By Austin Spradlin
Prestonsburg Kentucky, a small rule-class city tucked away in Floyd County. It is set inside the Eastern part of the valley of the Big Sandy River. On Tuesday morning, June 28, 1949, a school bus driver had parked his bus and started walking the banks of the river, looking for a fishing spot. That was when he made a terrifying discovery: A young woman, blonde hair, petite, lying on the riverbanks, bloodied and her dress ripped. The bus driver immediately notified the police.
At the scene of the crime, police found an eight-inch led pipe with blood on it, an empty whiskey bottle, and her necklace hanging on a small peach tree.
Police investigators felt she was ambushed near the West Prestonsburg bridge, which was the last place anyone had seen her that night. They believed she had been dragged to the riverbanks, which could have resulted in her dress being ripped. The necklace being placed on a tree to taunt them.
“The girl's head was badly smashed in,” An officer stated.
The West Prestonsburg Bridge is one of the most peculiar rainbow arch bridges in the country. The bridge was where Muriel and three of her best friends parted ways. Muriel was the only one to cross it. Her family’s house wasn’t more than fifty feet away from it – that always tormented her parents. Their daughter being that close when they were home.
It didn’t take long for authorities to figure out that the girl was seventeen-year-old Prestonsburg High school cheerleader, Muriel Baldridge. Her parents George and Bertha Baldridge quickly became aware that the girl who was brutally murdered was their daughter. For whatever reason, her parents did not have to confirm the body. But instead, a friend of Muriel’s was able to do it. After the police received permission from the friend's mother. Cheerleading was one of her favorite things to do. The girl looked forward to it every year. She was the youngest of six.
Here we will look at the prime suspects involved in the case. Starting with the man they tried for the case.
Donald Horn knew Muriel and had seen her right before he left Prestonsburg, moving to a place in Texas, which was the day that she died. Her friends claimed they had ‘split up’ the day before her murder. They said Muriel was always open about her and Donald being ‘intimate with one another.’ He quickly recanted his confession.
A young carnival worker by the name of Olen Collins, confessed he and another carnival worker Bill Gamble were behind the death of Muriel Baldridge. Olen was from Salyersville, Kentucky. A small rural-class city located in Magoffin County. But worked the carnival. He was 15 at the time. Bill Gamble was brought in for questioning and signed a confession. But he and Olen recanted.
Bill Gamble could not have written or read the confession he plastered his signature on as he was illiterate. However, he was the only one at the time to be arrested for Muriel’s murder. Still to this day, many feel that Olen was indeed responsible for the act and attempted to bring Bill down with him. Kids are still admonished about Carnival Workers in Floyd County.
E.K. Dotson was a forty-five-year-old restaurant operator. Though he had been flirty with Muriel there was no evidence to link him to the crime. He did have enough evidence to indict Lon S. Moles, a guy that the officers had already been suspicious of.
Dotson had signed a confession and shortly repudiated it.
The police found out On Monday June 27, 1949, Muriel and her friends were attending the local carnival she and her friends had walked around. One of them recalled she was supposed to “meet up with some guy,” when asked who the guy was the friend claimed that “Muriel wouldn’t say who.”
One of the other girls felt like it was Lon S. Moles. A sixty-year-old veteran C&O agent. He was also a member of the local board of education. After authorities spoke with George, Lon would become the prime suspect in the case. Her father stated: “I work with him at the railroad office. He always asks about Muriel.”
One police officer recalled the state of anguish that George and Bertha had fallen into.
One of Lon’s well-known bootleggers Clyde M Godsey testified that he saw Lon on the night of the murder. “He came over for some beer and became angry when I asked about the scratches on his arms.” Clyde was also able to tell officers what brand of whiskey Lon had purchased. It was the same brand as the bottle found at the crime scene – the authorities never made it public what brand it was.
Muriel had the reputation of displaying flirtatious behavior, sometimes going as far as flashing men who worked with her father. Lon being one of them. His wife had seen her do it.
