The Salina Journal
9 Apr 1962
Was the baby girl a murder victim? Did she die a natural death and then was abandoned? Who are her parents? Why was her body abandoned in a park? Answers to these questions and many others are being sought as the result of the discovery of the child's body Sunday in Thomas Park, at the north edge of Salina. A coroner's inquest, scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the Rush Smith Funeral Home, may shed some light on the mystery. The badly decomposed body of the 18- to 24-months-old-child was found at 12:55 p.m. by Mr. and Mrs. Larry Anderson, 508 E. Prescott, who were exercising their dog. The child had light brown or blondish hair, weighed between 25 and 30 pounds and was 32 inches long. Dr. C.J. Weber, Salina pathologist, estimated the girl had been dead at least three to five weeks. Whoever abandoned her apparently made no attempt to cover the body. The child was at the base of a tree next to a pile of cement and wood fence posts behind a stone outhouse. She was lying on her back on a baby blanket, and was clothed in shoes and socks, diaper and robe.
10 Apr 1962
A Kansas University scientist entered Salina's grisly baby-in-the-park mystery Tuesday in another effort to answer the baffling questions: Who is she? What killed her? When and how did she die? The latest effort involves a series of X-rays of the body of the little girl found Sunday in Thomas Park. These will be studied by Dr. William M. Bass, an anthropologist with the KU Museum of Natural History.
11 Apr 1962
Salina's mystery baby -- the little blonde girl found dead in Thomas Park Sunday -- will be buried at 2 p.m. Thursday in Gypsum Hill Cemetery with the Rev. George Wattenbarger officiating. A short service will be held at the Rush Smith Funeral Home prior to burial. Shocked Salinans have flooded city and county law officers with possible clues to the child's identity. An important clue has developed with the identification of the maker of a hand-embroidered blanket found with the child. After seeing a picture of the blanket in The Salina Journal, a Salina woman, a former operator of a used clothing store, identified the blanket as one she had made and sold at her store last year. Police are checking other information she supplied.
11 Apr 1962
A tiny grave was closed Thursday afternoon in Gypsum Hill Cemetery. The marker bears no name. No mother's tears fell on the covering earth. The grave, in an infant's section of the cemetery, holds the body of a little girl, a little girl with blonde hair, a dead child abandoned in a city park. Revolted by the wretchedness, Salinans ask: Who was she, this blonde girl? How did she die, this apparently unwanted child? Why? Why? The questions bring only echoes. No answers have been heard. Some curious watched as the little casket, white to symbolize the innocence of childhood, was lowered into the grave. The budding cemetery trees foretold the promise of spring. A bird trilled its song.
7 Aug 1962
Salina police said Tuesday morning that the arrest of a man and woman in Lindsborg resulted in the identification of the mystery baby whose body was found in Thomas Park on April 8. Officers said a woman who identified herself as Vera Jean Throne, 22, has signed a statement in connection with the case. The woman told officers she is the mother of the dead child.
A man identified as Paul Wayne Throne, 28, was wanted on a federal warrant charging interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle. He was known to be traveling with a woman and two children. Throne said the woman is his wife. Two children also were with the couple, a 3-year-old boy and a 5-month-old boy. Police said they knew three children had been seen with the couple some months earlier and began questioning the woman about the Salina case. She told police the child was born July 13, 1960, at a charity hospital in Pineville, La., under the name frances Murry. Officers said Throne is not the father. The father was identified as an L.V. Murry, whose address is not known. The woman told police she and her husband were traveling from Nebraska to the Salina area seeking work when they noticed that something was wrong with the baby." She said they abandoned it in Thomas Park after she could find no pulse.
8 Aug 1962
Sleuthing by Harold Skelly, Salina area FBI agent, was largely responsible for solution of the baffling "baby-inthe-park" mystery, Salina Police Chief H.R. Salmans said Wednesday. Salmans revealed that agent Skelly started several months ago investigating possible interstate transportation of a motor vehicle stolen Feb. 28, 1962, in Bristol, Va. The mystery baby, identified Tuesday by Vera Jean Throne as Frances Ezell Murry, born July 13, 1960, at a charity hospital in Pineville, La., was found April 8 in Thomas Park. The 19-month-old girl's body was clad in a diaper and robe and was on a hand-embroidered Blanket behind a brick building.
