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Thread: Couple with links to 1965 Ind. murder victim missing

  1. #1
    Senior Member faq_q's Avatar
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    Couple with links to 1965 Ind. murder victim missing

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/couple-w...ictim-missing/

    SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- An Orange County, Calif. couple with reported links to a notorious 1965 Indiana murder case has gone missing after visiting a San Diego casino.

    Cecil Knutson, 79, and Dianna Bedwell, 67, were driving from the Valley View casino in San Diego Sunday to their son's home in La Quinta, about 130 miles northeast, for a Mother's Day celebration, reports CBS Los Angeles.

    They never showed and no one has seen them since. There was also no sign of them at their home in Fullerton, about 100 miles north of the casino.

    According to the Indianapolis Star, Dianna Bedwell is the older sister of Sylvia Likens, who was slain 50 years ago in a murder that's been called "the most terrible crime ever committed in the state of Indiana."

    Likens was 16 when she was killed in October 1965 at the hands her caretaker, Gertrude Baniszewski, some of Baniszewski's children and other neighborhood children, reports the paper.

    Likens body was reportedly discovered malnourished, covered with sores, burns and bruises, with the words, "I am a prostitute" etched into her abdomen.

    Baniszewski was found guilty of first-degree murder the next year, and her daughter Paula was found guilty of second-degree murder. Three others - a son, John Baniszewski, and neighbors Coy Hubbard and Richard Hobbs - were convicted of manslaughter, reports the paper.

    Knutson's daughter Kristen Smith, who is Bedwell's stepdaughter, told the paper that Bedwell's father had placed Sylvia and another daughter in Baniszewski's care as he traveled to make money for the family. Bedwell was 18 and married at the time, living with her first husband, while two other brothers were living with grandparents, reports the paper.

    Smith said that Sylvia's brutal murder continues to haunt Bedwell.

    "It's a really heart-wrenching subject," Smith said.

    She said Bedwell married Knuston 25 years ago, and the two were bus drivers before they retired to Orange County, Calif.

    The couple's son, Robert Acosta, told CBS San Diego that both his parents suffer from diabetes.

    "If there is a traffic accident, and they're at the bottom of some canyon and no one can find them, they don't have insulin," he said.

    According to the station, crews are searching roads for signs of wreckage and looking for any credit card activity. The couple's cell phones pinged a few miles north of the casino, but then were apparently shut off. The car is also outfitted with a tracking device similar to OnStar, which was also shut off, either by being removed or damaged, reports the station.

    "I will not stop until I find my mom and my dad, I just won't," Acosta told the station. "They would never just not show up, they would never just not call."

    Cecil Knutson and Dianna Bedwell were last seen traveling in a 2014 Hyundai Sonata, California license plate 7EHE981. Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call the San Diego Sheriff's Department at (858) 565-5200.


    Quote Originally Posted by Boston Babe 73 View Post
    I find it hilarious that YOU are acting all high and mighty toward us when you're posting on here just like anyone else and in addition, defending a murderer. A child murderer, at that. Go fuck a Popsicle.

  2. #2
    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    Shit. I only just watched that movie last year. How much tragedy can hit one family



    http://www.inquisitr.com/2092490/dia...-goes-missing/



    Bedwell, who is not wanted for any kind of crime, was nevertheless linked to one of Indiana’s most horrific murder cases.

    The crime happened 50 years ago. The victim was 16-year-old Sylvia Likens. Likens died at the hands of her caretaker, Gertrude Baniszewski, in October 1965, CBS News reports.

    Dianna Bedwell was her older sister.

    At the time of Likens’ death, Bedwell was married and living with her first husband at just 18 years of age.

    She also had two brothers, who were living with their grandparents. Likens and her younger sister Jenny had the unfortunate fate of living with Gertrude, who almost immediately targeted Sylvia and brought in other children on the torture and humiliation.

    When Likens died from the constant abuse, Gertrude tried to pass her body off to police as if she was selling herself as a prostitute and the wounds and markings visible were sustained as the result of an orgy gone wrong.

    At this point, Jenny reportedly spoke up and said, “Get me out of here and I’ll tell you everything.”

    According to Jenny, Gertrude put Sylvia Likens on a steady diet of torture and abuse that resulted in burn marks over much of her body and the inscription, “I am a prostitute and proud of it,” carved into her stomach. Jenny said Sylvia was beaten and starved regularly. This resulted in her death from a brain hemorrhage, shock, and malnutrition.

