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The Murder of Merrill Bodenheimer occurred on July 20, 1959, when his body was discovered after a search by police, in an icebox in Houston, Texas.
Initial suspicion focused on a man previously convicted of molesting girls and then seven African-American teens, ages thirteen to seventeen, and police extracted confessions that they had sexually abused and then killed the white boy. Some of the accused immediately recanted, stating that the confessions had been beaten out of them, and four of the defendants had witnesses placing them far from the assault at the time that it occurred. Joe Edward Smith and Adrian Johnson were eventually convicted.[1]
Biography
editMerrill Bodenheimer | |
|---|---|
| Born | William Merrill Bodenheimer, III 1 Mar 1947 Houston, Harris, Texas, USA |
| Died | 20 Jul 1959 (aged 12) Houston, Harris, Texas, USA |
| Cause of death | Murder by suffocation |
| Body discovered | 21 Jul 1959 in Houston, Texas |
| Burial place | South Park Cemetery, Pearland, Brazoria County, Texas |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | murder victim |
He was the son of William Merrill Bodenheimer and Doris Bodenheimer.[2]
Murder and discovery of body
editOn the afternoon of 20 Jul 1959, he went to go swimming and left on his bicycle. When he did not return, a search was made and he was found inside a closed icebox in a small shack.[3]
References
edit- ^ "JOE EDWARD SMITH v. STATE (01/11/61)".
- ^ Johnson Publishing Company (20 August 1959). "White Mother Asks Tolerance in Son's Brutal Sex Slaying". Jet. 16 (17). Johnson Publishing Company: 46–48. ISSN 0021-5996.
- ^ Records and Briefs of the United States Supreme Court. 1961. pp. 20–.
- "GRIFFITHS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL Admitted". The Paris News. Paris, Texas. April 4, 1954. p. 4. Retrieved 18 February 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Sex Murderer Is Sought After Suffocation Death". The Brownsville Herald. Brownsville, Texas. July 22, 1959. p. 12. Retrieved 18 February 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Gets Death Penalty For Slaying Of Boy". The Plain Speaker. Hazleton, Pennsylvania. July 16, 1960. p. 10. Retrieved 18 February 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
edit- William Merrill Bodenheimer, III at Find a Grave
- McAlester, Keven (11 March 2004). "The Icebox Revisited". The Huston Press. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- Death certificate on Fold3