9 Aug 1962
Paul Wayne Throne, 28, and his wife, Vera, 22, were arraigned in city court Thursday on charges of fourth-degree manslaughter. County Attorney John Weckel said the couple are charged in connection with the death of Mrs. Throne's 19-month-old daughter, Frances Ezell Murry, on Feb. 20, 1962. The body of the child was found in Thomas Park on April 8.
31 Aug 1962
"I don't know! I don't know! I don't know! I've told the cops a thousands times, I don't know!" That's Vera Jean Throne sobbing in her cell in the city jail. People keep asking her why she abandoned her baby, Frances Murry, in Salina's Thomas Park last February. She says she keeps asking herself that question, too. She hasn't come up with a satisfactory answer. Nor has she found a satisfactory answer to the question of what she's going to do with her own life — a life that started amid filth and poverty and has stayed that way. Frances' body was found in the park April 8. It has been there several weeks. Vera says the baby died of natural causes before the abandonment, but Vera has been charged with fourth-degree manslaughter. Vera and her third husband, Paul Throne, were arrested in Salina on Aug. 7 and have been charged in connection with armed robberies and the death of Frances.
9 Apr 1962
Was the baby girl a murder victim? Did she die a natural death and then was abandoned? Who are her parents? Why was her body abandoned in a park? Answers to these questions and many others are being sought as the result of the discovery of the child's body Sunday in Thomas Park, at the north edge of Salina. A coroner's inquest, scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the Rush Smith Funeral Home, may shed some light on the mystery. The badly decomposed body of the 18- to 24-months-old-child was found at 12:55 p.m. by Mr. and Mrs. Larry Anderson, 508 E. Prescott, who were exercising their dog. The child had light brown or blondish hair, weighed between 25 and 30 pounds and was 32 inches long. Dr. C.J. Weber, Salina pathologist, estimated the girl had been dead at least three to five weeks. Whoever abandoned her apparently made no attempt to cover the body. The child was at the base of a tree next to a pile of cement and wood fence posts behind a stone outhouse. She was lying on her back on a baby blanket, and was clothed in shoes and socks, diaper and robe.
10 Apr 1962
A Kansas University scientist entered Salina's grisly baby-in-the-park mystery Tuesday in another effort to answer the baffling questions: Who is she? What killed her? When and how did she die? The latest effort involves a series of X-rays of the body of the little girl found Sunday in Thomas Park. These will be studied by Dr. William M. Bass, an anthropologist with the KU Museum of Natural History.
11 Apr 1962
Salina's mystery baby -- the little blonde girl found dead in Thomas Park Sunday -- will be buried at 2 p.m. Thursday in Gypsum Hill Cemetery with the Rev. George Wattenbarger officiating. A short service will be held at the Rush Smith Funeral Home prior to burial. Shocked Salinans have flooded city and county law officers with possible clues to the child's identity. An important clue has developed with the identification of the maker of a hand-embroidered blanket found with the child. After seeing a picture of the blanket in The Salina Journal, a Salina woman, a former operator of a used clothing store, identified the blanket as one she had made and sold at her store last year. Police are checking other information she supplied.
11 Apr 1962
A tiny grave was closed Thursday afternoon in Gypsum Hill Cemetery. The marker bears no name. No mother's tears fell on the covering earth. The grave, in an infant's section of the cemetery, holds the body of a little girl, a little girl with blonde hair, a dead child abandoned in a city park. Revolted by the wretchedness, Salinans ask: Who was she, this blonde girl? How did she die, this apparently unwanted child? Why? Why? The questions bring only echoes. No answers have been heard. Some curious watched as the little casket, white to symbolize the innocence of childhood, was lowered into the grave. The budding cemetery trees foretold the promise of spring. A bird trilled its song.
7 Aug 1962
Salina police said Tuesday morning that the arrest of a man and woman in Lindsborg resulted in the identification of the mystery baby whose body was found in Thomas Park on April 8. Officers said a woman who identified herself as Vera Jean Throne, 22, has signed a statement in connection with the case. The woman told officers she is the mother of the dead child.
A man identified as Paul Wayne Throne, 28, was wanted on a federal warrant charging interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle. He was known to be traveling with a woman and two children. Throne said the woman is his wife. Two children also were with the couple, a 3-year-old boy and a 5-month-old boy. Police said they knew three children had been seen with the couple some months earlier and began questioning the woman about the Salina case. She told police the child was born July 13, 1960, at a charity hospital in Pineville, La., under the name frances Murry. Officers said Throne is not the father. The father was identified as an L.V. Murry, whose address is not known. The woman told police she and her husband were traveling from Nebraska to the Salina area seeking work when they noticed that something was wrong with the baby." She said they abandoned it in Thomas Park after she could find no pulse.
