UNSOLVED MURDERS NAG AT FORMER POLICE CHIEF 17 YEARS LATER

Three brutal murders rocked a quiet Cape Girardeau town in 1977.

On Aug. 15, the bodies of Mary Parsh, 58, and her daughter Brenda, 27, were found face down on a bed, their hands tied behind their backs with cord. Each was shot in the back of the head with a .38-caliber pistol.

Almost three months to the day, a 21-year-old Southeast Missouri State University student was found shot twice in the head with a .38-caliber revolver at a roadside rest stop in McClure, Ill. Authorities believe Sheila Cole of St. Louis County was abducted from a Cape Girardeau shopping center parking lot, where her car was found.

All three murders remain unsolved. And all three still nag at Henry Gerecke, Cape Girardeau's police chief from 1974 to 1981.

"I got out my personal notes about six months ago and went over them," said Gerecke. "I keep waiting for a lightening bolt to hit."

Within 24 hours of the Parsh murders, Gerecke asked for help. The department contacted St. Louis County police, which sent two detectives who worked on the case for four days. They also received aid from the FBI, Highway Patrol and Illinois authorities. Gerecke believes the department did all it could to solve the murders.

But an exhaustive investigation yielded no concrete suspects or motives, no rhyme or reason.

His gut instinct is that the Parsh and Cole murders weren't committed by the same person. But as he finishes speaking, Gerecke pauses and shakes his head.

"I don't really know. The ballistic report found some similarities, but why?"

The question hangs in the air 17 years later.

Gerecke believes the Parsh killings may have been committed by an out-of-towner, someone connected with Brenda Parsh's social circle.

"I guess I was finally convinced it was someone they knew because there was no struggle. It was cold blooded."

A 1979 murder during Gerecke's watch remains unsolved. But authorities have their theories about the death of Deborah L. Martin: It may have been drug related.

A string of other unsolved murders plagued the city after Gerecke's retirement: Margie Call and Mildred Wallace in 1982 and Deborah Manning in 1983. He followed these cases with great interest.

He says the Parsh and Cole murders will remain with him until he dies or they are solved.

Gerecke remembers a visit from Sheila Cole's father, who asked that some answers be found before his wife died of cancer. Both of Cole's parents since have died.

"There's no reason why that child died," he snaps, his anger still fresh. "I'm convinced she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

The senselessness nags at Gerecke, and so does the failure.

"These cases remind me I wasn't such a hot detective after all. I hate failure. Scratch anybody and you'll find they hate to fail."