Banner Graphic, Volume 18, Number 97, Greencastle, Putnam County, 31 December 1987 — Page 3

Sheriff sets timetable for 16 murders

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (AP) The man suspected of one of America’s worst mass murders probably began slaughtering 16 people by stealthily strangling his sleeping children on Christmas Eve, the sheriff said. R. Gene Simmons Sr., 47, of Dover was formally charged Wednesday with two counts of capital murder and four of attempted murder. Prosecutor John Bynum said he would seek the death penalty. Pope County Sheriff Jim Bolin, who described the killer as calculating and cunning, has constructed a chronology that breaks the killings into three clusters: —Seven slain at Simmons’ eight-room house near Dover on Dec. 23 or Christmas Eve. —Seven more slain at the house Friday or Saturday. —Two slain in a shooting spree Monday at four businesses in Russellville, seven miles south of Dover. THE SHERIFF said those killed in the first cluster were Simmons’ wife, Becky, 46 who Baker said was considering leaving Simmons sons R. Gene Jr., 26, and Eddie, 14; daughters Loretta, 17, Marianne, 11, and Rebecca, 8;

Seven found dead in lowa family slayings

: ALGONA, lowa (AP) Four adults and three children were shot to death in an apparent murdersuicide at a holiday gathering, stunning this small town which hadn’t had a homicide in at least five years, authorities said. There were no survivors in the home of John Dreesman, 79, and his wife, Agnes, 74, where the killings are believed to have occurred Wednesday afternoon, said Kossuth County Attorney Jim Murphy. “It appears it was a murdersuicide situation at the residence,” Murphy said. “I think it would be too early to speculate who did the shooting.” The Des Moines Register, quoting authorities it did not identify, reported today that the focus of the investigation is the Dreesman’s 40-year-old son, Robert, who friends and neighbors described as a loner. IN ADDITION to John, Agnes and Robert Dreesman, the victims were identified as daughter Marilyn Chuang, 48, and her children, Jason, 12, Jennifer, 11, and Joshua, 8. The daughter and grandchildren had traveled from Honolulu for Christmas, neighbors said. Authorities said they would not discuss where the bodies were found, whether there were signs of a struggle, or what led them to call the case a murder-suicide. “We just as soon not talk about that at this time, until we get some more preliminary things done in the laboratory,” lowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent Ron Makin said at a news conference Wednesday night. Makin said Dr. Thomas Bennett, the state medical examiner, would join the investigation today. It was the nation’s second mass killing of relatives in a week. R. Gene Simmons Sr. was accused of killing 14 family members and two other people in the Russellville, Ark., area. ASKED IF IT was possible that the Algona slayings may have been a “copycat” crime, Murphy said he was not aware of any connection with the Arkansas deaths. Firearms were found at the Dreesman home, Murphy said, refusing to say how many or what kind or whether they were used to commit the shootings. Algona, a north-central lowa community of 6,300 about 110

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DOC ID’S 3 at Pendleton

PENDLETON, Ind. (AP) Three suspects have been identified by investigators from the Department of Correction who interviewed the 50 inmate residents of the dormitory where five pipe bombs were discovered during a routine shakedown. “We’re not ready to turn over any names to the state police, but it looks like more than one person is involved, possibly three,” Superintendent Edward L. Cohn said Wednesday. “We hope by Monday we’ll be able to name the ones involved.”

and granddaughter Barbara Jean, 3. The eldest son, who had come home for Christmas from his job at a military base in Texas, would have been the chief threat to the killer, so he may have been saved for last while weaker victims were quietly strangled or suffocated in their sleep, the sheriff said. The second group killed were Simmons’ son, William H. Simmons 11, 23; the son’s wife, Renada, 22; their son, William Jr., 1; Simmons’ daughter, Sheila Me-