8 Aug 1962
Sleuthing by Harold Skelly, Salina area FBI agent, was largely responsible for solution of the baffling "baby-inthe-park" mystery, Salina Police Chief H.R. Salmans said Wednesday. Salmans revealed that agent Skelly started several months ago investigating possible interstate transportation of a motor vehicle stolen Feb. 28, 1962, in Bristol, Va. The mystery baby, identified Tuesday by Vera Jean Throne as Frances Ezell Murry, born July 13, 1960, at a charity hospital in Pineville, La., was found April 8 in Thomas Park. The 19-month-old girl's body was clad in a diaper and robe and was on a hand-embroidered Blanket behind a brick building.
9 Aug 1962
Paul Wayne Throne, 28, and his wife, Vera, 22, were arraigned in city court Thursday on charges of fourth-degree manslaughter. County Attorney John Weckel said the couple are charged in connection with the death of Mrs. Throne's 19-month-old daughter, Frances Ezell Murry, on Feb. 20, 1962. The body of the child was found in Thomas Park on April 8.
31 Aug 1962
"I don't know! I don't know! I don't know! I've told the cops a thousands times, I don't know!" That's Vera Jean Throne sobbing in her cell in the city jail. People keep asking her why she abandoned her baby, Frances Murry, in Salina's Thomas Park last February. She says she keeps asking herself that question, too. She hasn't come up with a satisfactory answer. Nor has she found a satisfactory answer to the question of what she's going to do with her own life — a life that started amid filth and poverty and has stayed that way. Frances' body was found in the park April 8. It has been there several weeks. Vera says the baby died of natural causes before the abandonment, but Vera has been charged with fourth-degree manslaughter. Vera and her third husband, Paul Throne, were arrested in Salina on Aug. 7 and have been charged in connection with armed robberies and the death of Frances.
The Salina Journal
9 Apr 1962
Was the baby girl a murder victim? Did she die a natural death and then was abandoned? Who are her parents? Why was her body abandoned in a park? Answers to these questions and many others are being sought as the result of the discovery of the child's body Sunday in Thomas Park, at the north edge of Salina. A coroner's inquest, scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the Rush Smith Funeral Home, may shed some light on the mystery. The badly decomposed body of the 18- to 24-months-old-child was found at 12:55 p.m. by Mr. and Mrs. Larry Anderson, 508 E. Prescott, who were exercising their dog. The child had light brown or blondish hair, weighed between 25 and 30 pounds and was 32 inches long. Dr. C.J. Weber, Salina pathologist, estimated the girl had been dead at least three to five weeks. Whoever abandoned her apparently made no attempt to cover the body. The child was at the base of a tree next to a pile of cement and wood fence posts behind a stone outhouse. She was lying on her back on a baby blanket, and was clothed in shoes and socks, diaper and robe.
10 Apr 1962
A Kansas University scientist entered Salina's grisly baby-in-the-park mystery Tuesday in another effort to answer the baffling questions: Who is she? What killed her? When and how did she die? The latest effort involves a series of X-rays of the body of the little girl found Sunday in Thomas Park. These will be studied by Dr. William M. Bass, an anthropologist with the KU Museum of Natural History.
11 Apr 1962
Salina's mystery baby -- the little blonde girl found dead in Thomas Park Sunday -- will be buried at 2 p.m. Thursday in Gypsum Hill Cemetery with the Rev. George Wattenbarger officiating. A short service will be held at the Rush Smith Funeral Home prior to burial. Shocked Salinans have flooded city and county law officers with possible clues to the child's identity. An important clue has developed with the identification of the maker of a hand-embroidered blanket found with the child. After seeing a picture of the blanket in The Salina Journal, a Salina woman, a former operator of a used clothing store, identified the blanket as one she had made and sold at her store last year. Police are checking other information she supplied.
