---- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Stephen Johnson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2009 10:46:50 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central
Subject: I'm so indebted to the govdoc-l and maps-l communities


I posted a message last Tuesday about needing aerial photographs from 1943 for a faculty member in our criminal justice department. It involved a 1942/1943 murder or murders in rural South Dakota. Your responses were phenomenal ! I must have had 25+ responses that offered a slew of ways for getting a hold of these photographs. Our faculty member was elated and wrote:





"I can’t believe all the good responses to our inquiry!!! Now we are getting somewhere ."

I didn't know this when I wrote last week but a USD archaeology faculty member and a USD anthropology professor are also part of this cold case team for the South Dakota attorney general's office. Again, I am so grateful for your help. In essence, here's more on what allegedly transpired in the early 1940s:







A woman from the Huron, South Dakota area disappeared abruptly in 1942 . Her estranged husband was seen in the area the week she disappeared but nothing could ever be proven. Her boyfriend also disappeared abruptly at the same time.

Right before he died 2-3 years ago, the sons of this woman told authorities about a well used for cattle that he and his brothers were told to knock out and cover up by their [biological] father. The authorities never knew about the well until the one son told them about it. A brother of his committed suicide sometime in the 1960s. Who knows if that's tied to this episode? The three USD faculty members are hoping to find things from these photographs like cattle paths leading to what was the well.

Again, many thanks!

Steve Johnson

Business and Distance Education Librarian

The University of South Dakota