Police get letter about '54 murder

Surviving relatives and friends of Bonnie Huffman, a 20-year-old schoolteacher murdered in 1954, hope renewed publicity surrounding the case will bring the those responsible to justice.

On Nov. 20, the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department received an anonymous letter claiming to be from a woman who suggested authorities investigate a man who in the late 1940s reportedly attacked her in a car on a lonely country road in the vicinity of the homicide.

According to the letter, which officials declined to release to protect information that may be relevant to the case, the woman said she accepted a ride home from a man she met in a local night spot who later attempted to sexually assault her. She escaped unharmed and did not report the incident to police, Sgt. Eric Friedrich said.

Friedrich said police investigated the man named in the letter at the time of Huffman's disappearance.

"He had an airtight alibi," he said.

Huffman was last seen alive about 12:30 a.m. July 2, 1954, driving toward her Delta home on Route N near Highway 74, after spending the evening with friends, according to news accounts at the time. Her body was found July 5 about two miles away from where her car was found on Route N. She was clothed, but her underpants, glasses and other items were missing. Her neck was broken, and her jaw was dislocated. Decomposition in the heat made it impossible for investigators to determine the exact cause of death or whether she had been sexually assaulted.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated the case, spending much of its efforts polygraphing suspects with inconclusive results. No one was ever charged in the murder.

Three years ago, authorities received another anonymous letter, which was shared with the Southeast Missourian, wherein a man described being threatened by two men he reportedly stopped to help on Route N shortly after witnesses said Huffman was last seen driving home.

The writer fled in his car, fearing for his life, he said. He was briefly pursued by the two men in the car, he said. Fear of retaliation by Huffman's suspected killers kept him from coming forward earlier.

The tips are exciting news nonetheless to Huffman's niece, Wanda Ross of Allenville. Ross was just 6 years old when her aunt was murdered. The fact that people remember and contact police with information gives hope to Ross and her family that someone out there who knows what happened may yet come forward.

"Whoever wrote that letter knew something," she said. "If they would just come forward again with more information."

Ross said a bank account has been established to build a reward fund for information leading to either an arrest of her killers or closure of the case. She hopes the publicity of the fund will jog someone's memory or tug at their conscience to do the right thing and call police.

"It was something we were going to do," she said. "Hopefully someone will come forward. Nothing else has worked."

Ross said the homicide rocked the rural community.

"Everybody talked about it. Through the years none of them ever forgot," she said. "It doesn't happen out here."

Friedrich said investigators can do little at this point, although he is still hopeful. Many witnesses have died and the suspects could be in their 70s or older, he said.

"It is going to take a lot of luck, and maybe someone with a guilty conscience will come forward," he said.

To provide information on the case, call the sheriff's department at 243-3551 or leave a tip at the department's Web site at www.capecountysheriff.org/.

Anyone wishing to donate to the Bonnie Huffman Reward Fund can do so by mailing a check to the Bank of Advance at P.O. Box 400, Advance, Mo., 63730. Checks should made out to the Bonnie Huffman Reward Fund.

carel@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127