The views and opinions expressed in Cold and
Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All
parties mentioned are considered innocent until
proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing
also contains adult themes and languages. Listener
discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin
-Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Sulkowski.
And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover
cold cases and missing person cases. Hello, everyone,
and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your
host, Ali . And I'm your co -host, Eli. Welcome
back, everyone. Yes. So a little housekeeping
right at the top. This episode is going to be
a two -parter. So there are a lot of details
in this case. So I want to go over all of them
since details are very important in cold cases.
So this will be a two -parter episode. Part one
this week, part two next week. They're kind of
rare when it comes to cold cases and missing
person cases, so it's great that Ali brought
it to cold and missing today, and I think we
should just jump right in. Let's do it. So just
as a bit of a content warning at the top, this
case does involve young people. Today, we are
talking about the cold cases of Jayne Friedt, Mark
Flemmonds, Ruth Ellen Shelton, and Danny Davis.
otherwise known as the Burger Chef Murders. And
this takes place in November of 1978 in Speedway,
Indiana. But first, a little bit about Jayne,
Mark, Ruth, and Danny. Jayne was 20 years old
in 1978. She was the assistant manager of the
Burger Chef in Speedway. Jayne was hardworking
and reliable and took her role seriously. She
was supporting herself and building her future.
She actually had recently transferred to this
particular Burger Chef location about six months
before the timeline picks up, after working at
a different location for over three years. Mark
Flemons was just 16 years old in 1978. He was
a sophomore at Speedway High School, where he
was known for his big smile and contagious laughter.
He was the youngest of seven siblings, and him
and his family lived nearby the Burger Chef in
Big Eagle Apartments. He was so close to the
Burger Chef that he was able to walk to and from
work. Ruth Allen was 17 years old in 1978. She
was incredibly intelligent. She was an honor
roll student and had even started attending some
college classes to get a jump start on her college
credits. She was heavily involved in her youth
group and her church worship band. She loved
making music and singing. She had dreams of going
to college and wanted to become a computer scientist.
Danny Davis was 16 years old in 1978. Danny was
helpful, energetic, and social with those that
he loved. He kept a very small group of close
friends, very small, but he was very loyal and
committed to those friendships. Danny was the
most recent hire at the Burger Chef. He was so
new that he hadn't even gotten his first paycheck
yet by the time the timeline picks up. He was
a student at Decatur Central High School, and
he had a budding interest in photography. He
had even built himself a darkroom. He also wanted
to join the Air Force after graduating and would
often take photos of aviation or planes. He loved
taking photographs of that type of stuff. So
just before we jump into the timeline, I just
wanted to take a moment to talk about... kind
of the location and well, I guess the locations
overall. So Burger Chef. Burger Chef was a popular
Midwest fast food chain in the 70s. They actually
introduced the fun meal, I believe, a few years
before McDonald's introduced the happy meal.
So they were a big competitor of like all of
the famous fast food chains today. In the 1980s,
Burger Chef was acquired and the locations were
turned into Hardee's. So if you have a Hardee's
near you, there could be a chance that at one
point it was a Burger Chef. Speedway, Indiana
is just outside of Indianapolis. It's actually
where the Indy 500 track is physically located.
So that track is in Speedway, Indiana. Even though
it's the Indy 500, it's in Speedway. With the
track being there and the town's name, Speedway,
Indiana, that town definitely is baked in racing
and cars and that kind of stuff. So it's not
like a small rural town by any stretch. It's
a suburb of a big city and very close to Indianapolis,
which is the capital of Indiana. And now a timeline
of events. Friday, November 17th, 1978. It is
the closing shift at the Burger Chef on Crawfordsville
Road in Speedway, Indiana. It had been a pretty
typical night. It had been busy through the dinner
rush, but as the night wore on, the restaurant
began to empty out. By 11 p .m., it was closing
time, and the four employees, Jayne, Mark, Ruth,
and Danny, were scheduled to work for two more
hours to close down the restaurant. Mark had
come in that night as a favor, actually. He was
working a shift that wasn't his. He had covered
for his co -worker Brian so he could take out
their other co -worker, Ginger, on a date. Mark
had had a plan to walk home with his friend Kirk
after work. Remember, Mark lived very close to
the burger shop. Kirk, his friend, was spending
the night across the street from the burger shop
at an under -21 club known as The Galaxy. Mark
was not allowed to go there. His family was very
religious. But Kirk planned to spend the evening
there and then at midnight walk over to the Burger
Chef so him and Mark could walk home together
since they both lived in the same apartment building.