miles north of Des Moines, had not had a homicide in at least five years, and residents were left stunned, Murphy said. “I’ve been here 22 years and I haven’t seen anything like that,” said Sheriff Charles Day. “I GUESS THAT people I’ve talked to in the last two or three hours, everybody’s shocked, everybody’s numb. I think there’s a hope that what they’ve heard isn’t true,” said the Rev. Gary Dehnke of Trinity Lutheran Church, where the Dreesmans took the grandchildren for Christmas services. Neighbors said John Dreesman, a former city council member, and his wife were well respected, but that their son went out of his way to avoid people. “Nobody knew him,” said Brian Keith, one of several Algona residents who gathered at a house across the street from the Dreesman home. Neighbors said Robert Dreesman was a 1987 graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport and had a medical degree from the University of Manila in the Philippines. “He was an extremely intelligent kid who really didn’t function normally in school,” said Dale Teeter of Algona. “When we were young kids, growing up with him I did think he was pretty much of a loner at that time.”

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Cohn said investigators believe the suspects built the bombs and planned to blow a hole somewhere in K-Dorm where the bombs were found. From there, inmates would have had access to the roof of the administration building and the outer wall. The bombs, made of silvercolored electrical conduit, stuffed with thousands of match heads and sealed at both ends, were discovered by corrections officers Monday during a routine shakedown.

Nulty, 24; her husband, Dennis, 23; their daughter, Sylvia, 6; and their son, Michael, 1. Relatives have said Sylvia actually was Simmons’ daughter from an incestuous relationship with his daughter Sheila. The bodies of the adults and the oldest child were found in the house Monday. The infants’ bodies were in garbage bags in the trunks of abandoned cars on Simmons’ land about 300 feet from the house. THE SHERIFF theorized that

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the son’s family arrived first, removed their coats, and were shot in the dining room, out of view of the house’s only door. Later, the McNulty couple arrived, Bolin said. The wife came in, went to the Christmas tree in the living room and was shot there. She might have had a view through a doorway into the dining room. The noise of the shot, Bolin thinks, may have prompted her husband to rush into the house. He was shot just inside the door. The bodies of the McNulty adults were in their overcoats when found. Six-year-old Sylvia may have fled to a bedroom, .where her body was found face down on a bed, apparently suffocated, Bolin said. The victims in the third cluster were Kathy Kendrick, 24, who reportedly had spumed Simmons’ affections a year ago, and J.D. Chaffin, 33, both of Russellville. Four other people were wounded in the downtown rampage. There was no ill will between Simmons and Chaffin, according to relatives and fellow workers. Chaffin “just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Kim Welk, who worked where Chaffin was shot.

Mutz says SIA will buy domestic for Lafayette

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Japanese automakers building a plant in Tippecanoe County will buy at least 50 percent of the parts for their cars and trucks from domestic sources, Ll Gov. John M. Mutz predicts. Mutz said Wednesday that a procurement team representing Subaru-Isuzu will visit Indiana in early 1988 to look for American-produced goods and services. HE SAID Subaru-Isuzu officials initially assured him that at least 50 percent of the supplies and parts required by the plant would be purchased in the United States. “They are very sensitive to our concerns and they have asked us to be patient and respect their timetable for announcing supplier contracts,” said Mutz. “Now, we are talking at the level of 60 percent domestic content,” said Mutz. “I think it’s entirely possible that over the long haul as SIA becomes familiar with Indiana suppliers,

December 31,1907 THE BANNERGRAPHIC

actual domestic content could be higher than 80 percent.” So far, all 97 of the contracts for equipment and construction at the SSOO million plant have gone to domestic companies and 65 have gone to Indiana companies, Mutz said. Through October, $l2O million had been spent, $72 million in Indiana, he said. EARLIER THIS month, Rep. B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, said he will introduce legislation requiring a foreign company that accepts state financial incentives to use at least 80 percent domestically produced parts and supplies. If not, the company would have to return its incentives, Bauer said. Indiana put up $55 million as part of an SB6 million package of state, local and federal incentives to Subaru-Isuzu, which expects to employ 1,700 workers and manufacture 120,000 vehicles annually when its plant is completed in 1989.

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