Omaha daily bee., 1919-11-21
No Indications of Suicide
Officers Say Young and
Neatly Dressed Girl Taken
To Scene After Death.
LEAVES COVER VICTIM
OF REVOLVING CRIME
Omaha Police Detailed to Take
Fingerprints in Endeavor to
Learn |dentity-Corpse Is
Thrown From Auto.

The body of woman, evidently
murdered. was found at o:30 yester-
day morning in a gulch two miles
straight west of Coffman station
along the ridge road" leading to
Omaha. The woman had been shot
to death, the bullet having entered
her head behind the left ear and
and emerged at the right temple. !
The right side of the face was
badly mangled, as if it had been
chewed by dog. No identification
has yet been made, according to
Miss Grace Ballard, county attorney
of Washington county. who is in
vestigating the case.
Was Neatly Dressed.
The woman was apparently rs
years old and had Titan red hair.
She was dressed neatly in a blue
skirt, white crepe de chine waist
and grey gloves. Both her shoes,
her outer coat and hat are missing.
No gun was found beside the body.
Omaha police and authorities in
Washington county are of the opin-
ion that the woman was taken by
automobile 10 the secluded spot on
the road. from Coffman and shot to
death, then thrown from the car.
Farmers in that vicinity say that
numerous automobiles from Omaha
frequent that road. ..
No motive for the crime has been
learned. According to DR.. Gees
man of Calhoun, who examined the
body, the woman had not been
criminally assaulted.
Farmer Finds Body. -
A. J. Peterson. farmer living four
miles south of Calhoun, found the
body while on his way to all oil sta
tion on the ridge road" The body
was not removed until noon when
the county attorney began her in
vestigation. .-
Miss Ballard refused to give out
any information concerning the case.
Even details of the finding of the
body and circumstances surround
ing the possible cause of death were
withheld by the woman county at
torney, for fear she would lose evil
dence in the case"
According to the opinion of Peter
son and Louis Green, neighbors of
Peterson, both of whom examined
the body lying in the gulch, the
woman was murdered, then evident
ly thrown into the ravine from an
automobile.
The body was taken to the under
taking shop of William Sievers at
Calhoun. An inquest will be held
at 2 this afternoon, County >Attor-
ney Ballard said.
Seek Finger Prints.
DR.. c. E. Geesman of Calhoun,
who examined the body, said the
woman had been dead for apparent
ly, four days.
Bertillon officers from the Omaha
central police station were detailed
to take finger prints of the woman
in an effort to identify her Omaha
police have no report of missing
woman answering the description of
the murdered victim, according to
Chief of Detectives Dunn.
Bertillon Officer Hans Nelson
was unable to take finger prints of
the. dead woman owing to her partly
decomposed hands, the officer said
Profile pictures of her face were
taken by photographer from Blair.
County Attorney Ballard said.
Plan Inquest Today.
The body of the woman was en-
balmed Immediately upon its ar
rival at the undertaking establish
ment. Burial will be made imme-
diately following. the inquest, it was
learned.
1t is the theory of Miss Ballard
that the woman was murdered, then
taken to the secluded spot along
the road from Coffman station. Ac-
cording to Peterson's story to the
county attorney, the woman was
found partly covered by leaves and
lying with the right side of her face
10 tHc ground.
Covered With Leaves.
my sight was attracted by a
dark skirt protruding from a pile OF
leaves" Peterson said. II drove to
Lou Green's farm and notified the
undertaken at Calhoun. Green and
| then returned to the spot and ex-
amined the body of the woman.
Both of her shoes were off and |
noticed she wore no coat or hat.
We found several pearl beads which
the woman evidently had worn
about her neck. No footprints were
about her, body to indicate the
woman bad been dragged there.
The leaves over her body showed
evidence of having been blown
there"
The only clue that might lead to
the identity of the woman would
be in the finding Of her shoes. hat
or coat, according to Omaha de-
tectives assigned to the case