Murder of Louise Jeppesen, 1934
*Content warning: physical violence and murder*
Louise Jeppesen was a clerk and phone operator for the Ogden Standard Examiner. In 1934 she went on a six week vacation to find a new job in California. On the morning of May 13, she was found murdered in Golden State Park. She had been strangled with a scarf from her suit and brutally assaulted.
The evening of her murder, she had attended a small party in the hotel room of Millard Hickman with Blanche McKay and Tommy Dee, president of an engineering company. Hickman claimed they were all drinking at the party and Louise passed out, so he laid her on his bed. He laid next to her, but she woke up and they argued. She left the party, as well as McKay and Dee. Hickman went to McKay’s room 20 minutes later to convince her to come back.
Louise took a street car and walked through the park early in the morning. A conductor said he heard screaming but didn’t go to investigate. Louise’s body was found in the morning by a workman.
Hickman was charged with her murder after he was found with a bruise on his leg and a deep scratch on his hand. At his trial in July, McKay testified that she was with him at the likely time of the murder. Other evidence against him was circumstantial, and he was found not guilty.
Soon after the trial ended, police questioned another suspect, Albert Boyer. Louise had broken several dates with him and told Blanche that she feared him. He appeared the morning after Louise’s murder with an injured hand and blood spots on his clothing, but claimed he got into a fight with another girl. After questioning police were satisfied that he had no knowledge of Jeppesen’s death, and he was not charged.
Jeppesen’s murder remains unsolved, but her family is still convinced of Hickman’s guilt.
Louise’s family: Severn Jeppeson and wife and Dorothy Jeppeson Dorius and husband
Jury in the tunnel where Louise was found
Millard Hickman