Also nearby the Burger Chef is a Dunkin' Donuts.
That night on November 17th, A 17 -year -old
girl was working at the Dunkin' Donuts and her
boyfriend, whose name is George, was visiting
her and spending time with her while she worked.
At some point in the night, one of the Burger
Chef employees had actually gone to Dunkin' Donuts
to grab a box of donuts to snack on throughout
the night. So 11 p .m. rolls around, the restaurant
is closed. Jayne Ruth, Mark, and Danny get to
work on closing down the restaurant. At around
11 .15, George... That's the boyfriend of the
Dunkin' Donuts worker. George had walked over
to the Burger Chef to get a book of matches.
At first he didn't see anyone, but eventually
Danny came from the back of the restaurant and
gave him a book of matches. George headed back
to the Dunkin' Donuts where him and his girlfriend
stepped out back to have a cigarette. While they
were out back smoking, two men walked down the
nearby railroad tracks nearby and approached
the teen couple. The men tell the couple that
they should leave because there had been a lot
of vandalism in the area. The men were also kind
of shabbily dressed. One of the men is around
5 '6 and around 200 pounds, very stocky build.
He had reddish brownish hair with a full beard
and mustache. The other man was a bit taller,
around 5 '9 and 160 pounds, medium build. with
dark, greasy hair that had been combed back and
was mostly clean -shaven, though he did have
some stubble coming through. The couple finished
their cigarette and head back inside the Dunkin'
Donuts. This was between 11 .15 and 11 .30. At
around 11 .45 p .m., Brian and Ginger were ending
their date night. They drove past the Burger
Chef, and they noticed that Jayne’s car was not
in the parking lot, but all of the lights were
still on inside. That was strange, as Jayne, being
the assistant manager, would have been one of
the last ones to leave. They don't see anyone
inside or outside of the restaurant. Brian decides
to drive Ginger home before swinging by the burger
chef to see what was going on. So a few minutes
later, right around midnight, Kirk approaches
the burger chef. Remember, Kirk and Mark were
going to walk home together around midnight.
And when Kirk arrived at the Burger Chef, he
said that there were still cars in the parking
lot, but the back door of the restaurant was
wide open. Kirk didn't see or hear anyone inside
of the restaurant, so he decided to walk home
alone. Shortly after Kirk leaves, Brian returns
from dropping off Ginger. All of the lights are
still on, and he notices the back door is slightly
open, he says. Brian goes inside and sees that
the register drawer was on the ground and Jayne
and Ruth's purses were still inside along with
several jackets. The manager's office had been
ransacked. Brian calls a manager who tells him
to call the police. Jayne’s car, a Chevrolet Vega,
was missing from the parking lot as well. Altogether,
$581 had been stolen in cash. but several hundred
dollars of coins had been left behind. Brian
called the police just shortly after midnight
on Saturday, November 18th. But when Speedway
officers arrived, they brushed off the scene.
They believed that the most likely scenario was
that the four employees had taken the money and
gone off and played hooky, went to a party, maybe
they were even at the Galaxy nearby. The police
didn't think it was strange to find the empty
money bags or that there was an empty roll of
adhesive tape near them. No crime scene tape
went up. No evidence was collected that night.
In fact, the restaurant is cleared to open the
next day. And so the morning shift comes in and
they clean the entire restaurant to get it ready
for opening. However, a few hours later, around
4 a .m., this is still Saturday morning. Jayne’s
car was found abandoned just a block and a half
from the Speedway Police Department. In fact,
from where the car was parked, you could see
the back door of the police station. When Jayne’s
car is found, police start to take the disappearance
of the four Burger Chef employees much more seriously.
However, they still clear the restaurant to open
in a few hours. When police find the car, All
of the doors except the driver's side door were
unlocked. The driver's side door was locked.
Police believe that during the abduction, Jayne
was forced to drive her own car. When she got
out of the car, out of habit, police think that
she locked the door behind her. Very attentive
at locking her doors and would often remind people
who were riding in her car to lock the doors
behind them. This was before automatic locks.
Police alert the families that their loved ones
are missing, that their children are missing.
