The railroad trestle in Kickapoo Creek Park, Lincoln, IL (photo by Bonnie J. Thompson, 2004).
THE ALLEGEDLY MISSING EVIDENCE IN THE RUTH MARTIN CASE is the most compelling and important item collected in the investigation. It is a partially burned, bloody T-shirt discovered by a family fishing in Kickapoo Creek Park on June 8, ’76, six days after Ruth Martin disappeared. The Martins lived in the Lincoln, IL subdivision of Starkey Acres, located right off old Route 66 and just a short distance from Kickapoo Creek Park. A large bloodstain was found on the Martin’s garage floor, and some kind of absorbent material was used by the perpetrator(s) in an attempt to wipe up the blood on June 2, ’76. The material used to soak up the blood was removed from the crime scene.
I tried to learn more about the T-shirt evidence from former 1976 Lincoln Police Department detectives William A. Krueger and Thomas Maurer, leading detectives in the Martin investigation. Both men were uncooperative, snide, and evasive about answering my questions. I ultimately realized they were lying about the bloody T-shirt (Item of Evidence #23).
Later, in August 2009, I personally corresponded with Bill Krueger through email. He made claims to me that directly opposed established documented facts about the T-shirt evidence. Krueger wrote to me that the T-shirt was, quote, “found under a bridge over I55, there was a great deal of junk, both burned and not burned, under that bridge. Everything from men’s pants and sweat socks to diapers and women’s underpants.” Krueger claimed he was there to discover the T-shirt evidence, and that he was involved in selecting that particular item amongst the other alleged garments found under the “busy hi-way bridge,” because the T-shirt had “what seemed like a red stain” on it.
Krueger further explained, “We asked our selves [sic] would a man fleeing a kidnaper [sic] or possibly murder scene stop to start a fire to burn something under a busy hi-way [sic] bridge in the dark? We thought it very unlikely. However, I checked that item out of evidence and sent it to the State Springfield Crime Lab and it was never returned. I mentioned this to your father [Logan County State’s Attorney Roger Thompson]. He replied, ‘Forget it, we’ve got more than enough evidence to convict this guy [Russell Smrekar].'” Krueger continued, “Frankly, I don’t think that your father was all that interested in Ruth Martin by the time he was preparing the case against Smrekar for the Fry [double] murder. He did say, when questioned by a reporter, that Mrs. Martin’s case would never be closed. A nice piece of theater.”
THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER IS:
1.) Neither William Krueger nor Thomas Maurer discovered the partially burned, bloody T-shirt; the Lincoln family fishing in Kickapoo Creek Park were the first to find it and report it to the Lincoln PD.
2.) The T-shirt evidence WAS NOT found “under a busy hi-way bridge over I55”; it was found in the secluded location of Kickapoo Creek Park in a makeshift fire pit on a sandbar in the middle of the creek near the railroad trestle.
3.) The additional junk and garments Krueger identified as being under the “bridge over I55” WERE NOT FOUND with the T-shirt. The items listed by Krueger were nonexistent and apparently made up.
4.) Krueger DID NOT collect the T-shirt; former 1976 LPD Sgt. Ron Robbins collected that evidence. Robbins later turned all evidence over to Krueger.
5.) Krueger DID NOT write the report on that evidence, and he WAS NOT the one who “sent it to the State Springfield Crime Lab”; Thomas Maurer wrote the report and submitted that evidence to the crime lab on June 10, 1976.
I questioned Tom Maurer about the bloody T-shirt in March of 2002. The phone conversation took place in Logan County State’s Attorney Tim Huyett’s personal office, and Huyett was present during the phone call. Maurer told me in a surly tone, “I don’t know anything about a T-shirt.” I balked, “Well, are you sure? Because I read that you and Detective Young went to Kickapoo Creek Park, and Sergeant Robbins showed you where the evidence was found and . . . .” Maurer cut me off and, once again, denied knowing anything about the T-shirt. As truth would have it, Tom Maurer is the one who wrote the report pertaining to the discovery of the bloody T-shirt, and he also submitted it to the State Crime Lab for testing.