Lon had got to know Muriel as some days she would pop in at the railroad office after school. She spent a great deal of time talking with the workers, including her father – but especially Lon. George had asked his daughter if Lon ever ‘tried anything’ in which Muriel would laugh it off – almost making George feel ridiculous.
A local gas station owner claimed that Lon had come in to have his seat covers changed. He told the authorities there was a stain on one of the seats. But he could not be sure what it was.
Lon was arrested for the murder of Muriel Baldridge at his home. His wife became enraged with the officer. He too signed a confession but then repudiated the claims.
The trial took place in Pikeville Kentucky, located in Pike County. 27.9 miles away from Prestonsburg.
During his trial, Lon Moles averred his innocence by claiming that he had been at home sleeping when Muriel was murdered. Mole's defense team would later put his wife on the stand. With proper documentation to support her complaints of arthritis, Mrs. Moles said she had been awake most of the night on June 27 dealing with related pain. She testified that Lon had been asleep next to her all night. The Commonwealth, which had been seeking the death penalty against Moles in the case would be forced to settle for a not guilty verdict. The decision came from a jury consisting of ten men and two women, who excogitated the trial for almost two hours before returning the decision to find Lon S. Moles not guilty of committing the murder of Muriel Baldridge.
Sheriff Gormon Collins who started working the case since 1954 said that the eight-year-old manhunt for Muriel’s killer had finally ended. It ended in Indiana State Prison, where an inmate confessed to the horrific crimes.
Taylor said that two men and an unknown young woman was with him on the night of the crime. He claimed him, the young woman and Muriel had engaged in sex together. The two men were Paschal Smith and Edward Brown.
Taylor had stated that he killed Muriel after an argument started between them over his other men friends. Sheriff Collins thought she had made him envious of them. Taylor had arranged to meet Muriel on the night of June 27, 1949, at a bridge near her home. He claimed the young woman he’d mentioned was someone Muriel knew – who that woman was is still unknown.
When realizing the seriousness of the case Taylor, like Lon and E.K., repudiated his own confession.
Taylor had been serving a one-to-ten-year sentence for theft of a government check.
When Muriel’s brother Bernard Baldridge was asked about Taylor’s confession, he simply replied: “I don’t know, but I hope it’s true.” He just really wanted the case solved and put behind the family. His family felt the same.
When it came to Taylor’s confession one of his sisters said, “That is a make-believe confession. Muriel never knew anyone by that name. It’s just a story thought up. My mother feels the same way. It’s something to stir up. As close as Muriel was to my mother and father, they surely would have known him. We’re anxious for the right person to be found. But we just cannot believe it is this Taylor.”
After the trials of E.K. Dotson and Lon S. Moles. A group of vigilantes formed to seek out the assailant responsible for Muriel’s murder. They too were unsuccessful in finding any answers and quickly became on the police officers watchlist, as they felt they might end up killing an innocent person.
Sheriff Gormon Collins was the third great grandson of Vardemon Navarrah Collins who descended from the Saponi Indian tribe. His lovely wife Clova Gayheart Collins said that he let the case consume him.
He felt there was a connection between Muriel’s murder in 1949 and the two high school football players that were found dead in a locker room in 1954. Autopsy reports read that the football players were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning.
“Somebody is killing our kids.” Clova would recall him saying at least a dozen times a day.
Sheriff Collins never truly got over the murder of Muriel Baldridge. He worked tirelessly trying to find the person responsible. Clova felt he had himself convinced that someone was killing teenagers that attended Prestonsburg High School.
“He would spend nights making theories on who could be to blame.” Cova stated.
Most of the people he worked with felt he was too wrapped up; in Muriel’s case it was prohibiting him from professionally making arrests on petty thieves.
“Many times, Sheriff Collins would frequently visit Muriel’s gravesite along with her father George. Even after he long retired. “Fortunately, our kids never got to see the toll it took on their father.” Cova said.
Editor's note: this article ran in Serial Killer Magazine and is reproduced as written. No one in it appears in this archive's roster, and the killing of Muriel Baldridge has never been solved, so every person named in connection with it is a suspect and nothing more. Nobody was convicted. Read the identifications and the accusations here as the investigation's, and as the town's, not as findings of fact.