatter or brushed out – it had been blown around in the wind. She said it was curled but not that much.
The dimple was also correct but should be a little closer to the chin.
She then mentioned that the party she had seen had slight acne on either side of his nose.
All of this corresponds with Kevin’s composite – almost exactly.
Investigators failed to get a composite sketch from this woman because she wasn’t comfortable going further.
November 18th, 1974
Two days after the shooting, a man and his wife told detectives that they were in their car driving northbound on Douglas Drive when they observed a white male on the northeast corner of Douglas and Golden Valley Road.
They stated that the white male was approx. 17 yrs of age, and was wearing a blue parka with the hood portion pulled tightly around his face and carrying what appeared to be a white towel, rolled up and carried in the crook of his arm as one would a football.
They went on to state that this individual was headed in a westerly direction on Golden Valley Road, and appeared to be walking in a strange fashion as if the party was possibly physically handicapped.
That is to say he walked in a loose disjointed manner. They did not get a look at the party’s face or the party’s hair color or length.
They mentioned this was on Douglas Drive and this would also be the way you would get to the Bakery shop in Crystal. It is basically a straight shot to locations – one could easily walk it.
Going back to episode one, the man who found the three in “Down in the Valley” that night, stated that the man he saw staring from across the parking lot had darker colored, curly hair.
Dewey’s brother Johnny has since remembered something that Kevin had told him years after this incident. Kevin said he intentionally gave a wrong description of the suspect because he was afraid that the suspect would come back and kill him.
There are more witness sightings we will go through in future episodes. Right now we will take a pause with all of the information we’ve gathered and next episode look into the number one suspect of this case before returning to the evidence within this investigation.
Until next time.