On December 22, 1939, William Joyce was driving down highway U.S. 20 between South Bend and Mishawaka, Indiana. At around 3:00 in the morning, a figure stumbled out onto the snowy roadway ahead of him. Unable to stop in time, Joyce hit the person, sending him flying 40 feet down the road. Joyce jumped out of his vehicle to give aid. When he saw the state of the man, he knew there was nothing he could do but find a phone to call police.
When the police arrived, they found that this wasn’t simply a case of a vehicle versus pedestrian accident. The gravely injured man before them was blindfolded, gagged, and bound. This obviously led to many questions, the main one being…who tied up Stephen Melkey and left him by the highway?
Stephen Melkey was a 44-year old father of three sons. He was born on August 1, 1895 in Hungary and came to the United States as a young boy. He had been living in Mishawaka, Indiana for the previous 28 years where he worked at a rubber plant. He had married Miss Sophie Geier in September of 1920, unfortunately she had passed away 5 years before.
As William Joyce looked for a telephone to call for help for Mr. Melkey, a truck driver came along and also stopped. When he saw the state of Melkey, he too called the Mishawaka police.
Police arrived scene around 3:30 am. Mr. Melkey was unconscious, but still alive. An ambulance arrived to transport him to St. Joseph Hospital. Unfortunately, on the way there Melkey succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead.
Upon examination of his body, it was found that he had a broken neck, several fractures, internal bleeding, and hemorrhaging. Things you would expect to find when a person is hit by a vehicle. What was more curious were the external findings.
Stephen Melkey’s eyes were covered in 2-inch wide surgical tape. A man’s stained handkerchief was stuffed into his mouth, then his mouth had been tightly taped. There are reports that state it was believed to have been lipstick that stained the handkerchief. Melkey’s hands were bound behind his back. His ankles had also been bound, but he had managed to free his right foot, loosing a shoe in the process. The shoe was found not too far from the site of impact.
Back at the scene, police found tire impressions in the snow about 140 feet from where Melkey was struck. Officers preserved this evidence by taking casts of the tire prints. There were signs in the snow that this could have been where Melkey was possibly dumped from a vehicle. They found footprints in the nearby woods that looked as if they were made by someone wearing only one shoe. The prints led to a concrete abutment near the highway where there was disturbed and melted snow that implied Melkey had sit there for some time. He may have then heard the sound of a car coming and got up to get help. Unfortunately, he stumbled blindly into the roadway were he was hit by Joyce’s vehicle.
Police found a second set of footprints nearby, though they couldn’t tell for sure if they were made at the same time. These tracks led to a nearby telephone pole. This led to a theory that Melkey could have been led to the area on foot by an unknown person who left him there. Then this person could have hidden themselves by the phone pole to watch what happened next.
Investigators also went to Melkey’s home at 423 West Fairmont Avenue in Mishawaka. His three sons, Robert (18), Leonard (14), and Frederick (12) were there. The boys stated that their father had gone to bed at 11 pm and they had no knowledge of him leaving the house. A search of his home provided no clues. There was no signs of forced entry or a struggle. Everything was in it’s place and nothing seemed to be missing.
Upon further investigation, three people were questioned in the case. Bertte DeVos was a 27-year old divorcee who was a waitress at the Old Heidelburg Cafe. Allan F. Polomskey was a 28-year old coal worker. George H. Smith was a 41-year old employee at the same rubber plant where Melkey worked and had frequently be seen with Melkey at the tavern where DeVos worked.
Bertte DeVos was engaged to Allan Polomskey, though this may not have been known by everyone. A few men, Melkey and Smith included, had been competing for DeVos’ attention when they visited the tavern. Melkey had even been involved in arguments and fist-fights with the other men who had shown interest in DeVos.
When questioned by the police, DeVos and Polomskey claimed to have been out together the whole night. They supported each other’s alibies and there was no one that came forward to claim otherwise.
At this point it seems that investigators would have a pretty solid case against Polomskey. Maybe he found out Melkey was was being too friendly with his fiancé and it angered him. Melkey had been known to have verbal and physical altercations with other men interested in DeVos. Maybe an argument or fight broke out between them, that ended in Polomskey leaving Melkey blindfolded and bound by the highway.
It seems if this were the case, there would have been witnesses to such an altercation. Unless DeVos told her fiancé when she got home from working at the tavern. Maybe in this case, Polomskey paid a visit to Melkey at his home and they exchanged words and maybe even fists outside. Melkey’s sons may not have heard anything if they were already asleep.
However, further investigation found evidence that maybe DeVos and Polomskey were not involved.
DeVos and Polomskey were married on New Year’s day. Five days later they agreed to take lie detector tests for the ongoing investigation into Stephen Melkey’s death. They both passed the tests.
This alone isn’t a strong case that they had nothing to do with the death of Melkey. Today, we know that lie detector tests are wildly unreliable and cannot be used as evidence in a court of law. What does lend slightly more credit to them being innocent is that the tires of both of their vehicles were inspected and compared to the tire prints left at the crime scene. The tire prints didn’t match.
Now, let’s not forget about the third person questioned by police, George Smith, the coworker of Melkey’s who was seen often with him at the tavern. He also took a lie detector test and passed. More importantly, his vehicle’s tires were inspected and also didn’t match to the tires found at the scene.
Can we be sure that those tire tracks at the scene were actually from the perpetrator’s vehicle? If not, there’s still a strong case against Polomskey especially. A case could be made against Smith as well.
Or, what are the chances that the crime was committed by someone else entirely?
Today, 85 year later, Stephen Melkey’s death is still unsolved. It’s likely that anyone involved has long since passed away and we may never know for sure why Melkey was blindfolded, bound, and left by the highway to wander into the road to be hit and killed by Joyce’s vehicle. We may never know, but we can always speculate.
Sadly, left without a mom and now without a dad, Frederick, Stephen’s youngest son was sent to live in an orphanage. Seven years later, he was finally adopted. He passed away in 2011.
Stephen’s other sons, Robert and Leonard, both joined the military. Unfortunately, Leonard died while serving in 1943. He was only 17-years old and his remains were lost at sea. Robert passed away in 2004.
Sources:
- Newspaper photos: Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 December 1939
- The News-Sentinel, Rochester, Indiana, December 23, 1939
- Photos and Newspaper Clippings
Historic Horrors 