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The Plum Tree Murder · River City Mystery - Investigating mysteries in southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and western Kentucky

• 0:00
  Speaker: It's Halloween night, 1925.
• 0:04
  Speaker: If you take a drive out on the west side of Evansville,
• 0:07
  Speaker: Indiana, today along Harmony Way, what used to be called West
• 0:10
  Speaker: Heights Road back in the 1920s, it's pretty
• 0:12
  Speaker: easy to picture what it looked like one hundred years ago.
• 0:16
  Speaker: Four and a half miles outside the city limits, it was nothing
• 0:19
  Speaker: but unpaved dirt, pitch black darkness, and a few scattered
• 0:23
  Speaker: farm houses here and there.
• 0:26
  Speaker: George and Helen Erhard lived
• 0:27
  Speaker: in one of those farmhouses,
• 0:29
  Speaker: sharing the place with George's
• 0:31
  Speaker: mother.
• 0:32
  Speaker: Right around 10:15 on
• 0:34
  Speaker: Halloween night, George's mother
• 0:36
  Speaker: was jolted awake by her little
• 0:37
  Speaker: dog, barking frantically in the
• 0:39
  Speaker: dark.
• 0:41
  Speaker: She sat up and listened.
• 0:43
  Speaker: Just outside, she heard a
• 0:44
  Speaker: commotion, followed by the roar
• 0:46
  Speaker: of an automobile engine starting
• 0:48
  Speaker: up and speeding off down the
• 0:49
  Speaker: dirt road.
• 1:01
  Speaker: She peered out the window into the pitch black, but she didn't
• 1:05
  Speaker: see anything and eventually went back to sleep.
• 1:09
  Speaker: About an hour later, right around 11:30pm, George
• 1:12
  Speaker: Erhard Jr and his wife Helen, pulled into the driveway after
• 1:15
  Speaker: returning home from a Halloween party at a friend's house.
• 1:19
  Speaker: As the car's headlights swept across the yard, Helen caught
• 1:22
  Speaker: sight of a dark, strange shaped dangling near the road.
• 1:26
  Speaker: At first, she figured it was just a mannequin or a dummy a
• 1:29
  Speaker: cheap Halloween prank left by the neighborhood kids.
• 1:33
  Speaker: So she stepped closer to take a look.
• 1:35
  Speaker: There, hanging from the low
• 1:37
  Speaker: hanging branch of a small plum
• 1:38
  Speaker: tree in their front yard was a
• 1:40
  Speaker: man.
• 1:42
  Speaker: He was dead, suspended by his own black necktie, his knees
• 1:46
  Speaker: practically scraping the dirt.
• 1:49
  Speaker: He wasn't a local and not a single soul recognized him.
• 1:53
  Speaker: And what unfolded over the next two weeks turned into one of the
• 1:56
  Speaker: most baffling mysteries this area has ever known.
• 1:59
  Speaker: Welcome back to River City Mystery.
• 2:02
  Speaker: I'm your host, Matt Deig, and we're going back in time, over
• 2:06
  Speaker: 100 years, to uncover the unsolved case known as the
• 2:09
  Speaker: “Plum Tree Murder”.
• 2:13
  Speaker: Every time we're together, it's overshadowed by the fact that
• 2:18
  Speaker: someone's missing someone.
• 2:20
  Speaker: Very important.
• 2:22
  Speaker: I want to pry it open.
• 2:23
  Speaker: And when I kicked the door in.
• 2:25
  Speaker: Next thing you know was all you seen was my brother, and he was
• 2:28
  Speaker: slumped over on the couch.
• 2:29
  Speaker: And I mean, blood just coming from everywhere.
• 2:33
  Speaker: I offered the cops to go and take them to the exact spot.
• 2:38
  Speaker: I pulled over him.
• 2:39
  Speaker: When I turned around, I pulled over and I called my wife and
• 2:43
  Speaker: I'm walking him out my rear view mirror, and he's walking towards
• 2:46
  Speaker: the tracks where he went from there after I left from that
• 2:50
  Speaker: spot, I don't know.
• 2:53
  Speaker: I was there at Saint Joe and
• 2:55
  Speaker: Diamond working, you know,
• 2:56
  Speaker: mid-morning, you know, my cell
• 2:58
  Speaker: phone rings.
• 3:00
  Speaker: I don't recognize the number.
• 3:03
  Speaker: So this woman, I didn't
• 3:05
  Speaker: recognize her because she was
• 3:06
  Speaker: distressed.
• 3:07
  Speaker: She.
• 3:08
  Speaker: She says, this man come in and shot me.
• 3:16
  Speaker: George and Helen have just returned home from a party late
• 3:19
  Speaker: on Halloween night.
