Episode 2: Why the State’s Narrative Can’t Be Right (and where’s the missing finger?)

Around 10:00 in the morning of Monday, March 14th, 1960 50-year-old Lillian Oetting, 50-year-old Mildred Lindquist, and 47-year-old Frances Murphy, the wives of prominent businessmen from the affluent Chicago suburb of Riverside, Illinois packed their suitcases into the back of Lillian Oetting’s Cadillac station wagon and drove out of town. Their destination - the Starved Rock Lodge. What happens next is where the mystery begins.

In this episode, we explore the timeline of events leading up to the crime, the crime scene itself, how they were killed and when they were killed, and highlight some critical details missed in the initial investigation. A few things that the team talks about is the discrepancy in the state’s version of events, how there are eyewitness reports that say the women were seen Tuesday morning (State says they were murdered on Monday), and how several eyewitness reports of what the women were seen wearing on Monday did not match the clothes they were found dead in. Lastly, the team touches on a missing fingertip, that has generally been left out of the narrative when others talk about this story - why?

There is a lot more to this conversation so make sure you listen to the episode and take a look at the documents and photographs provided and outlined below for more context to the discussion and the case! For our audience without the ability to listen to the audio, check out the full transcript provided!