Imagine the shock of an unsuspecting birdwatcher, discovering a decomposed body in a marsh - a body later identified as Melvin Clark, Jr.’s through Navy and dental records. Brace yourselves as we delve into the puzzling gangland-style murder theory the police entertained and the aftermath of Melvin's disappearance, throwing light on the riveting details of the intense 14-hour police questioning of Lorraine Clark. It's the second part of a three-part series about a 1950s murder mystery.
For images related to the cases, check out the Instagram.
Imagine the shock of an unsuspecting birdwatcher, discovering a decomposed body in a marsh - a body later identified as Melvin Clark, Jr.’s through Navy and dental records. Brace yourselves as we delve into the puzzling gangland-style murder theory the police entertained and the aftermath of Melvin's disappearance, throwing light on the riveting details of the intense 14-hour police questioning of Lorraine Clark. It's the second part of a three-part series about a 1950s murder mystery.
For images related to the cases, check out the Instagram.
Well, hello there. This is Julia, and murder is bad. We last left off in the sleepy town of Amesbury, massachusetts. Bless you. Only it wasn't so sleepy. According to rumors, in 1954, it was sleepless, with all the young couples swapping partners left and amiright. right, but that's not what you care about. You want to know what our girl, lorraine Clark, has been up to. Well, after sharing a life with Mel Clark for nearly ten years, she's back where she started, living with her parents. But while her estranged husband has gone missing, she hardly misses the life she had when they lived at their dream cottage on the shores of Lake Attitash. She's working and being a mother to her three young children, marlene, sally and Michael, ages seven, six and four respectively. She's trying to keep a semblance of normalcy as this next chapter begins for her.
Julia Goodwin:Another woman living her best life was a birdwatcher moving through some marshy grasses on June 2, 1954. Around this time people are listening to Doris Day and reading Lord of the Rings or Lord of the Flies. And to tie this into another case I've covered, this is the year the Marlboro man was created. Jim Smith, father of one of the chloroform murders victims, diana Smith, illustrated the Marlboro man. Marlboro was originally marketed toward women with the slogan Mild as May. But with climate change comes more testosterone. I guess Google it. This is also the summer that Marilyn Reese Sheppard was murdered. Her husband's same Sheppard would go on to be convicted of that murder, only to be exonerated in 1966. But a whole bunch of people still think he did it. You know about it, I know you do. But enough of that gruesome remembrance. Let's get back to birdwatching with our unidentified woman.
Julia Goodwin:After some flooding, there was now a low tide in the Merrimack River. It was around 4.30pm and the birdwatcher was on the south side of the river, about midway between Rocks Village Bridge and Wickford Point. She got out her high powered binoculars and started peering through them. Unfortunately, she did not see a black capped chickadee or a tufted mouse. When my bird nerds up, nope. Instead she saw a half submerged, bloated and badly decayed body In a near faint. This woman drove to the Newburyport Police Station and told city marshal James E Sullivan not James P Sullivan monster's inc, james E Sullivan. The problem was that boats couldn't even reach where this body was located. You couldn't even get there by foot. They ended up extending fire ladders across the marsh in order to gain access. It was missing a hand and a foot. It only had a few shreds of clothes left on it and the fingers on the remaining hand were in tatters.
Julia Goodwin:Medical examiner Daniel L Leary called the state police when he noticed rubber coated wire wrapped around one of the body's legs. Initially, police could not find anyone matching the description and their missing persons files, but decided to expand it to Haverhill, lawrence and Lowell. They were able to tell that the body had been in the water for months. They also said that it was possible that the current carried it down from some community upriver. Lieutenant detective James Leary no relation to the ME from the office of Essex County District Attorney Hugh Cregg, arrived the next day to take charge of the investigation. Dr George Katsas of the Harvard Medical School, assisted by a state police pathologist, found two bullet wounds in the head of the body, leaving little doubt that foul play was involved. He was even able to find one of the bullets, but it was smashed beyond identification.
Julia Goodwin:The day after the body was found, melvin Clark Sr thought this body might be his sons but couldn't identify him because of the amount of decomposition. Two months earlier, melvin Sr reported malmissing after he had gotten physical with his wife, lorraine, and stopped showing up to work and family functions. Amesbury police questioned many people and came to the conclusion that he had left for the South to see some former Navy pals. Another day passed and more information from the autopsy was released. Not only was this person shot twice in the head, but also stabbed in the chest and beaten. Preliminary tests showed that this man was around 5'9" and could have weighed around 160 pounds. He had brown hair as well. He had been wearing a maroon corduroy shirt, jacket with pearl buttons and three snaps on the cuff.