• 3:21
  Speaker: They're standing in their front
• 3:22
  Speaker: yard in front of a plum tree
• 3:24
  Speaker: from which is hanging a dead
• 3:26
  Speaker: body.
• 3:27
  Speaker: They don't know who it is or how it got there.
• 3:30
  Speaker: Once the reality set in, Helen and George sprinted to the phone
• 3:34
  Speaker: and called police headquarters.
• 3:36
  Speaker: Sergeant Barrett took the call
• 3:37
  Speaker: and Sheriff Shelby McDowell,
• 3:39
  Speaker: along with Deputy Schultz and
• 3:41
  Speaker: Wentzel, rushed out to West
• 3:42
  Speaker: Heights Road.
• 3:44
  Speaker: When coroner Max Lowe and the
• 3:45
  Speaker: officers arrived, they stepped
• 3:47
  Speaker: into the yard and were
• 3:48
  Speaker: immediately baffled by what they
• 3:50
  Speaker: saw.
• 3:51
  Speaker: Right across the road from the
• 3:52
  Speaker: property was a dense, overgrown
• 3:54
  Speaker: patch of woods, woods so thick
• 3:56
  Speaker: that you could hide a body in it
• 3:57
  Speaker: for months and no one would ever
• 3:59
  Speaker: know.
• 4:00
  Speaker: But this man wasn't hidden.
• 4:01
  Speaker: He was left right out in the
• 4:02
  Speaker: open, just a few feet off the
• 4:04
  Speaker: main road, just a few feet off
• 4:06
  Speaker: the driveway.
• 4:07
  Speaker: He was not placed there to be hidden for any period of time.
• 4:11
  Speaker: Whoever put him there knew he was going to be found quickly.
• 4:14
  Speaker: Coroner lo began inspecting the body and immediately spotted
• 4:18
  Speaker: signs of violence, deep bruises and cuts covered his forehead
• 4:22
  Speaker: with one cut, lining up perfectly with a rip and the
• 4:25
  Speaker: brim of his cap.
• 4:27
  Speaker: Another bad bruise marked his left cheekbone alongside scraped
• 4:31
  Speaker: dirty skin on his elbow.
• 4:33
  Speaker: His formal cause of death was ruled as strangulation, but it
• 4:36
  Speaker: was obvious he had been beaten unconscious before he was ever
• 4:39
  Speaker: placed in that tree.
• 4:41
  Speaker: As deputies combed the grass, they started turning up a trail
• 4:44
  Speaker: of odd clues.
• 4:46
  Speaker: A grey crushed cap lying in the dirt near his feet.
• 4:50
  Speaker: Out near the front gate, a heavy brown coat was lying on the
• 4:53
  Speaker: road, as if someone had tossed it out the window of a car
• 4:56
  Speaker: speeding away from town.
• 4:58
  Speaker: Tucked inside its pockets was a worn pair of work gloves.
• 5:02
  Speaker: His pockets were cleaned out completely.
• 5:04
  Speaker: He had no cash.
• 5:05
  Speaker: There was no watch, no identification.
• 5:08
  Speaker: The only thing left on him was a blue bandana, the classic
• 5:12
  Speaker: hallmark of a railroad worker.
• 5:15
  Speaker: Physically, the victim was a solid guy about five seven, one
• 5:18
  Speaker: hundred and forty five pounds.
• 5:20
  Speaker: He had gray eyes, and they noted
• 5:23
  Speaker: he had full lips on his left
• 5:25
  Speaker: forearm.
• 5:26
  Speaker: He had a distinct tattoo, an anchor and a heart woven
• 5:29
  Speaker: together with the initials “N. M. L.”. Pinned to his lapel was a
• 5:34
  Speaker: small enamel button, white with a red border and gold lettering
• 5:38
  Speaker: that read “S.M.B.”, likely a badge from a Sunday school or a local
• 5:42
  Speaker: club or something.
• 5:44
  Speaker: Then came a few details that became crucial.
• 5:47
  Speaker: First, his shoes and trousers were caked in thick mud, showing
• 5:52
  Speaker: he had either been walking through the rain or dragged
• 5:54
  Speaker: across the dirt.
• 5:55
  Speaker: Second, the tip of his right index finger was missing,
• 6:00
  Speaker: amputated at the second joint and long since healed over.
• 6:04
  Speaker: Finally, Coroner Low turned the victim's jacket inside out
• 6:09
  Speaker: there, sewn neatly into the inner lining, was a tailor's
• 6:13
  Speaker: label Damschroder and Berry Clothing Company, Toledo, Ohio.
• 6:19
  Speaker: And just like that,
• 6:20
  Speaker: investigators had their first
• 6:22
  Speaker: real lead.
• 6:32
  Speaker: Local officers wired Toledo right away.