11 Apr 1962
A tiny grave was closed Thursday afternoon in Gypsum Hill Cemetery. The marker bears no name. No mother's tears fell on the covering earth. The grave, in an infant's section of the cemetery, holds the body of a little girl, a little girl with blonde hair, a dead child abandoned in a city park. Revolted by the wretchedness, Salinans ask: Who was she, this blonde girl? How did she die, this apparently unwanted child? Why? Why? The questions bring only echoes. No answers have been heard. Some curious watched as the little casket, white to symbolize the innocence of childhood, was lowered into the grave. The budding cemetery trees foretold the promise of spring. A bird trilled its song.
7 Aug 1962
Salina police said Tuesday morning that the arrest of a man and woman in Lindsborg resulted in the identification of the mystery baby whose body was found in Thomas Park on April 8. Officers said a woman who identified herself as Vera Jean Throne, 22, has signed a statement in connection with the case. The woman told officers she is the mother of the dead child.
A man identified as Paul Wayne Throne, 28, was wanted on a federal warrant charging interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle. He was known to be traveling with a woman and two children. Throne said the woman is his wife. Two children also were with the couple, a 3-year-old boy and a 5-month-old boy. Police said they knew three children had been seen with the couple some months earlier and began questioning the woman about the Salina case. She told police the child was born July 13, 1960, at a charity hospital in Pineville, La., under the name frances Murry. Officers said Throne is not the father. The father was identified as an L.V. Murry, whose address is not known. The woman told police she and her husband were traveling from Nebraska to the Salina area seeking work when they noticed that something was wrong with the baby." She said they abandoned it in Thomas Park after she could find no pulse.
8 Aug 1962
Sleuthing by Harold Skelly, Salina area FBI agent, was largely responsible for solution of the baffling "baby-inthe-park" mystery, Salina Police Chief H.R. Salmans said Wednesday. Salmans revealed that agent Skelly started several months ago investigating possible interstate transportation of a motor vehicle stolen Feb. 28, 1962, in Bristol, Va. The mystery baby, identified Tuesday by Vera Jean Throne as Frances Ezell Murry, born July 13, 1960, at a charity hospital in Pineville, La., was found April 8 in Thomas Park. The 19-month-old girl's body was clad in a diaper and robe and was on a hand-embroidered Blanket behind a brick building.
9 Aug 1962
Paul Wayne Throne, 28, and his wife, Vera, 22, were arraigned in city court Thursday on charges of fourth-degree manslaughter. County Attorney John Weckel said the couple are charged in connection with the death of Mrs. Throne's 19-month-old daughter, Frances Ezell Murry, on Feb. 20, 1962. The body of the child was found in Thomas Park on April 8.
31 Aug 1962
"I don't know! I don't know! I don't know! I've told the cops a thousands times, I don't know!" That's Vera Jean Throne sobbing in her cell in the city jail. People keep asking her why she abandoned her baby, Frances Murry, in Salina's Thomas Park last February. She says she keeps asking herself that question, too. She hasn't come up with a satisfactory answer. Nor has she found a satisfactory answer to the question of what she's going to do with her own life — a life that started amid filth and poverty and has stayed that way. Frances' body was found in the park April 8. It has been there several weeks. Vera says the baby died of natural causes before the abandonment, but Vera has been charged with fourth-degree manslaughter. Vera and her third husband, Paul Throne, were arrested in Salina on Aug. 7 and have been charged in connection with armed robberies and the death of Frances.
9 Apr 1962
Was the baby girl a murder victim? Did she die a natural death and then was abandoned? Who are her parents? Why was her body abandoned in a park? Answers to these questions and many others are being sought as the result of the discovery of the child's body Sunday in Thomas Park, at the north edge of Salina. A coroner's inquest, scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the Rush Smith Funeral Home, may shed some light on the mystery. The badly decomposed body of the 18- to 24-months-old-child was found at 12:55 p.m. by Mr. and Mrs. Larry Anderson, 508 E. Prescott, who were exercising their dog. The child had light brown or blondish hair, weighed between 25 and 30 pounds and was 32 inches long. Dr. C.J. Weber, Salina pathologist, estimated the girl had been dead at least three to five weeks. Whoever abandoned her apparently made no attempt to cover the body. The child was at the base of a tree next to a pile of cement and wood fence posts behind a stone outhouse. She was lying on her back on a baby blanket, and was clothed in shoes and socks, diaper and robe.
10 Apr 1962
A Kansas University scientist entered Salina's grisly baby-in-the-park mystery Tuesday in another effort to answer the baffling questions: Who is she? What killed her? When and how did she die? The latest effort involves a series of X-rays of the body of the little girl found Sunday in Thomas Park. These will be studied by Dr. William M. Bass, an anthropologist with the KU Museum of Natural History.