Julia Goodwin:They believed the body was dashed up on the rocks during the spring floods. If it hadn't flooded, it probably would have just gone off to the Atlantic. They also start to refer to this as a ganglion-style murder, and by the end of that day they think they've been able to put together a thumbprint from the remaining hand. To add fuel to the ganglin theory, they lump this murder into several unsolved gangland-style murders that have happened since January, though they eliminated the possibility that it was a specific ex-convict who had been missing. Police also began to theorize that the legs were bound to a weight that had been dislodged in the water. The man's dental records are distributed to dentists in the area.
Julia Goodwin:On June 5th, state police believe the body belonged to 30-year-old Melvin Clark Jr. He owned a shirt matching the description of the one found on the man. He was also 5'10 and 160 pounds, with brown hair. The amount of time Mel has been missing is the same amount of time the body had been suspected of being in the water. Mel was last seen April 11th by his wife, lorraine. A week after his disappearance, the family car was found at an MTA parking lot in Everett and, for whatever reason, they decided to bury the body in a pauper's grave at Walnut Hill Cemetery with a single floral piece provided by the city. By the end of the day, they were able to match the body's fingerprint to Mel's Navy record. His dentist was also able to confirm his identity based on two fillings from unbroken teeth. After it's confirmed to be Mel Clark Jr, lorraine was notified. She was so upset that she had to go under a physician's care, but even under stress, though, she submitted to questioning until late.
Julia Goodwin:On June 6th A male companion of the Clarks was also questioned for about 12 hours. It was reported that police impounded two vehicles in relation to Mel's murder, though it wasn't initially released who the owners were. During questioning, lorraine told police that Mel had asked her to drive him to Newburyport on Sunday, april 11th, before her shift at the Merrimac Diner. When she got off work around 8 pm he was waiting for her by the car. She drove him to their cottage, drove to her parents to get the kids and then returned home. They started fighting. He left bruises and scratches on her and then stormed out around 10 pm. She figured he was leaving for his shift, which started around 11, but he never showed up at work.
Julia Goodwin:Lorraine said Mel didn't have an enemy in the world. No one, absolutely no one, would want to kill him. He could get hot-headed but he never hit me. But that once and all the time I kept hoping he'd hear about the divorce and come back to stop it. Lorraine still had a little baby voice going on. That's just so you know that I'm doing a thing.
Julia Goodwin:On June 8th it was announced that a bloodstain had been found in one of the impounded vehicles that happened to be unregistered at the time. This is also when the Harvard Bureau of Legal Medicine, or HBoLM, sets up shop in the Clark Cottage on Lake Attitash. They have lab equipment, chemists and ultraviolet lamps. And while the house seems immaculately clean, the team was able to find their murder scene Splatter of blood spot where blood pooled and a trailing smear leading out the back door. They also found a 22-caliber pistol and this cellar behind a heating unit, on the top of a beam very close to the ceiling, so it kind of seemed like it was hidden. Honestly, electrical wire matching the kind found on Mel's body was also found in the cellar.
Julia Goodwin:As chief of police Edmund McLaughlin walks the crime scene, he noticed a couple spaces where there used to be furniture. When he asked Lorraine, she told them she had those pieces of furniture and had taken them from the house. When she moved out she turned them over. It was a Davenport which is a couch or a fancy sofa, I learned. Sometimes it converts it to a bed and a chair. Chief McLaughlin also asked her about the blood stains. They found that had been scrubbed with strong detergent. She said she hadn't a clue about any of that, hadn't the foggiest. She picked the furniture up a couple weeks after Mel disappeared and her house was always tidy, so she didn't notice a particularly clean floor. Also, do you know that they used to spell clue C-L-E-W? Apparently it derives from the word clue-N, which means ball of thread or yarn, but all the E-W endings became U-E in modern English. This has been Linguistics Corner.
Julia Goodwin:When police revealed that there were dry blood droplets on the furniture, lorraine had turned over. She was aghast with horror, saying I've been sleeping on it. At that moment Chief McLaughlin and DA Hugh Craig thought that Lorraine would hardly take bloodied furniture into her parents' home. If she were guilty, she could have just destroyed it. The police have yet to find a motive, but a Rocks Village resident comes forward and says he remembers hearing a big splash in the river on the night of April 11th, followed by seeing a car drive away from the bridge. Police find what they think is blood on the bridge, but it turns out to be red paint classic red. Hearing literally painted red. And yay, another bird reference. Seriously, bird nerds sound off. Chief McLaughlin orders that the section of river under Rocks Village Bridge be searched.
Julia Goodwin:It's around this time that police begin to think that Mel was murdered Saturday night, even though Lorraine insists that he was around on Sunday. The owner of Mayor MacDiner, carmine Pesce, told police that Lorraine was working at the diner Saturday and Sunday and seemed her usual self. Carmine also remembered seeing bruises on Lorraine. That Tuesday Mel's buddy, kenneth Cook, comes forward to tell police he had seen Mel Saturday afternoon but didn't see him when they had plans at noon the next day. Angus Young also saw Mel Saturday afternoon when he delivered some oil to the cottage boat things.