• 6:35
  Speaker: By Tuesday afternoon, November
• 6:36
  Speaker: 3, a man named John
• 6:39
  Speaker: Zakrzewski stepped off the train
• 6:41
  Speaker: in Evansville.
• 6:42
  Speaker: John went straight to the morgue
• 6:44
  Speaker: and he took one look at the
• 6:45
  Speaker: victim and confirmed it was his
• 6:47
  Speaker: 35-year-old brother,
• 6:49
  Speaker: Seraphine Zakrzewski.
• 6:51
  Speaker: Seraphine was single.
• 6:53
  Speaker: A World War One veteran and worked as a punch press operator
• 6:57
  Speaker: in a Toledo factory.
• 6:59
  Speaker: According to his brother,
• 7:00
  Speaker: Seraphine was just a quiet, hard
• 7:02
  Speaker: working guy with no known
• 7:03
  Speaker: enemies.
• 7:05
  Speaker: About five days before Halloween, Seraphine had walked
• 7:08
  Speaker: out of his home in Toledo.
• 7:10
  Speaker: He didn't leave a note, didn't say goodbye.
• 7:12
  Speaker: Nothing.
• 7:14
  Speaker: His own family had no idea where he went.
• 7:17
  Speaker: Yet somehow, in less than a
• 7:18
  Speaker: week, he traveled nearly four
• 7:20
  Speaker: hundred miles south, only to
• 7:22
  Speaker: turn up dead in a stranger's
• 7:24
  Speaker: front yard near Evansville,
• 7:26
  Speaker: Indiana.
• 7:27
  Speaker: And here's where the story gets even stranger.
• 7:30
  Speaker: When Seraphine was found, he was dressed in a blue Serge
• 7:33
  Speaker: pinstripe suit, a gray crush cap, a brown flannel shirt, a
• 7:38
  Speaker: sweater coat, brown socks, and dark high top shoes.
• 7:43
  Speaker: And underneath all of that, two full suits of underwear, he was
• 7:47
  Speaker: layered up like it was the middle of a brutal winter.
• 7:50
  Speaker: Except it wasn't.
• 7:52
  Speaker: Evansville had been having a mild weather week, so
• 7:55
  Speaker: investigators figured he either came straight from somewhere
• 7:58
  Speaker: freezing up north, or he had spent days riding an open
• 8:01
  Speaker: freight cars, maybe layering up to survive the cold drafts.
• 8:06
  Speaker: Deputy Sheriff Harry Rasure took one look at him and thought he
• 8:09
  Speaker: recognized the type, guessing Séraphine might have been a
• 8:12
  Speaker: railroad worker himself.
• 8:14
  Speaker: Then came the twist that threw everyone for a loop.
• 8:17
  Speaker: Police realized that the clothes
• 8:19
  Speaker: Seraphine died in weren't even
• 8:22
  Speaker: his.
• 8:23
  Speaker: Someone right here in Evansville
• 8:24
  Speaker: had given him the clothes after
• 8:26
  Speaker: he arrived.
• 8:27
  Speaker: So, I mean, that's a lot to unpack here.
• 8:30
  Speaker: A stranger arrives in town four
• 8:32
  Speaker: hundred miles from his home, and
• 8:35
  Speaker: somebody here gives him a
• 8:36
  Speaker: completely different set of
• 8:37
  Speaker: clothes.
• 8:39
  Speaker: So it makes you wonder if he was staying in, like, a boarding
• 8:41
  Speaker: house, or if maybe he knew somebody down here.
• 8:44
  Speaker: Somebody just felt sorry for him.
• 8:47
  Speaker: Or if he fell in with the wrong people, I don't know.
• 8:51
  Speaker: While all of this was playing
• 8:52
  Speaker: out, the investigators working
• 8:53
  Speaker: the case couldn't even agree on
• 8:54
  Speaker: what kind of crime they were
• 8:56
  Speaker: looking at.
• 8:57
  Speaker: Emmett Bell, Evansville's Chief of Detectives, was pushing the
• 9:00
  Speaker: theory that Seraphine was walking down West Heights Road
• 9:02
  Speaker: when a car full of drunk partygoers struck him.
• 9:06
  Speaker: Prohibition was in full swing,
• 9:07
  Speaker: and Bell figured they were
• 9:08
  Speaker: fueled by local moonshine, or
• 9:10
  Speaker: “white mule”, as it was called
• 9:11
  Speaker: around here.
• 9:12
  Speaker: Bell argued that they knocked Seraphine out cold, panicked,
• 9:15
  Speaker: dragged him into the yard and strung him up in the plum tree
• 9:18
  Speaker: to stage a suicide to cover up the hit and run.
• 9:22
  Speaker: But Deputy Sheriff Harry Rasure and Elba Schultz called the
• 9:25
  Speaker: accident theory ridiculous.
