Renville County John Doe was a baby boy whose mutilated remains were found in Morton, Minnesota on May 17, 1932.
Case[]
The victim was found under the Sulphur Lake bridge south and west of Morton on Highway 14 at 5 p.m. A Native American boy, Elroy Jones, was wrapping up fishing with his friends and walked slowly along the bank when he found the body. Elroy informed Morton's chief of police and then his brother, Howard.
The victim was badly mutilated. He was cut from the head through the face down to the hips with a sharp instrument. His chest and stomach were cut open, possibly to avoid detection. Dr. H.B. Cole of the Redwood Falls Hospital declared the injuries were not caused from being thrown under the bridge. As the body was not concealed, it is theorized that he was killed and thrown from the bridge by a passing car, and the killer(s) assumed the body would land in the water, which it did not. He was under the bridge for only a few hours, as Howard passed under the bridge at 2:30 p.m., and he was positive on not seeing anything then.
The body was wrapped with newspapers dated the Monday before (May 16, 1932)—the Minneapolis Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota (a 2.5-hour drive east of Morton) and the Sioux Falls Argus Leader from Sioux Falls, South Dakota (a 2.5-hour drive southwest of Morton)—and a shirt that would fit a 10-year-old boy. There was a Baur and Black cardboard box containing gauze that was also found, which led authorities to question local and neighboring drugstores.
On May 20, 1932, the victim was buried at the local city cemetery following a funeral officiated by Ocar Joneson. Six days later, the Redwood Gazette reported that authorities were close to making arrests, possibly of local suspects, but no further updates appear to have been given since then.
Accessories[]
- Newspapers from Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
- Baur and Black cardboard box containing gauze.
- Shirt that would fit a 10-year-old boy.