logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2023
1 h

Episode 441: The Burger Chef Murders Par...

Morbid Network | Wondery
About this episode

The Burger Chef murders case out of Indiana is one of the most notorious cases in true crime history. Jayne Fried, Ruth Shelton, Daniel Davis and Mark Flemmonds were all on shift the night of November 17th 1978 when something terrible happened. To this day no one exactly knows what happened that night. Was it a robbery gone wrong?


Research Assistance by Dave White.

References:

Bird, Paul, and Skip Hess. 1979. "Police under gag order in Burger Chef slayings." Indianapolis News , March 7: 1.

Corbin, Bryan. 2003. "Victim's parents say they can forgive." Daily Journal, June 28: 1.

Ellis, Mike. 1978. "Shootings frighten rural residents." Indianapolis News, November 20: 12.

Frederick, Diane. 1978. "Lights to 'happy face' turned off." Indiana News, November 21: 20.

Hess, Skip, and Rich Schneider. 1978. "4 shootings shock Speedway residents." Indianapolis News, November 20: 1, 12.

Indianapolis Star. 1978. "Press Group Assails Police Silence." Indianapolis Star, November 21: 6A.

—. 1978. "Stymied police probing murders of 4 at Burger Chef ask 'why?'." Indianapolis Star, December 10: 14.

—. 1978. "'They could have been anyone's children'." Indianapolis Star, November 21: 8.

Journal and Courier. 1978. "Police without leads in restaurant killings." Journal and Courier, November 26: B-2.

Judkins, Jane. 1978. "Young Speedway Murder Victims." Indianapolis News, November 20.

Luzadder, Dan. 1986. "Police have confession in Burger Chef murders." Indianapolis Star, November 14: 1.

Morrison, Patrick. 1978. "$10,000 reward offered in westside abduction of 4." Indianapolis Star, November 20: 1.

Morrison, Patrick, and James G. Newland. 1978. "Kidnap victims believed slain by more than one." Indianapolis Star, November 21: 1.

Morrison, Patrick, and James Newland. 1978. "4 Speedway kidnap victims found dead in wooded area." Indianapolis Star, November 20: 1.

Murphy, Shelly. 1979. "2 held in Milwaukee slayings." Boston Globe, April 27: 26.

Trusnik, Mac, and John Flora. 1978. "$25,000 reward offered in four kidnap-slayings." Indianapolis News, November 20: 3.

Trusnik, Mac, and Paul Bird. 1978. "4 held 24 hours before slayings." Indianapolis News, November 21: 1.

Walton, Richard. 1979. "Burger Chef murder suspects held." Indianapolis Star, April 28: 1.

—. 1978. "Police baffled by kidnapping." Indianapolis Star, November 19: 1.

Young, Julie. 2021. The Burger Chef Murders in Indiana. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Up next
Jul 10
Episode 688: The Last Call Killer (Part 2)
Between 1991 and 1993, the dismembered bodies of five gay and bisexual men were discovered in garbage bags along the highway in New York and New Jersey. The cause of the death for each was multiple stab wounds, and each victim had been disarticulated into eight pieces and placed ... Show More
48m 41s
Jul 7
Episode 687: The Last Call Killer (Part 1)
Between 1991 and 1993, the dismembered bodies of five gay and bisexual men were discovered in garbage bags along the highway in New York and New Jersey. The cause of the death for each was multiple stab wounds, and each victim had been disarticulated into eight pieces and placed ... Show More
1h 11m
Jul 3
Episode 686: Glen Helzer and the Children of Thunder (Part 2)
When Ivan and Annette Stineman disappeared from their home in Concord, California in the summer of 2000, it immediately raised red alarmed with those closest to the elderly couple. Those alarms proved to be justified when, a week later, the remains of the Stinemans and three othe ... Show More
41m 5s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2020
1. Burger Chef Murders Trailer: The Murder Sheet Presents "You Never Can Forget"
On November 17, 1978, four young employees began the night shift at the Burger Chef restaurant in Speedway, Indiana. By midnight, they had vanished, never to be seen alive again. Two days later, their bodies were found in a wooded area in Johnson County.To this day, no one has be ... Show More
3m 50s
Nov 2020
You Never Can Forget: The Night
On November 17, 1978, four young employees vanished from the Burger Chef restaurant in Speedway, Indiana. 42 years later, the Burger Chef murders — as they came to be known — remain one of the Midwest's most notorious cold cases. Join the Murder Sheet's Áine Cain and Kevin Greenl ... Show More
32m 38s
Sep 2020
147: Atlanta Child Murders: Part 1
From 1979 - 1981, a string of murder of black children terrorized the city of Atlanta, igniting terror and frustration from a community that increasingly feels neglected. Is it the work of the KKK or a cold blooded serial killer? After years of dead ends, the police get creative ... Show More
45m 53s
Sep 2022
Wandering into Darkness: The Disappearance of Kirsten Brueggeman
Kirsten Brueggeman vanished from the east side of Indianapolis on January 2, 2021. In this episode of the Murder Sheet, we will interview her parents, the Indianapolis detective investigating her case, an Indianapolis Star reporter who covered the story, and a group of local sleu ... Show More
1h 23m
Nov 2022
Teaser: In the Red Clay - Durham. Season 2 premieres November 21
In early February of 2022, law enforcement officials in Boone, North Carolina made national headlines when they announced that a 50-year-old unsolved triple homicide case had been closed - with the help of none other than former “Dixie Mafia” member Billy Wayne Davis. The 1972 mu ... Show More
3m 59s
Jan 2024
#458 - The Murder Video Shocker - Pocahontas, Arkansas
This week, in Pocahontas, Arkansas, when someone seemingly goes missing for a week, it turns out that they were right under everyone's noses, but they were also dead. The solution seems obvious, but a crazy twist, backed up by home surveillance camera footage of the murder, that ... Show More
1h 10m
May 2022
#283 - STM Express - Frying The Gambler - Hammond, Indiana
This week, in Hammond, Indiana, a whole family agrees that Dad is a problem,, and they need to do something about it. With the help of the felon son in law, they hatch several plans, and even attempt to carry them out, with each being more ridiculous, and prone to failure. Finall ... Show More
1h 3m
Jun 2023
EP. 115 CALIFORNIA - The Catfish Pedophile Cop: Austin Lee Edwards
In 2022, three bodies were discovered inside of a flaming home in Riverside, California. And the shocking true story behind how these innocent people ended up dead would send shockwaves across the country. This story shows that even the authorities who are sworn to protect us can ... Show More
1h 6m
May 2024
INFAMOUS: The LaSalle Street Murders
When a couple of young Indianapolis businessmen fail to show up for work in December of 1971, their secretary grows concerned as the day goes on, and a friend volunteers to swing by their house to check up on them. He never could have expected the carnage he would find inside, or ... Show More
53m 22s
Jul 2023
EP. 117 ILLINOIS - The Coleman Family Killings: Lies, Prayers & Murder
In 2009, a family was found murdered in their home in Illinois. The only survivor was father Chris Coleman, a bodyguard who worked for Joyce Meyer, a famous televangelist. As it turned out, the family had been receiving death threats for months, but no one had really seemed to li ... Show More
1h 38m
Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami