It was early in the evening on July 4, 1969. The town of Hooksett, New Hampshire was amping up for patriotic celebrations, and Luella Maria Blakeslee was getting ready for a date.
Luella had been in an on-again, off-again relationship with her boyfriend of three years. That’s who she told her father she was going to see on that pleasantly warm Fourth of July evening. George Blakeslee wished his daughter well on her way out the door, and she waved goodbye. Luella Blakeslee would never return.
But she wasn’t the only missing person in the small towns just outside of Manchester, New Hampshire in 1969. Just a few miles down the street from the Blakeslee home, a family was going on six months of searching for their 11-year old daughter. What happened to Luella Blakeslee and Debra Lee Horn? Could their cases share one critical connection to the murder of Susan Randall two years later?
Episode Source Material
- Debbie still missing as search continues by Adolphe V. Bernotas, The Berkshire Eagle, 01 Feb 1969
- Police still minus clues in girl’s disappearance, Brattleboro Reformer, 13 Feb 1969
- Allenstown, N.H. girl, 11, missing; kidnap feared by Alexander Ghiselin, Boston Glove, 31 Jan 1969
- Police press hunt for missing girl, 11, Nashua Telegraph, 30 Jan 1969
- Police intensify search for missing N.H. girl, Bangor Daily News, 01 Feb 1969
- Debra hoax call brings arrest, Boston Globe, 09 Feb 1969
- N.H. Trunk Yields Body, Bangor Daily News, 11 Aug 1969
- Girl missing since Jan. 29 found dead, Portage Daily Register, 11 Aug 1969
- Decomposed body of N.H. child found, The Times Argus, 11 Aug 1969
- Missing N.H. Girl’s Body Found in Car, The Berkshire Eagle, 11 Aug 1969
- Debbie Buried Atop Hill In Mother’s Home Town by Alex Ghiselin, Boston Globe, 15 Aug 1969
- Ties Said Speculative, Bangor Daily News, 17 Aug 1969
- Officer sees slay suspect in N.H. Court, Bangor Daily News, 28 Aug 1969
- N.H. police continue search for missing schoolteacher, Boston Globe, 05 July 1970
- Bones may be those of missing teacher, Brattleboro Reformer, 22 Jul 1998
- State awaits outcome of skeleton examination, Bangor Daily News, 20 Jul 1998
- Officer who searched in vain discovers body 28 years later, Brattleboro Reformer, 21 Nov 1998
- Unsolved murder remains on their minds by Hank Nichols, Boston Globe, 06 Dec 1998
- Hopkinton remains point to foul play by David Tirrell-Wysocki, Brattleboro Reformer, 20 Nov 1998
- Judge considers prisoner’s DNA request, Berkshire Eagle, 01 Oct 2000
- Another Unsolved New Hampshire Murder by Robert A. Waters, Kidnapping, Murder, and Mayhem, March 2012
- Blakeslee’s ‘coded’ diary revealed a dark side of Breest by Pat Grossmith, New Hampshire Union Leader, 27 Oct 2013
- Brother of 1969 murder victim waits for justice by Pat Grossmith, New Hampshire Union Leader, 27 Oct 2013
- Lowell man seeks new murder trial 42 years later By Kay Lazar, Boston Globe, 26 Apr 2013
- 42 years of protesting his innocence by Kay Lazar, Boston Globe, 27 Apr 2013
- 42 years of protesting his innocence, page 2
- Forty Years After A Murder, New Twist Could Set Man Free By TODD BOOKMAN, NHPR, 16 May 2013
- N.H. Supreme Court Rejects New Trial for 78-Year-Old Convicted in 1973 Case By PAIGE SUTHERLAND, NHPR, 17 Feb 2017