The family is anxious as all of them are very
hard workers and very responsible. None of them
were known for running off or staying out all
night. They were responsible. They went to work
and they came home. It was very out of character
that none of them would come home and even more
out of character that they would steal money
to go out on a night on the town. However, that
is where we're going to leave our timeline for
this week. We're just going to go over those
details. But if you know anything about the Burger
Chef murders in November of 1978, please call
the Indiana State Police District Investigative
Commander at 317 - 899 -8577 or 1 -800 -582 -8440.
So that is part one of the Burger Chef murder.
So this is just going through the abduction.
I have heard of this very, very sad case before.
And I imagine some of our listeners have as well.
But you talking about Jayne. Mark, Ruth, Ellen,
and Danny, you know, their personalities immediately
filled in in my head. And these were children,
which I appreciate that you emphasized. These
were kids, you know, and they felt very familiar
to me. And listening to But we were briefly able
to hear about them so far. This is the first
time I've heard this case with as much detail
as you provided. It's not one that I've really
taken a dive into before on my own, but I feel
grateful to know more about the information and
just some of the details that I didn't know.
Yeah, this is all what was reported at the time.
And this was what was reported again and again.
I will say that in later years, there was reports
that, you know, all the timeline I gave of, you
know, Brian coming, Kirk walking, like all of
that kind of got erased in more recent years
when the story is told. And in more recent tellings,
they say that a delivery driver arrived at 1015
to find the back door. Which is just very different
from what was originally reported. So I did go
with the original reporting just since I think
that was closer to what truly happened. Since
you took us right back into the timeline, which
I'm glad you did, I have so many questions. Starting
with, were there any... Adults. I mean, by adults,
I mean anyone over the age of, I don't know,
21, 25. Who was there closing with them or, I
don't know, at least checking on them? No. So
the oldest person would have been Jayne. She was
20 and the assistant manager. But no, they, you
know, they were employees and they were working
the closing shift. So, yeah, it was it was just
them. And, yeah, I just feel like I have to emphasize
again and again that these were kids. Like, these
are teenagers. And even though Jaye is 20, you
know, not to take away her adulthood or anything,
but she's still so young, just starting her life.
So, like, very young people, kids, teenagers.
It's a tragic case. Yeah, I mean, they are. They're
kids. There's the 21 and under club. right near
where they're working. And it pulled a memory
from my own life. I definitely went to a 21 and
under dance club in my youth. But also I think
a 21 and under club existing in that space, there's
a lot of young people there, a lot of minors,
and this thing happening right across the street.
I don't know, it makes me feel very scared in
that maybe that that area was being watched and
was maybe chosen for its vulnerability because
it was packed with young people. Yeah. I mean,
you know, the Burger Chef employees, they're
young. There's the Galaxy, the 21 and under club
that's right there. And then even at the Dunkin'
Donuts, it seems like, you know, at least one
of the employees working, she was 17. I don't
know her name. She's not named in the papers,
but we know her boyfriend's name is George at
that time. So, you know, there's just a lot of
young folks working closing shifts on a Friday
night, which not a bad thing, but. Yeah, this
is definitely a vulnerable spot, I'd say. Yeah,
the next thing I wrote down as I was listening
to you was, normal night, normal kids. Yeah,
it was an extremely normal night until it just
wasn't anymore. That's why it's so shocking to
me. And again, this was a detail I did know because
it's spoken about so often, I think, when this
case is being... brought up or reported on or
on a podcast that law enforcement didn't take
the clear red flags, at least surrounding the
business, seriously. It was a huge swing and
a miss to not address what was clearly happening.
I think it ate up a lot of time in the investigation.
