Title supplied by cataloger. On June 27, 1937, Jeanette Stephens, 8, and her friends, Melba Everett, 9, and Madeline Everett, 7, were lured from Centinela Park in Inglewood. An extensive search ensued, with the police enlisting the aid of 500 Boy Scouts. Two days after their disappearance, a Boy Scout found the three bodies in a ravine in Baldwin Hills; the shoes of each girl were removed and placed in a pile near their bodies. From the moment news of the case broke, Albert Dyer, Inglewood resident and traffic guard at Centinela Elementary School where the girls were students, followed the story closely. He began keeping a scrapbook of newspaper clippings and offered the police theories about the case. As soon as the bodies were found, Dyer arrived on the scene in Baldwin Hills and began demonstrating strange behavior. Authories began to suspect Dyer and took him into custody. He was questioned at a jail in Los Angeles, as threats upon his life were being made in Inglewood. Dyer explained how he abducted the girls from the park and enticed them with the prospect of rabbit hunting in Baldwin Hills. Dyer confessed, "I had no other reason than sex" and he went on to describe how he strangled each girl. Despite that he later recanted his confession, Dyer was tried and convicted on August 26, 1937. On September 16, 1938, he was hanged at San Quentin.; Jeanette Stephens was buried at Inglewood Cemetery.; The commercial structures across the street from the mortuary (far right) have since been demolished. Photograph caption dated July 2, 1937 reads, "Borne tenderly from the chapel, the two gray caskets containing the bodies of Madeline and Melba Everett are shown being carried by pallbearers after the double funeral held for the tots here today. The caskets are covered with flowers, some of the hundreds of floral tributes given by both friends and strangers who sympathized with the bereaved family. Jeanette Marjorie Stephens was laid to rest yesterday in Inglewood. Meanwhile the search for the manical [sic] slayer of the children goes relentlessly on." This private service took place at Pierce Brothers Mortuary, located at 720 W. Washington Boulevard in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Everett girls were buried at Forest Lawn, Glendale.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;21 x 26 cm. Photographic prints
Everett, Merle Everett, Merle--Family Everett, Melba--Death and burial Everett, Madeline--Death and burial Everett, Melba--Family Everett, Madeline--Family Pierce Brothers Mortuary Pierce Brothers Mortuary--Employees Murder victims--California--Los Angeles Funeral rites and ceremonies--California--Los Angeles Coffins--California--Los Angeles Murder victims' families--California--Los Angeles Funeral homes--California--Los Angeles Flower arrangements Families--California--Los Angeles Men--California--Los Angeles Women--California--Los Angeles Commercial buildings--California--Los Angeles Lost architecture--California--Los Angeles University Park (Los Angeles, Calif.) Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express photographs Herald-Examiner Collection photographs
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