6.) William Krueger informed State’s Attorney Roger Thompson (my father) that the T-shirt evidence “was never returned” during the time frame Thompson “was preparing the case against Smrekar for the Fry [double] murder,” which would have been sometime between October 9, ’76 and February of 1977. William Krueger LIED to Roger Thompson and he also lied to me (multiple times) about the T-shirt evidence. WHY did this former detective, involved in a historical disappearance/murder case, lie about critical evidence? WHY is this one particular item of evidence the only evidence allegedly missing in the Ruth Martin case?
7.) The T-shirt evidence “WAS RETURNED” to the Lincoln Police Department on July 1, 1976, and WILLIAM KRUEGER AND TOM MAURER SIGNED OFF FOR ITS RETURN ON THE EVIDENCE RECEIPT. In 2002, the State Crime Lab also confirmed the T-shirt “was returned to the referring agency,” the LPD, shortly after it was submitted to them in 1976.
8.) Interestingly, William Krueger signed my website petition calling for the reinvestigation of the Martin case and DNA testing of all applicable evidence relating to it. He did so after a long five-year delay and after years of not supporting my calls for DNA testing of evidence. Krueger sarcastically added as a comment on his signed petition, “If any evidence can be obtained to clear up these 75 [sic] year old cases every effot [sic] should be made to spend tax dollars in the effor [sic] to prove that Ms. Thompson needs this to justify her life’s mission.”
I knew Roger Thompson well enough to know he would have been extremely interested in all information and evidence relating to Russell Smrekar and his victims, which included Ruth Martin. I responded to Krueger’s signed petition by emailing him and questioning his sincerity and motives for signing it. Krueger wrote, “My reason for signing the petition was the hope that a new investigation will be forthcoming. I have no fear of what they will find. I do believe it would be a waste of tax payer [sic] money, but what the hell they waste tax money all the time.”
9.) Perhaps Krueger has “no fear of what they will find” in the event of a thorough official reinvestigation of the Martin case (long overdue) because this critical evidence that he’s not telling the truth about is supposedly missing from the Logan County Safety Complex without explanation. At the close of Krueger’s emails he rudely told me, “Get a life.” I replied to him, “I, in turn, am telling you to get real, Mr. Krueger. Give me some truth, if you dare.” He didn’t reply.
In 2002, the woman in charge of the LPD evidence room claimed the T-shirt was not at the Logan County Safety Complex with all the other Martin case evidence. She claimed she didn’t know where it was. This T-shirt (vital blood evidence) did not sprout legs and walk out of the LPD on its own after the date of July 1, 1976. The big question is HOW did this evidence supposedly disappear, and who might have been involved in MAKING it disappear? The Lincoln Police Department has not, and will not, answered to its whereabouts. Apparently, Krueger and the LPD feel they are above the law and are not required to answer to the public, the very people they are obligated to Protect & Serve. There’s much more information pertaining to this evidence in “Buried Truth Trilogy Part Two: Preponderance of Evidence“.
2016 marks 40 YEARS since these crimes took place. Citizens of Logan County, past and present, you should not allow this ongoing Lincoln PD cover-up to continue. Former Detective William Krueger should be interrogated about his untruths pertaining to the T-shirt evidence, and the LPD and Krueger should be investigated as to why this evidence is allegedly missing. Ruth Martin and her family deserve justice, and citizens of Logan County, especially, should not turn a blind eye on this matter. TAKE AN INTEREST, GET INVOLVED AND TAKE A STAND TO SUPPORT TRUTH AND JUSTICE.
Educate yourselves by reading Buried Truth Trilogy. Please SIGN THE PETITION on this web site calling for DNA testing of existing evidence and official reinvestigation of Michael Mansfield and Ruth Martin cold cases, and the triple homicide of Lloyd, Phyllis, and Terri Schneider. There will never be a better opportunity than now for finding more answers and achieving justice.
