43 YEARS AGO TODAY, on October 9, 1976, Jay and Robin Fry (both 24) and their unborn child were taken from this world by cold-blooded serial killer Russell Albin Smrekar. Jay and Robin were graduates of Lincoln Community High School (Lincoln, IL), and they had many friends. They were a beautiful couple, so full of hope and excitement about the pending birth of their first child. The shock and horror of that tragic year in Lincoln has not been forgotten by those who lived through it.
Please take a moment today to honor the lives of Jay and Robin Fry and their baby.
If the Ruth Martin case had been thoroughly investigated by the Lincoln PD and ALL the evidence collected in that case had been revealed to proper authorities – explicitly the BLOODY T-SHIRT evidence with the NAME ON THE COLLAR found in Kickapoo Creek Park on June 8, ’76 – it’s possible that Russell Smrekar and another NAMED suspect/accomplice might have been arrested and charged with her murder. If proper investigation of the Martin case had been carried out, and the details relating to Item of Evidence #23 (the bloody T-shirt) had not been withheld and concealed from Logan County State’s Attorney Roger Thompson (my father) and others, it’s quite possible the Schneiders and the Frys might never have been murdered and might still be alive. If the LPD had fully and properly investigated the Martin case, the Fry’s unborn child could be 42-years-old now. Think about that while considering all the other injustices.
It’s critical that what certain individuals and authorities FAILED to do in ’76 be done NOW without another 43 years of Obstruction of Justice and intentional disregard and delay. Those who were involved in the COVER-UP to conceal the facts pertaining to the bloody T-shirt AND THE NAME ON THE COLLAR should be interrogated and investigated fully. Start with former LPD Detective William A. Krueger!
The facts and evidence in the Mansfield, Martin, and Schneider murder cases overwhelming demonstrate and support that Michael Drabing and Russell Smrekar did not act alone and there are still probable accomplices at large.
Truth and Justice,
Bonnie J. Thompson, Investigative Writer/Author
Photo of Jay and Robin Fry contained in “Buried Truth, The Unabridged Trilogy,” by Bonnie J. Thompson. Registered Copyrights 2013, 2015, 2017. All rights reserved.
