http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconn...TMAN_S1.articleAurora's 'most brutal' murder?
March 30, 2008
BY MATT HANLEY mhanley@scn1.com
She was just a girl. Only 14.
Killed in her living room.
The police chief said it was the worst he had ever seen.
» Click to enlarge image
This fuzzy photo of Nanette Hartman appeared at the top of the front page on June 3, 1965, the day after her brutal murder
» Click to enlarge image
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About this series
The 1965 murder of 14-year-old Nanette Hartman is the fifth in The Beacon News' six-month series on area cold cases.
Other cold cases profiled:
• Kathy Halle, 19, of North Aurora, was strangled in 1979. Her body was found along the Fox River a month after she was reported missing. Call North Aurora police at (630) 897-8705 with information
• Kathryn Pollock, 64, of Aurora, was beaten to death in her home in 1983. Call Aurora police at (630) 801-6742 or CrimeStoppers at (630) 892-1000 with information.
• Cameron Felix, 23, of Aurora, was shot to death while in a car in 2000. Call Kane County detectives at (630) 208-3325 with information.
• Five cashiers and night watchmen were killed between December 1963 and September 1964 in cases that might be connected. John Wyatt, 20, was killed at Clark Oil in Aurora; Edward Gardner, 72, was killed at Globe Lumber in unincorporated Aurora; Leonard Robinson, 63, was killed at Lyon Metal in Montgomery; and Claron Simpson, 53, and Hans Portier, 52, were killed at Stoner Manufacturing in Aurora. Call CrimeStoppers with information.
Nearly 43 years later, she is almost forgotten.
Almost.
Except that her murder carved a little hole in the community's subconscious. It's trapped in the memories of friends and police officers and newspaper reporters and even strangers.
What ever happened to Nanette Hartman? Did they ever solve that one?
She was so young. A tragedy. What ever happened?
"Every once in a while, we even still talk about it," the girl's neighbor, Joan Breyne, said last week. "I can remember the day very vividly. The thoughts have been there for many years."
Closed on Wednesdays
On June 2, 1965, ninth graders Nanette Hartman and Dianna Stadler began walking home from Simmons Junior High on Aurora's East Side. The school year was nearly over, and that meant off to East High the following year, with all the drama and excitement of The Big School.
June 2, 1965, was a Wednesday, and that turned out to be important. Because if it had been any other day of the week, the two girls would have stopped at Fenske's Food Shop on Church Road.
Maybe the girls would have picked up some candy, and June 2, 1965, would have been another inconsequential summer day -- a vague, pleasant memory.
But Fenske's was closed on Wednesdays. So the girls kept walking.
At 3:30 p.m., the girls arrived at Diana's house on Jungles Avenue and then, as she did every day, Nanette cut through her friend's backyard. Nanette headed to her house, a duplex at 621 Pine Ave., a tidy little home in Aurora's Pigeon Hill neighborhood.
Nanette was walking home without a key. She had lost it and asked her mom to leave the door unlocked so she could get in. Maybe if she hadn't lost that key, her killer wouldn't have walked in. Maybe the murderer would have tried the doorknob, found it locked, and moved on to another house.
But Nanette did lose the key and Mom left the door open.
When Nanette got home, she took a tuna sandwich out the fridge for a snack.
At some point, after she finished that sandwich, a person with a knife approached.
'Every member of the force'
It was about 3:45 p.m., and nothing seemed strange. It wasn't until later that neighbors remembered little oddities.
Breyne was polishing her car when she heard a scream. She looked in her backyard -- two houses from Nanette's home -- but saw nothing.
So, the neighbors were left with terror and what ifs.
What if the Charlsons -- the family that lived in the other half of the duplex -- had been home that afternoon?
What if Fenske's had been open on Wednesdays? What if Nanette had not lost her key?
And what if someone had stopped the man running down Mitchell Street with blood on his hands?
Neighbors told police they saw that man running north toward Butterfield Road.
He was 6-foot tall, in his early 20s, about 175 pounds with reddish blonde hair, one neighbor told police. He was wearing a sport shirt and dark slacks, the witness assured officers.
He was 6-foot tall, 195 pounds with a beige sport shirt and light pants, another neighbor remembered. He had bushy, sandy-colored hair and big feet.
The officers dedicated endless hours to the search, interviewing and re-interviewing the neighbors. They heard about Fenske's and the scream and the missing key. They traced Nanette's steps.
"Every member of the force is working to solve the crime," Chief Donald Hutchinson told the Beacon two days after Nanette was killed. "No stone will be left unturned."
Detectives brought in eight suspects and administered lie detector tests. They chased down rumors about men leaving town.
"Everything is being checked and re-checked," Hutchinson said, three days after Nanette was killed.
Police released a sketch of the man seen running on Mitchell Road and got a few more calls.
"The entire department is working day and night on the case, in hopes that it soon can be solved," Hutchinson said, five days after Nanette was killed. "When (officers) get a tip, and the end of their shift comes, they continue to work until it is checked out."
A professional criminologist -- a man with access to the state's best laboratories -- was called in. He studied Nanette's home and looked at her fingernails and reviewed the police reports.
"We're not going to give up on this investigation," Hutchinson said eight days after Nanette was killed.
Officers went back to the neighbors again and begged them to think about that day. Officers heard about the missing key and Fenske's and the man on Mitchell Road.
What they never heard was why. Why did this happen to Nanette, the good student, the 14-year-old girl too young for enemies?
"We were all taken aback," said John Koteles, now 85, who still lives in the neighborhood. Nanette's sister came to his door in tears that day. "I saw her lying on the floor, immobile. It still remains in my mind."
Killed in the living room
At 4 p.m. -- half an hour after Nanette left her friend's house -- her body was found by her sister, Joyce, a 15-year-old East Aurora High School student.
One room of the house was disturbed, though not ransacked. Nanette was not sexually assaulted.
She was lying on a huge woven rug in front of the TV.
She had been stabbed 62 times with a butcher knife from the kitchen.
Her shirt was nearly ripped off by the force of the repeated stabbings.
Nanette's killer left the knife sticking in her side.
She was just a little girl. Only 14.
Killed in her living room.
The police chief said it was the worst he had ever seen.
Nearly 43 years later, she is almost forgotten.
Only not quite.