• 9:27
  Speaker: As far as they were concerned,
• 9:28
  Speaker: this was a robbery or a revenge
• 9:29
  Speaker: motivated hit.
• 9:31
  Speaker: Deputy Sheriff Rasure had one lead he couldn't let go of.
• 9:35
  Speaker: A few neighbors reported seeing a beat up touring car idling on
• 9:38
  Speaker: the side of the road near the Erhard farm on Halloween night,
• 9:41
  Speaker: right between 10:30pm and 11:00pm. Inside were
• 9:45
  Speaker: three suspicious looking men.
• 9:47
  Speaker: To make matters worse, police
• 9:49
  Speaker: already suspected that exact
• 9:50
  Speaker: same car was involved in a
• 9:52
  Speaker: string of violent armed
• 9:53
  Speaker: robberies and road hijackings
• 9:55
  Speaker: popping up across Vanderburgh
• 9:56
  Speaker: County while deputies chased the
• 9:59
  Speaker: car.
• 10:00
  Speaker: Officer John Heeger rolled
• 10:02
  Speaker: Seraphine's fingerprints on Monday
• 10:03
  Speaker: morning and rushed them off to
• 10:04
  Speaker: Washington, D.C..
• 10:06
  Speaker: Now, remember, Seraphine was a World War I veteran.
• 10:09
  Speaker: His prints should have been on file with the military.
• 10:13
  Speaker: Matching them should have been a slam dunk.
• 10:15
  Speaker: But when Washington wired back, the news stunned the department.
• 10:20
  Speaker: No hits, no criminal record, nothing.
• 10:24
  Speaker: With that trail going cold,
• 10:25
  Speaker: detectives doubled back to the
• 10:27
  Speaker: farm.
• 10:28
  Speaker: They brought in George Erhard and his wife, Helen, putting
• 10:31
  Speaker: them through a relentless 14-hour interrogation.
• 10:35
  Speaker: But after 14 straight hours of grilling, police came
• 10:38
  Speaker: up empty handed.
• 10:40
  Speaker: The couple was completely unable to shed any light on how the
• 10:43
  Speaker: body got there.
• 10:44
  Speaker: They were just innocent folks
• 10:46
  Speaker: who happened to pull into their
• 10:47
  Speaker: own driveway and discover a
• 10:48
  Speaker: nightmare.
• 10:50
  Speaker: By mid-November, frustration was
• 10:52
  Speaker: boiling over in the local press,
• 10:54
  Speaker: and then the trail just went
• 10:56
  Speaker: completely dead.
• 10:57
  Speaker: The headlines stopped, the leads dried up, and the story vanished
• 11:01
  Speaker: from the front pages entirely.
• 11:04
  Speaker: In the end, no one was ever arrested.
• 11:06
  Speaker: No one was ever charged.
• 11:08
  Speaker: The investigation simply ground to a halt, frozen in time.
• 11:12
  Speaker: John Zakrzewski loaded his brother's casket onto a train
• 11:15
  Speaker: and took him back home to Ohio.
• 11:18
  Speaker: If you visit Mount Carmel Cemetery in Toledo today, you'll
• 11:21
  Speaker: find a simple red granite headstone resting in the grass.
• 11:24
  Speaker: It reads “Serafin Zakrzewski”,
• 11:27
  Speaker: 1889 to 19
• 11:29
  Speaker: 25.
• 11:30
  Speaker: A full century later, those same haunting questions still echo
• 11:34
  Speaker: down Harmony Way.
• 11:36
  Speaker: Why Seraphine walked out of his life in Toledo so suddenly.
• 11:39
  Speaker: Who gave him those clothes after he arrived in Evansville?
• 11:43
  Speaker: And who was sitting in that beat
• 11:44
  Speaker: up touring car, idling in the
• 11:46
  Speaker: dark on Halloween night time,
• 11:48
  Speaker: almost managed to bury the plum
• 11:50
  Speaker: tree murder.
• 11:51
  Speaker: But a hundred years on, it still
• 11:52
  Speaker: stands as one of the strangest,
• 11:54
  Speaker: most lingering unsolved cases in
• 11:56
  Speaker: Tri-State history.
• 11:58
  Speaker: If you have any family lore or
• 12:00
  Speaker: photos or news clippings or
• 12:02
  Speaker: information about the West
• 12:03
  Speaker: Heights neighborhood back in the
• 12:04
  Speaker: twenties, you're welcome to join
• 12:05
  Speaker: my discord server and share what
• 12:07
  Speaker: you know.
• 12:08
  Speaker: You can join it at rivercitymystery.com/discord.
• 12:12
  Speaker: I want to thank you for listening to the episode and
• 12:14
  Speaker: until next time, take care.