11 Apr 1962
Salina's mystery baby -- the little blonde girl found dead in Thomas Park Sunday -- will be buried at 2 p.m. Thursday in Gypsum Hill Cemetery with the Rev. George Wattenbarger officiating. A short service will be held at the Rush Smith Funeral Home prior to burial. Shocked Salinans have flooded city and county law officers with possible clues to the child's identity. An important clue has developed with the identification of the maker of a hand-embroidered blanket found with the child. After seeing a picture of the blanket in The Salina Journal, a Salina woman, a former operator of a used clothing store, identified the blanket as one she had made and sold at her store last year. Police are checking other information she supplied.
11 Apr 1962
A tiny grave was closed Thursday afternoon in Gypsum Hill Cemetery. The marker bears no name. No mother's tears fell on the covering earth. The grave, in an infant's section of the cemetery, holds the body of a little girl, a little girl with blonde hair, a dead child abandoned in a city park. Revolted by the wretchedness, Salinans ask: Who was she, this blonde girl? How did she die, this apparently unwanted child? Why? Why? The questions bring only echoes. No answers have been heard. Some curious watched as the little casket, white to symbolize the innocence of childhood, was lowered into the grave. The budding cemetery trees foretold the promise of spring. A bird trilled its song.
7 Aug 1962
Salina police said Tuesday morning that the arrest of a man and woman in Lindsborg resulted in the identification of the mystery baby whose body was found in Thomas Park on April 8. Officers said a woman who identified herself as Vera Jean Throne, 22, has signed a statement in connection with the case. The woman told officers she is the mother of the dead child.
A man identified as Paul Wayne Throne, 28, was wanted on a federal warrant charging interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle. He was known to be traveling with a woman and two children. Throne said the woman is his wife. Two children also were with the couple, a 3-year-old boy and a 5-month-old boy. Police said they knew three children had been seen with the couple some months earlier and began questioning the woman about the Salina case. She told police the child was born July 13, 1960, at a charity hospital in Pineville, La., under the name frances Murry. Officers said Throne is not the father. The father was identified as an L.V. Murry, whose address is not known. The woman told police she and her husband were traveling from Nebraska to the Salina area seeking work when they noticed that something was wrong with the baby." She said they abandoned it in Thomas Park after she could find no pulse.
8 Aug 1962
Sleuthing by Harold Skelly, Salina area FBI agent, was largely responsible for solution of the baffling "baby-inthe-park" mystery, Salina Police Chief H.R. Salmans said Wednesday. Salmans revealed that agent Skelly started several months ago investigating possible interstate transportation of a motor vehicle stolen Feb. 28, 1962, in Bristol, Va. The mystery baby, identified Tuesday by Vera Jean Throne as Frances Ezell Murry, born July 13, 1960, at a charity hospital in Pineville, La., was found April 8 in Thomas Park. The 19-month-old girl's body was clad in a diaper and robe and was on a hand-embroidered Blanket behind a brick building.
9 Aug 1962
Paul Wayne Throne, 28, and his wife, Vera, 22, were arraigned in city court Thursday on charges of fourth-degree manslaughter. County Attorney John Weckel said the couple are charged in connection with the death of Mrs. Throne's 19-month-old daughter, Frances Ezell Murry, on Feb. 20, 1962. The body of the child was found in Thomas Park on April 8.
31 Aug 1962
"I don't know! I don't know! I don't know! I've told the cops a thousands times, I don't know!" That's Vera Jean Throne sobbing in her cell in the city jail. People keep asking her why she abandoned her baby, Frances Murry, in Salina's Thomas Park last February. She says she keeps asking herself that question, too. She hasn't come up with a satisfactory answer. Nor has she found a satisfactory answer to the question of what she's going to do with her own life — a life that started amid filth and poverty and has stayed that way. Frances' body was found in the park April 8. It has been there several weeks. Vera says the baby died of natural causes before the abandonment, but Vera has been charged with fourth-degree manslaughter. Vera and her third husband, Paul Throne, were arrested in Salina on Aug. 7 and have been charged in connection with armed robberies and the death of Frances.
Inscription
A CHILD DIED, AND WE WEPT,
PLACE A NEW CHILD WHERE SHE SLEPT.
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