Yeah, I mean, just so much was lost. I mean,
in 1978, They weren't necessarily looking for
DNA, but they were definitely, you know, would
have looked for fingerprints, palm prints, anything
like that. And, you know, for the morning crew
to come through and clean, like when you clean
a restaurant, like anyone who's ever worked in
a kitchen, like, you know, you're using cleaners
until it shines and there's not a, you know,
fingerprint on it. Like it's it's cleaned in
the back. So, yeah, all of those cleaners, you
know, just where things were. All of that got
lost. It is reported, and we'll talk about this
a little bit more next week, but the police come
back and try to set up the Burger Chef to make
it look like how they remembered so they could
take pictures. But even then, that's just subject
to one person's memory. There's so many details
that got lost, such as that. empty roll of adhesive
tape that's not mentioned a lot it's in the very
early reportings but to me that's very nefarious
the girls um purses being left there if they
were going out for a night they would have took
their purses they would have took their coats
it's November in Indiana it starts to get cold
like so many signs pointed to something nefarious
as opposed to they just played hooky for the
night yeah this crime scene the burger chef unknowingly
from the exterior, still had very noticeable
differences happening in its current day -to
-day on that day or that evening. It's something
that should have been looked at. I will say,
and this is less devil's advocate and more, I
think, my understanding of humanity and consumption
of true crime and the psychology behind it. I
think maybe there was a willingness to brush
it off as something juvenile because acknowledging
that it could be something different is very
scary. And it also might acknowledge that they
are incapable of taking, of handling what this
could be, you know, at best, like, you know,
kidnapping and they're all alive. You know, I
don't know. There's a part of me that understands
that, I guess. But yeah, it's tough. It's really
tough that that decision was made that day. Well,
and what's even more interesting is that the
climate in Speedway at this time is very, very
tense. There had been a few weeks before this,
there had been an older woman. I believe she
was murdered in her garage. And then the week
leading up to these murders. the abduction and
murders, there were multiple bombs that were
set off around Speedway. And if I'm remembering
correctly, one of the girls, it might have been
Jayne, but I can't quite remember off the top
of my head. She had actually called police in
the weeks or in the week like leading up to this
because she had seen someone suspicious. And
with all the bombings happening, she wanted to
like call and report it in that she had seen
like somebody kind of acting suspiciously. So
there was like a lot of tension in Speedway.
So I. Considering all that, I am surprised that
the police didn't take it more seriously. But
then on the same token or the other side of the
coin, maybe they were like, I just can't deal
with another thing at this moment. So this is
what it has to be. All right. Now, before you
keep going, because that's a new detail to me,
one that is new to our listeners as well. I have
so many questions, but. Obviously, there's more
for you to tell us. For now, I'm sad to leave
it on this note that, you know, we are just acknowledging
that there was a major flaw in the initial response
and investigation. But I think it's really great
that even though I do know some information about
this case that You have brought it here. It's
one that I've always wanted to dive into. Again,
these were kids and I know this was in the late
70s, but I believe that it's still possible that
there's information out there that someone maybe
knows something or there's information buried
somewhere or I don't know what, but I definitely
am holding out hope. Yeah, this is a case I'd
seen. you know, around in other true crime areas.
But it's one that I really didn't know the details
of. I just kind of knew the general story. You
know, four employees were murdered. I didn't
realize they had been abducted and removed from
the Burger Chef, which we will talk more about
in the next episode. But I really wanted to look
into this one. I'm actually pretty familiar with
Speedway. My dad and I, we would do these like
motorcycle runs and for charity for a children's
hospital in Indiana. And at the end of it, we
would drive motorcycles around the Indy 500 track.
So we were in and out of Speedway. The whole
weekend for a couple of summers. And it was one
that I just like was very interested in knowing
the area, knowing the location. And I totally
agree that I think this is still solvable, even
though we are 40 plus years later. I think that,
you know, right now we've introduced two characters,
these men who walk up on the railroad tracks.
There are definitely people police want to talk
to who they've never really been able to track
down officially. There's at least two people
involved. That's two mouths. That's two people
who could talk in their sleep. That's two people
who could talk when they're drunk. That's two
people that can, you know, talk when they're
angry and not thinking. So I think they have
told somebody. I think somebody else has been
told about this crime. But again, if you know
anything about the Burger Chef murders in November
of 1978, please call the Indiana State Police
District Investigative Commander at 317 -899
-8577 or 1 -800 -582 -8440. We will have pictures
of Jayne, Ruth Ellen, Mark, and Danny on our Instagram
at Cold and Missing. We'll also have pictures
of the Burger Chef and we'll put the composite
sketch of the two people who walked up on the
railroad tracks and talked to that. teen couple
um we will put those up as well police are very
interested in talking to those two men and like
i've mentioned they have not been able to locate
them so we will put pictures on there um and
yeah please join us again next week we will go
into part two If you or someone you love is hard
of hearing, we have our transcripts on our website,
www .coldandmissing .com, where you can find
this and all our past episodes, including other
two -parters that we've done in the past. If
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way. But that is all I have for you until next
week when we dive into part two of The Burger
Chef Murders. Thank you so much for listening
to Cold and Missing. I'm your host, Ali . And
I'm your co -host, Eli. Have a good week and
stay safe, y 'all. Stay safe, y 'all. Thank you.