Ethel Kidd - What Happened?

[yellowVWchase]

Originally Posted by Smokescreen

Perhaps this has already been discussed in another thread, but
has it ever been disclosed the motive or reason why Ethel Kidd was murdered, apparently refrigerated and then tied to a tree?

I never quite believed the whole "kept her body refrigerated, then brought her back to the scene of the crime and tied her to the tree days later" angle. Something in that doesn't ring true - they make it a point to say the area was searched, but I have a feeling they may not have been as thorough as they thought. (Just look at the Lindbergh kidnapping case - the body was found close to the house, but not until two months had elapsed after the initial crime - way to go, search party!)

I don't know, like I said, something just doesn't compute there...

[RedBasket]

Originally Posted by yellowVWchase

I never quite believed the whole "kept her body refrigerated, then brought her back to the scene of the crime and tied her to the tree days later" angle. Something in that doesn't ring true - they make it a point to say the area was searched, but I have a feeling they may not have been as thorough as they thought. (Just look at the Lindbergh kidnapping case - the body was found close to the house, but not until two months had elapsed after the initial crime - way to go, search party!)

I don't know, like I said, something just doesn't compute there...

I am on both sides of this one. One, I can clearly see why law enforcement would want to say the body must have shown up later - I mean, who misses a body tied to a tree?? On the other hand, there are some odd nuts out there who woud keep a body refridgerated. Who knows why?

Sometimes searches are not as thorough as we like to believe.

[justins5256]

Originally Posted by RedBasket

I am on both sides of this one. One, I can clearly see why law enforcement would want to say the body must have shown up later - I mean, who misses a body tied to a tree?? On the other hand, there are some odd nuts out there who woud keep a body refridgerated. Who knows why?

Sometimes searches are not as thorough as we like to believe.

Assuming the body was refrigerated, wouldn't it have slowed down or stopped decomposition temporarily? Perhaps when the body was finally found the state of decomposition was not what it should have been had she been tied to the tree for that length of time. Just a guess.

On a personal note, if the cops said on UM that they believed the body was refrigerated, I would assume they are telling the truth. That is an important clue because not everyone has access to the facilities/equipment necessary to refrigerate a corpse, so that could narrow down the suspect pool considerably. I highly doubt they are going to invent clues and give intentional mis-information on the off chance someone would accuse the search party of being less than thorough. Just saying...

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by justins5256

Assuming the body was refrigerated, wouldn't it have slowed down or stopped decomposition temporarily? Perhaps when the body was finally found the state of decomposition was not what it should have been had she been tied to the tree for that length of time. Just a guess.

That's what I was thinking. Although I wouldn't put it past an "explanation" given based off of a botched search.

[RedBasket]

Originally Posted by justins5256

Assuming the body was refrigerated, wouldn't it have slowed down or stopped decomposition temporarily? Perhaps when the body was finally found the state of decomposition was not what it should have been had she been tied to the tree for that length of time. Just a guess.

On a personal note, if the cops said on UM that they believed the body was refrigerated, I would assume they are telling the truth. That is an important clue because not everyone has access to the facilities/equipment necessary to refrigerate a corpse, so that could narrow down the suspect pool considerably. I highly doubt they are going to invent clues and give intentional mis-information on the off chance someone would accuse the search party of being less than thorough. Just saying...

I agree that if the cops said that they believed the body had been refridgerated, then I believe them as well. It was in the South, correct? (Virginia?) and it was summer so we can safely assume that had she been killed and then discovered a few days later.....well let's just say a dead body in THAT heat.....yikes.

F.A. $40 + tax [This is followed by two more letters. The first one looks like a P or an R. I couldn't see the second letter because is looked like a blob.]

What does FA mean? And back in the 80s, what could it have been that cost $40?, (plus tax no less!, like this guy had to be budget conscious)

Did they ever day what FA meant? And I love that he includes tax on his killer spree budget. I am coming up blank on FA - I can only think of Farmer's Almanac. And that doesn't cost $40. Plus tax. Fire ______?

[crystaldawn]

A fellow poster sent me some info on her case. Found the fb page for Ethel's daughter and granddaughter and there are a few pics of Ethel on there as well as the now late son-in-law who was interviewed in the segment. He also sent me a link to an old article that is interesting as it mentions a little about the UM filming of the segment.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...g=4501,3155603

[dynoguy88]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

A fellow poster sent me some info on her case. Found the fb page for Ethel's daughter and granddaughter and there are a few pics of Ethel on there as well as the now late son-in-law who was interviewed in the segment. He also sent me a link to an old article that is interesting as it mentions a little about the UM filming of the segment.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...g=4501,3155603

I actually found that article yesterday. It was a good read.

This is a decent one too, written in 1997 as the family was waiting for the trial for Edward Beverly. Apparently, Ethel's daughter moved into her mother's house around this time. I don't think I could ever do such a thing. Every time you walked out your door and looked into your front yard, wouldn't you be reminded of your mother's abduction?

