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We live in Indianapolis so we started investigating unsolved murders here so that we could easily access police records and historical archives. What we found were 2 cases involving unconventional independent women who ended up alone in Indianapolis despite what family or society thought. Although these murders happened 32 years apart, both women were murdered in historic buildings in Indianapolis in similar ways and under what appear to be similar circumstances.

Case 1 is the case of Maoma L Ridings, a 33-year-old woman from a prominent Warm Springs, GA family who made her way to Washington DC then to Camp Atterbury as a WAC in 1942. She had plans to stay at the Claypool Hotel on her weekend leave; however, by Saturday night, 28 August 1943, she was found murdered in her hotel room with her torso slashed and her jugular severed. Several clues drew us to this case:

  • The conveniently missing hotel records

  • The wealth of interesting suspects (1 of whom was also a suspect in the Black Dahlia murder)

  • The fountain pen found on the bed owned by the date that never happened

  • The women in black

  • The missing black silk lingerie

  • The handling of the investigation with HQ in Room 729 where a coded note was later found

  • Maoma’s hostel exchange with a Sargent Dracula at the PX the Sunday before she was murdered where he told her “I will see you this weekend”

  • Original IMPD records containing interviews from witnesses who provide insight into the typical activities at downtown hotels on these weekends away

Case 2 is the case of Helene Knabe, a 35-year-old doctor who came to Indianapolis in 1896 because her native Prussia did not allow women to study medicine. She lived alone on the ground floor of Delaware Flats then on the corner of Delaware and Michigan Streets and always slept with her window open. On the morning of 25 October 1911, her window was found shut and she was found on her bed with her throat cut in what is commonly termed “sheeps neck”, a specialized cut that minimizes the loss of blood often used by butchers or veterinarians. Several clues drew us to this case:

  • Two men were eventually indicted then acquitted for lack of a connection to the evidence in an unusual court proceeding

  • Her self-declared fiance was also a doctor who would have been familiar with this type of cut given his role in the veterinary school. He denies they were engaged.

  • The housekeeper signed an affidavit stating she overheard the doctors arguing the night before Dr. Knabe’s murder but later refused to come to the courthouse to testify

  • Character witnesses sought to discredit Dr. Craig suddenly moved out of state or could not be found

  • Dr. Knabe’s role in public health and STD research may have put her on the wrong side of cheating husbands

Both murders remain unsolved to this day.