    Gertrude’s trial took the national stage and went on to inspire several portrayals in pop culture, most notably in the films An American Crime starring Catherine Keener as the murderess and The Girl Next Door starring Blanche Baker. (The latter was based on the Jack Ketchum bestseller of the same name.)

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    Senior Member hamdinger125's Avatar
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    So she was Sylvia's sister, but not one of the ones who helped kill her, right?

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    Right

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    Senior Member PeaceBeWithMe's Avatar
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    This saddens me. Look at him up there. What a happy looking fellow.

    That poor woman. What an agonizing experience.


    Quote Originally Posted by marshmallow View Post
    did you make her into a wallet Bill? cuz if you did I'm off team Bill.

  6. #6
    Senior Member bermstalker's Avatar
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    Bedwell told the San Diego County sheriff's investigators that they were trying to take a shortcut when they got lost and were trapped on a remote road. They survived on rain water, a pie and oranges.

    "There was cups around. They were drinking rain water as it rained and they've been out there for all indications since around May 10th," Los Coyotes Tribal Police Chief Dave Sossaman said.

    Sanchez said the car was on an incline and had been surrounded by mud.

    "We don't have any information as to any damage to the vehicle that would indicate there was an accident involving another vehicle. What we do know is that the vehicle was found in a position where it was at an incline, leading investigators to believe they may have been taken off the road somehow," Sanchez said.

    The couple had likely tried to walk their way back several times, but couldn't make it, Sossaman said.


    Knutson's exact cause of death has yet to be determined. The couple's son has previously said, however, that both parents are both diabetic and need insulin.
    http://abc7.com/news/missing-fullert...prings/739913/
    Last edited by bermstalker; 05-25-2015 at 01:10 AM.

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    Moderator puzzld's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by raisedbywolves View Post
    So once again, despite all the organized searches and private investigator on the case, it sounds like it was just dumb luck that someone stumbled upon them.

    http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/05/25...ia-wilderness/
    It sounds like it was the PI that found them? Or maybe I'm misreading. Anyway, video at link.

    http://www.cbs8.com/story/29174089/e...missing-couple

    New video taken from the tragic scene where a missing couple desperately tried to survive for two weeks in their car showed the private investigator hired by the family as he explored and documented the scene.

    The couple from Orange County ended up lost in San Diego's back country for two weeks in the middle of the Los Coyotes Indian Reservation.

    Dianna Bedwell and her husband Cecil Knutson were found near Warner Springs on Sunday, but Knutson did not survive. His wife, Dianna was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

    On Wednesday, the private investigator hired by the family, retraced the couples treacherous route.

    The exclusive video shows the dirt trail 79-year-old Cecil Knutson and his wife Diana Bedwell traveled along while trying to find a short cut from the Valley View Casino to La Quinta.

    Private Investigator Bill Garcia navigated through the challenging terrain, lined with rocks, boulders and overgrown brush.

    Garcia reached a hill so steep he was forced to walk down the rest of the way, and at the bottom of the hill is where the couple's Hyundai Sonata was found.

    The car was found nose down in the dirt with the wheels buried in the ground.

    The couple endured two weeks in the wilderness after their vehicle was stuck and they could not drive out of the rugged terrain.

    "It looks like they spent most of their time in the vehicle," he said Garcia.

    The orange peels, and empty pie box and a Tupperware are what Garcia believes the couple used to survive and catch rain water for drinking. All are heartbreaking signs of survival.

    Open medical bottles were also found inside the vehicle.

    "It looks like they stayed in the general area. With the vehicle they had they could not climb out, and once the rains started, it made it impossible," said Garcia.

    Garcia said he was hired by one of the family members to document and analyze the scene which a group of off road riders discovered on Sunday.

    The 68-year-old Bedwell was severely dehydrated when she was found.

    "They were less than two miles from a Boy Scout camp, but even though they had an atlas, that information probably was not in it," said Garcia.

    Garcia said it would be the family's responsibility to move the car, but it would take a four-wheel drive tow-truck and a winch to remove the car.
    Last edited by puzzld; 05-28-2015 at 05:30 AM.
    Quote Originally Posted by bowieluva View Post
    lol at Nestle being some vicious smiter, she's the nicest person on this site besides probably puzzld. Or at least the last person to resort to smiting.
    Quote Originally Posted by nestlequikie View Post
    Why on earth would I smite you when I can ban you?

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