#unsovled

It was a chilly morning on the 11th of February, 1987, when a man riding his bicycle along South Landings Drive, at that time a largely undeveloped area in Fort Collins, Colorado, came across a grisly sight. At first, he thought what he saw was a mannequin in a field. However, upon closer inspection, he noticed a profusion of blood and a woman’s body. The deceased woman was identified as Peggy Hettrick, a 37-year-old woman who worked at Fashion Bar. She had sustained a single stab wound in the upper left back. But that wasn’t all. Hettrick has been sexually mutilated; the killer had sliced off her left nipple and areola as well slicing off parts of her genitalia. It was said that the genitalia mutilation was done with such precision that the killer must have known what he was doing and must have used quality surgical equipment.

At the time of the murder, Tim Masters was a 15-year-old high school student living in a mobile home with his father overlooking the field where Hettrick was found. Within hours of the discovery of the body, he was the focus of the police investigation. He was brought in for questioning and confessed that on the way to school that morning, he had seen the body and thought it was just a mannequin so didn’t report it to police. Investigators were doubtful and searched his room and locker at school. They found numerous drawings and stories of a violent nature as well as pornography and a knife collection. Masters was questioned for hours without a parent present. Despite the extensive interrogation, Masters denied any involvement. Around-the-clock police surveillance of the teenager saw no reaction, either.

Masters remained a primary focus of the investigation for years. It would be more than a decade before they arrested him and accused him of killing Hettrick. In 1997, Dr. J. Reid Meloy, a forensic psychologist, analysed Master’s violent drawings and claimed that they represented him reliving the crime. Masters - who by now had served in the Navy - was arrested and sent to trial for Hettrick’s murder. Although some jurors claimed they had doubts, he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Masters maintained his innocence throughout his prison sentence and continually appealed his convictions. Then, in 2004, after further investigation from Masters’ defence team, it was discovered that evidence - including hairs that didn’t match Masters and fingerprints - were missing and had deliberately hidden so that Masters couldn’t be granted an acquittal.

Onto Part II of the Buzzfeed Unsolved-esque cases that have happened where I was staying just a few weeks ago!! More factual than supernatural, but definitely still Unsolved.

This post is for the True Crime event that happened on the campus of this school; for the Supernatural accounts I have recorded regarding this place you can read about here.

I am also completely retelling from these sources ( x / x ) so you can also either read my summary below or the sources themselves. (There is also a book about the case but unfortunately I didn’t have the time to do such a thorough research).

TRUE CRIME

Rev. Dr. Elliot Speer became headmaster of the of Mount Hermon School for Boys (Massachusetts) in 1932, taking over the position from the original founder of that school and its sister school (Northfield Seminary for Young Girls), Dwight Moody. Speer was more liberal with the school and wanted it to go in a more modernist direction, creating conflict with how the Presbyterian church currently thought of what he should be doing. By summer of 1934, Speer had firm control of what was going on inside of the school, the church-wide controversy still raging.

September 15th, 1934.

Speer spent a lot of time in his study, reading religious texts and writing. It was a habit that he would commit to every night after dinner.

“ About 8:20 p.m. Speer was seated at the desk, apparently writing something, when he stood and turned toward the window. At that moment there was a single blast from a 12-gauge shotgun fired point-blank through the window. Five pellets of double-ought buckshot, each about 1/3-inch in diameter, caught Speer in his right arm and the right side of his chest.

Almost immediately after hearing the blast, Mrs. Speer and her father rushed into the study. Speer had managed to stagger about 20 feet from behind the desk to the doorway where his wife found him.

“I don’t know what happened,” were Speer’s last words. ”

One of the observations made at the scene was how a low hanging bough outside of the window would have served as a good hiding spot for the shooter. The maid of the house at the time claimed to have heard heavy footsteps running on the lawn outside immediately after the shooting, and another witness heard a car speeding away after incident. The attorney who took command of the crime assumed that whoever committed this must have been familiar with the school itself, as he essentially stated that a stranger finding one’s way through the wooded paths on the campus was like going through a “virtual labyrinth”.

One of their first leads was the dogs that the Speer family had owned. The investigators theorized that the dogs had made no noise because they recognized whoever the murderer was, yet had to rule that theory out when the eldest dog Andy did not pay attention to any of the investigators around the house during the investigation anyhow, and the younger dog Amy was locked up in the kennel at the time of the murder.

