The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-03-20
ALLEGED SLAYER
ARRIVES IN D. {.

WASHINGTON, March 10. -UD
-Joseph Dunbar Medley, 43, hand
some and smooth-talking escaped
convict suspected in the death OF
three red-haired women, arrived
here from St. Louis today in the
custody of FBI agents.
He was taken Immediately to
the office of U. S. Commissioner
Needham c. Turnage for arraign-
ment on Federal charge OF flee
ing the District of Columbia to es-
cape prosecution for murder.
Police have issued warrant
for his arrest in connection with
the brutal Staying of Mrs. Nancy
Boyer, 45-year-old Washington So
cialite found shot to death in her
swank apartment here on March g..
He also had been sought by Chi
cago and New Orleans police for
questioning about the mysterious
bathtub deaths of red-haired Wo-
men in each of those cities.
His arrival by train shortly after
6p.m. (EWT) climaxed an inten-
sive manhunt which started when
police auegedly traced Mrs. Boy
er's Staying to Medley through
fingerprints. He had been in Pitts
burgh and Chicago since skipping
Washington and tips had placed
him all over the Eastern Seaboard.
He was seized yesterday at the
Jefferson Hotel in St. Louis as
he was entering his suite with his
latest girl friend-an attractive
platinum blond who still is being
held incommunicado by st. Louis
police.
A gun found in his room was
sent here for comparison with bull
lets taken from Mrs. Boyer's body.
Also recovered were sleeve
length silver fox jacket and
handbag similar to items missing
from Mrs. Boyer's apartment.
Chicago and New Orleans police
went to St. Louis to question Med
ley but he repeatedly was spirited
away by the FBI last night.
Chicago police want to question
him about the accidental death
of Mrs. Blanche Zimmerman, SO,
a telephone operator whose nude
body was found in the bathtub in
Loop hotel room. A coroner's
jury ruled that she died of ben
zedrine intoxication. But police
want to find out why Medley, who
registered as James H. Hanan, the
same alias he used in St. Louis,
left the room short time before
the body was discovered, leaving
a 'do not disturb sign on the
door.
The New Orleans case is still
unsolved. The nude body of Laura
Fisher, %, New York textile
worker, who registered with Med
ley also was found in a hotel bath
tub.
Medley's arrest followed a tip
to Washington police by DR.. ]. H.
Elder, Louisiana State University
psychologist now employed by the
War Department. He recognized
the suspect in the cocktail lounge
of St. Louis hotel last Thursday.
But he was not positive" of the
Identification until he returned
here and looked again at news
paper photographs of the wanted
man.
FBI agents, headed by Special
Agent G. B. Norris, swarmed
around the jefferson Hotel at
pm. Saturday. One showed the
clerk a photo OF Medley who iden-
titled it, as the registered James
H. Hanan."
But Medley was out. A guard
was thrown around the hotel and
two agents and St. Louis police
were stationed in his suite. He
was captured without a struggle
when he returned.
He was serving a 30-to-60 year
term in southern Michigan prison
when he escaped last November.
He had been convicted Of the kid
nap-robbery of Louis E. Brooks,
a wealthy manufacturer and ex-
mayor of Marshall, Mich.
"