Julia Goodwin:Police found out that Clark's Hudson convertible had been left in the MTA parking lot at Everett Station between one and nine am on Monday, april 12th. The worker who saw a man walk away from the car also talked to him. The man talked as if he was in the Navy and said someone would be by to pick up the car in a couple days. Lorraine was asked to turn over her clothes from the night of the fight. It included a torn bra, leopard skin coolots with a partially torn zipper, a quilted house coat and, for some reason, three pairs of shoes. Those items were sent to Boston where all the fingerprint and ballistic analysis had been going on.
Julia Goodwin:A funeral was held for Mel on June 12th. It was led by Reverend Carol C Coffin, which is a terrible name for anyone at a funeral but a great name for a Dungeons Dragons NPC. Reverend Coffin, love it. Auxiliary police were also there to hold back the 200-plus onlookers. Mel's body was disinterred from the grave at Walnut Grove to be buried at Mount Prospect Cemetery, just to be reexhumed by Order of DA Craig for further testing. A man was also escorted from that same funeral by a state trooper from Traumola Funeral Home to the Amesbury police station for questioning. When the man came out he told reporters that he didn't know who killed Mel, that he had no enemies that he knew of and that he was willing to do a lie detector test. Da Craig hints to reporters that they suspect at least three people were involved in Mel's murder.
Julia Goodwin:Then, on June 25th, lorraine Clark was brought in for questioning. She was questioned for 14 hours through the night. Officers presented a.32 caliber rusty pistol that had been found in Merrimack River and told her that it was the murder weapon. This was not true but, as we all have learned, cops can lie whenever they want and this was only one tactic used. Just before 3 am Lorraine signed a three-page, single-spaced, type-written confession and at 6.45, she was arrested.
Julia Goodwin:She was immediately escorted to the cottage to reenact the murder, then to her parents to say goodbye to her children, then to the courthouse. The cruiser Lorraine was in actually got into a minor accident on the way and then the lawyer she requested declined to represent her. So she was represented by the same attorney who helped her file divorce proceedings against her absent husband back in May C Francis Leary no relation to the ME or the Lieutenant Detective, just a popular name for that area. Where's Dennis Leary from? Anyways, under Massachusetts law, someone charged for murder cannot plead guilty. So Lorraine pleaded innocent and was held at Salem Jail where she would be until her grand jury hearing in September and until her trial. It was the first time in 21 years that a woman had been charged with murder. The last was Jesse Costello for the 1933 killing of her fire captain husband William Costello. DA Cregg had also prosecuted that trial and I was going to give you a little blurb about it, but I definitely need to cover that case sometime because it be cray. A few days later DA Cregg said that it was Lorraine's uncontrollable infatuation for other men which precipitated the vicious verbal row.
Julia Goodwin:In Lorraine's confession she said she acted alone. She said when she got home that night and the couple continued their argument from the morning, mel was tormentingly reasonable, pleading about the kids and their parents and their marriage for hours. At some point she pulled the pistol out and Mel just laughed at her. She then fired a shot that hit him in the forehead but didn't enter his skull. Mel ran around for 15 minutes before trying to leave the house. That's when Lorraine said she shot him in the temple.
Julia Goodwin:Lorraine said she laid on the couch in a fit for hours, not knowing what to do with Mel's body. She eventually dragged the body to the trunk of their Hudson convertible, gathered two 15 pound mushroom weights from Mel's boat stuff and electrical wire from his workshop. By this time it was 4 am. She took the back roads to Rocks Village Bridge and wired the weights, one on his ankle and one on his wrist. The bridge had a lattice guardrail that was over four feet tall, but Lorraine said she just tossed Mel's 160 pound body with weights attached to it over the railing all by herself. She then drove back and slept. When DA Cregg was asked how Lorraine did all that, he said it's surprising what people can do under terrific emotional stress. Okay, hugh.
Julia Goodwin:While Lorraine was first held at Salem Jail she refused breakfast and only picked at the food of her other meals. She mostly paced, but would also read from a magazine rack and help with the dishes and listen to the radio at dinner time While awaiting her grand jury hearing, something she couldn't have expected happened. Her lover, who she had an affair with for a year before Mel's murder, arthur Jackson, started talking, but we'll have to wait to hear what he has to say until next time. That's right, it's a three-part party. Did I know this? I did not, but if you're interested in seeing pictures related to this episode, you can find them on Instagram at Murder Is Bad podcast. You can also feel free to subscribe. You can also feel free to leave a five-star rating. Also, why don't you just feel free to leave a nice little review? I would appreciate it dearly. Thanks to the thorough reporting of the Boston Globe and Daily News, and thanks to you for listening. Take care of each other and remember murder is bad.