“ Investigators were also intrigued by the possibility that the killing was inspired by an English murder mystery book The Public School Murder that Speer owned. That book told the story of a school headmaster who was murdered by a rifle shot through his window. ”

For the next few months, the police followed hundreds of leads, and interviewed a few thousand NMH alumni. The investigators tried looking for anyone who could’ve wanted Speer dead: anywhere between a disgruntled student/teacher or a “religious fanatic” who disagreed with Speer’s beliefs and policies over the school. They did track down one former student who apparently had a list of violent acts they wanted to commit, one of the items being killing Speer. However, the student was actually in Virginia at the time of the murder.

“ By December, however, police had quickly eliminated all but one suspect — the school’s dean, Thomas E. Elder. ”

Elder’s relationship with Speer was rather conflicted, as he was one of the remaining fundamentalists at the school that went against Speer’s beliefs, and was rather upset when the school passed over him and chose Speer to be the new headmaster of the school. Elder was also known to have a quick temper and able to hold grudges. In addition, there was a lot of damning evidence from the case that went against him.

“ •He was known to have once owned a shotgun of the type used to kill Dr. Speer, but denied this to police. •After Speer’s murder investigators saw that Elder had injured his right index finger — the one most likely used to pull a trigger — and friends told police that Elder’s shotgun “had a defective trigger guard.” •Elder placed a telephone call to Speer’s home shortly after the murder. Police surmised that he did this to ascertain whether his attack was successful. •Two letters, one supposedly written by Speer to Elder and the other in response, “are believed to be forged to simulate a firm friendship which actually did not exist between the pair.” •Speer reportedly lent The Public School Murder to Elder shortly before he died. However, in other reports, authorities simply said that Speer owned the book.

The most damning evidence of Elder’s guilt was the fact that he turned several clocks on the Mount Hermon campus ahead by 15 minutes as part of a scheme to establish an alibi.

The timepieces included the landmark clock on the tower of the school’s granite chapel, and, more importantly, the clock on the mantlepiece of Elder’s home. “

One notable event was during the night of Speer’s death, Elder was talking with a young man in his house when he pointed to his clock on the mantle and said “It’s getting late, I have to go someplace.” Elder’s guest turned out to be a shortwave radio enthusiast, and when he got home, he received a message and realized that Elder’s clock was actually wrong.

All of this evidence stated was presented to Justice Hayes during the inquest. “  Hayes closed the hearing at the request of the prosecution to prevent the suspect from “framing a defense” or “absconding if it became clear that he would be held for murder.” 

Hayes, however, did not feel that the prosecution’s case was sufficient to warrant presentation to a grand jury, much less to a trial court. After hearing from more than 60 witnesses in a seven-day hearing, Hayes determined that Speer was killed by “a person unknown to this court.” 

Shortly after the Hayes report was released, Dean Thomas Elder retired from the school and moved to New Hampshire where he operated a poultry farm. Six years after the Speer murder Elder was arrested for threatening a former Mt. Hermon school colleague with a shotgun. He was acquitted at trial. “

Lopaz Richardson has been missing since July of 2021. The then-32-year-old lived in Rosenberg, Texas at the time of his disappearance. Lopaz vanished under incredibly suspicious circumstances, and the mystery of what happened to him still remains unsolved.

The last time any of Lopaz's loved ones saw him was on July 5th, 2021. That evening, Lopaz dropped his daughter off at her mother's home in Spring, Texas. Two days later, Lopaz spoke with relatives on the phone. After that, he seemingly vanished into thin air. He has never been seen or heard from again. 

Lopaz's ex-wife reported him missing on July 8th. She was immediately concerned about his safety, as he had made some troubling statements before his disappearance. Lopaz reportedly told his ex-wife that someone was after him; he "disrespected the wrong person" and would not have a chance to apologize.

The day after Lopaz was reported missing, police in Howe, Texas were notified about a white Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck that was spotted in a ravine near some train tracks. Days later, it was confirmed that the car was registered to Lopaz. It seemed odd that Lopaz's vehicle would be found in Howe - as it is an approximate 5-hour drive away from his home in Rosenberg. His loved ones are unable to think of any reason for him to travel to that location. It also seemed unlikely that Lopaz would voluntarily abandon his car in such a spot. 

Despite all of this, Lopaz's ex-wife said she was told by police that there was no evidence of foul play at the scene, nor were any items of interest found inside the truck. However, inventory was not taken on the truck until over a month later. It was then discovered that many items were inside the car - including a digital camera, a GoPro camera, and Lopaz's wallet, which contained his driver's license and credit card. Additionally, a more thorough search of the scene where the car was found turned up a pair of Lopaz's shoes - which had been stuck in the mud.

These findings appear to be the last known physical trace of Lopaz. Even so, it's unclear if Lopaz himself is the one who drove his truck to that location. There are many unanswered questions regarding his disappearance as well. To this day, no suspects or persons of interest have been publicly announced. However, there were several things going on in Lopaz's life that have led to a few theories.