The Burger Chef restaurant in Speedway, Indiana was the location of an awful abduction and murder in November 1978. The four victims were employees at the restaurant; 17-year-old Ruth Shelton, 16-year-old Daniel Davis, 16-year-old Mark Flemmonds and 20-year-old Jayne Friedt.

It was between 11pm and midnight when it is believed a robbery took place at the restaurant. An employee visited the Burger Chef at midnight and noticed that there was no sign of the four, the back door was left ajar and the safe was open. 

Originally, the case wasn’t high on the priority list in law enforcement. The initial theory was that the four employees were responsible for the robbery and that the $581USS that was missing was used to go partying. The jackets and purses of Ruth and Jayne were left in the restaurant. 

Despite this, police believed that the petty theft theory was likely to be true; this meant that the restaurant was cleaned the following morning, destroying any evidence. Police would later admit that the case had been botched from the beginning.

Concern grew when Jayne, Ruth, Daniel and Mark had not returned and it was soon realized that they had been victims of an abduction.

There weren’t too many leads to go on, except for a witness statement that placed two strange men sitting in a car outside of the Burger Chef that night, just before the store was due to close.

Sadly, on the Sunday, the bodies of Jayne, Ruth, Daniel and Mark were found in a wooded area in Johnson County. Hikers came across the gruesome discovery in the afternoon.

Jayne had been stabbed in the chest twice with such force that the blade broke off inside her body. Daniel and Ruth had been shot a large number of times. Mark was attacked and bludgeoned to death with a chain (police theorized) and choked to death on his own blood.

Police were puzzled as it seemed the victims had all their valuables and money on them. This led to the theory that robbery was not the main motivation for the murders. A theory that was also brought to light was that one of the victims knew the perpetrator and this led to them being silenced. Police often theorize Mark as being this person as he was covering another employee’s shift that night.

The case still has not been solved.

Lines of Inquiry: Later in the year, a man in a bar would brag about committing the killings. However a polygraph backed the man up when he claimed he was innocent. No further charges were given to the man. This man would later mention names of other possible suspects. 

One of these suspects had been involved in a number of fast food armed robberies. It was also speculated that the murders were linked to the Speedway bombings but this was dropped. The man from the bar would later take his own life and one of the suspects mentioned by him would die of a heart attack.

The son of the suspect who died of a heart attack would come forward and say that his father had confided in him that he had been involved in the murders. A man called Donald Forrester would also claim to have been involved in the murders. Donald claimed the murders were a result of a confrontation regarding a drug deal which involved Jayne’s brother. He would later recant his confession.

Sadly no arrests have been made in the case but the four employees are remembered and their case will never be forgotten.

There’s a documentary on Hulu about it called The Speedway Murders. It’s pretty crazy.

Such a sad and crazy story.