| Notes |
- Bonnie graduated from Delta High School (Cape Girardeau County, Missouri) with Grandpa B. J. Lincecum. She was murdered.
Per her death certificate, Bonnie died of a "fracture of the 3rd cervical vertebrae." It was noted to be a homicide -- "Death from hands of person or persons unknown."
Detroit Times (Michigan)
Tuesday, 6 July 1954 [via GenealogyBank]
Teacher, 20, Found Slain
DELTA, Mo., July 6 (AP) -- Bonnie Loretta Huffman, 20, a rural school teacher, her neck broken and her jaw fractured, was found dead in a culvert near here last night.
Police found no signs of a struggle at the spot where her body was discovered, but her dress had been torn and signs of a struggle were found near her abandoned car.
Glasses she had been wearing and her purse and necklace were missing.
Miss Huffman had gone to a movie Friday night with friends and after the show had left for home alone.
Deep impressions in the gravel near the abandoned car, police said, indicated another car had been started at high speed. They said the gravel indicated her car had not been stopped suddenly.
Police said they found an ear ring on the left running board and the other ear ring and a small seat cushion in the road. Police believed Miss Huffman stopped the car for some one she knew, then was forced into the other car.
Evening Star (Washington, DC)
Wednesday, 7 July 1954
Young Missouri Teacher Found Beaten to Death
By the Associated Press
...The teacher, Miss Bonnie Loretta Huffman, had been reported missing since Saturday morning. Her half-brother, Bobby Thiele, found her abandoned car with the lights burning, in the middle of the road 6 miles from her home.
Police found no signs of a struggle at the spot where her badly decomposed body was discovered by members of a searching party. But her dress had been torn and there were signs of a struggle near her abandoned car...
The Daily Register-Mail (Galesburg, Illinois)
Wednesday, 7 July 1954 [via GenealogyBank]
Police Search For Killer of Rural Teacher
DELTA, Mo. (AP) -- Police, with only a description of a speeding car to help, continued their intensive search today for the killer of Miss Bonnie Loretta Huffman, 20-year-old rural school teacher.
The decomposed condition of her body, found Sunday night in a culvert prevented determining during an autopsy whether she had been raped, but Sgt. P. R. Little of the Missouri Highway Patrol said the general belief was that it was a sex case.
...The 450 residents here were highly excited over the slaying of the attractive girl. She had been popular here.
Her neck was broken and her jaw dislocated. Sergeant Little said a blow could have caused that or she might have been thrown from a car.
"I think she was forcibly taken out of her car and put into another car and then transported about two miles."
Miss Huffman, a slender brunette, had been to a movie with friends and was driving home alone when authorities believe she was slain.
San Diego Union (California)
Wednesday, 7 July 1954 - pg. 5
Police Find Woman's Body
San Diego Union - Chicago Tribune Dispatch
DELTA, Mo., July 6 -- Authorities today discovered the body of Bonnie Loretta Huffman, 20, a rural teacher. She was killed Friday by an unidentified assailant.
Police found her body in a weed patch beside a gravel road two miles from the place where her car was found abandoned Saturday.
Authorities said Miss Huffman had a broken neck and a fractured jaw. She had been dead 56 hours.
Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
Wednesday, 7 July 1954 [via GenealogyBank]
Believe Teacher Was Victim of Sex Slayer
DELTA, Mo., July 6 (AP) -- Authorities expressed belief today an attractive rural school teacher, found slain in a culvert last night, was the victim of a sex killer.
...This southeast Missouri town of 450 was in a state of excitement over the slaying of the popular teacher, valedictorian of the 1950 high school graduating class here.
...Three Delta residents reported seeing a car travling [sic] at a high rate of speed on the road Friday night near the point where Miss Huffman's abandoned car was found. The driver sounded his horn several times, as if trying to halt another car, shortly after passing out of the sight of the witnesses, authorities were told. It later was seen speeding back through Delta.
A description of the car, a green 1937 Chevrolet, probably a club coupe, was broadcast by state police.
Springfield Union (Massachusetts)
Thursday, 8 July 1954
Salesman Is Held In Teacher's Death
Cape Girardeau, Mo., July 7 (UP) -- Authorities late today said a novelty salesman held at Hermann, Mo., was being questioned in connection with the slaying of pretty Bonnie L. Huffman, 20-year-old rural school teacher, on a country road near here.
...Sgt. P. R. Little of the Missouri highway patrol said the salesman held at Hermann was arrested for child molestation. Headquarters of the patrol at Jefferson City said technical experts were going over the salesman's car in search of evidence that would possibly link him with Miss Huffman's death.
St. Louis Globe-Democrat (Missouri)
Tuesday, 19 July 1955 - pg. 3 [via Newspapers.com]
Where Pretty Teacher Found
White Cross Mysteriously Appears at Slaying Scene
DELTA, MO., July 18 (Special). -- Police are investigating a large white cross found at the exact roadside spot where the body of a pretty rural school teacher, victim in an unsolved slaying, was found a year ago.
The wooden cross was found Saturday, half a mile north of here, the body of Miss Bonnie Loretta Huffman, 20, was found there July 5, 1954...
The cross was carefull [sic] made, about 6 feet tall, the planks painted white. Painted in black on the cross in neat letters are the words:
"To the memory of Bonnie Huffman, July ?, 1954.
"I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall be live: St. John 11:25."
State highway patrolmen removed the cross this morning, and so far have been unable to offer an explanation.
Hundreds of sight-seers were attracted to the cross over the week-end, and automobiles were lined bumper to bumper on the county road where it was located.
It was pointed out that the deadline for a substantial reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the girl's slayer had passed at midnight Wednesday. A total of $1453 was raised for the reward fund, and authorities are now in the process of returning the money.
The slaying has remained a deep mystery. About 50 men were given lie detector tests during the extensive inquiry by state, local and county authorities, the Attorney General's office and the Circuit Court grand jury also made investigations.
See also >> New Discovery: I'm Related to a Cold Case Murder Victim
 
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
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1933 - 1954 (20 years)