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...l+murder&hl=en

[WishfulDreamer]

I feel so bad for the daughter and family, being so struck by the actress playing Ethel. As for moving into the home, I wouldn't personally be able to do it, but perhaps her daughter felt that was a tribute, to move into her mother's dream home without letting what happened ruin the dreams and values her mother had held. I would be too haunted by it and reminded, but everyone is different, I suppose.

[Francium]

Originally Posted by Hambone2421

I agree. This is one of those cases that when it first aired, I didn't think it would ever be solved unless the killer confessed. Great police work done. IMO, its a tie between this case and the case of those two women (cant remember their names) that were doing laundry when someone came and assaulted them , killing one, for best police work in UM.

I disagree. Police presented the necessary evidence, and it was only solved with the help of an UM viewer who happened to be watching this. Never once did I get the police impression that the suspect was some traveler, and it's weird they would think that. It was clear to me that the suspect did recon, had the means to store the body (good luck doing that in a hotel room), and understand the area sufficiently enough (hinting at some degree of intimacy) to actually place the body in a taunting position. Only locals can do these things, not travelers. It should have been clear from the beginning the guy didn't live far away.

I am more struck by who the killer was. I was expecting a far creepier guy who bordered on psychopathically eccentric. As it turned out, it was some thug (armed robbery) who probably suffered from a sociopathic disposition that served as an impetus to see what it would feel like to kill some defenseless older lady.

[TheCars1986]

This was the case where they found some sort of map along with a checklist left by the killer, right? Didn't they also find a handwritten sign that said something like, "PULL OVER LET'S F---!"?

For some reason, I've always thought that sign was unintentionally hilarious (despite the grim nature of the segment), because it's so absurd to think anyone would actually pull over for the creep.

[WishfulDreamer]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

This was the case where they found some sort of map along with a checklist left by the killer, right? Didn't they also find a handwritten sign that said something like, "PULL OVER LET'S F---!"?

For some reason, I've always thought that sign was unintentionally hilarious (despite the grim nature of the segment), because it's so absurd to think anyone would actually pull over for the creep.

I always found it hilarious, too. Firstly, because that pickup line would never work and secondly because even if someone on the interstate found that line enticing they would take one look at the guy and NOPE the heck out of there. And it's just plain funny he thought using flashcards would actually work.

[justins5256]

I always thought the flashcards were super creepy. What a pervert.

[lilmissd]

I agree. It takes a guy not playing with a full set of cards to kidnap/rape/murder a middle aged lady (because 61yrs is not exactly considered elderly this day in age) Beverly definitely had a screw loose and was a very sick man! IMO, he probably rented one of those refrigerated trucks to keep the body in to delay the state of decomposition. This would have been easier than keeping it in a walk-in or chest freezer maybe on private property for risk of someone finding it. This was a very sad & disturbing case and scared the daylights outta me the first time I watched it!

[GeekBoyGreg]

Recently thought of this case and something came to me that hadn't before. There was all this confusion over her body being found 8 days later with practically no decomposition and the assumption was that she was refrigerated. However, I have to wonder if she was truly dead that whole time. Perhaps he kept her alive for a few days?

[TracyLynnS]

Originally Posted by GeekBoyGreg

Recently thought of this case and something came to me that hadn't before. There was all this confusion over her body being found 8 days later with practically no decomposition and the assumption was that she was refrigerated. However, I have to wonder if she was truly dead that whole time. Perhaps he kept her alive for a few days?

I think they said she'd been dead "about 7 days" and kept in refrigeration. She may have been kept alive longer than a day. I'm not sure if they can tell exactly how long because of the refrigeration preserving her and kind of masking the actual time of death.

If she was conscious during that time, she may have had to been restrained in some way but I don't think they said anything about evidence of ligature marks other than just the cords that were used to tie her to the tree, and the fact that she was strangled to death.

I wonder if Beverly ever told where he kept her body for those days between her murder and her discovery. The coroner said it had to be a refrigerated, insect free environment; the police said either stationary or mobile, like a refrigerated truck or a walk in cooler. Did Beverly have access to something like that for several days, where her body wouldn't be detected by anyone?

He actually lived in the area at the time (I assume alone, because he left town right away) so maybe he had a chest freezer at home? But then why would have have "choose location" as one of his check list items if he planned to store her at home or commit the assault at home. Maybe the "choose location" referred to the dump site?

Regarding one of my questions on a post on the first page here, I looked at the checklist note again. The first line says:

1) F.A. $40 + Tax - ? $

Anyone know what that item could have been? I still can't figure it out.

It looks like he was planning to pay $40 plus tax for an item, but put a question mark and a dollar sign next to it because it didn't know how much that would work out to. All he had to do was know the sales tax of the state he intended to the purchase the item from. Since he lived in the same town as Ethel, he had to know what his state's sales tax was and if he planned on buying the item there, should have easily been able to figure out how much it would cost. And even if he bought it in a state with a different tax rate, it's only going to be a penny or two difference in the rate. Why was he so concerned about such a tiny amount of money that he wanted to know the exact amount the item would cost?

For example, if he bought it in MI, it would cost $42.40 with tax, if he bought it in TN it would be $43.20, that's a difference of 80 cents. Just seems weird to me for him to be so picky about a few cents.