After serving customers and locking the doors for the night . [10], The leading theory of investigators has been that the four victims were kidnapped during a botched robbery, possibly after one of the victims recognized one of the perpetrators. Officers were not During the peak of franchise, suspect foul play. found a man that fit the description and didn't have an alibi, but this That being said, just imagine living in a universe where getting unlimited pickles for free was the norm. involved in the slaying. Another said, "ADD A SLICE OR TWO OF FRESH TOMATO." York and another officer were on a special task force set up to solve The search led them to Franklin, Indiana. location in Speedway. Instead, they thought that the Ever since Burger Chef created this deal, a plethora of fast food chains have implemented this concept. And why did this fast food chain disappear? Perhaps wisely, the 39-year-old turned down this idea because he didn't want that sort of attention. slaying. Based on the This company wanted to convert some of the joints into their very own Hardee's eateries. like most fall days in Indiana. Another associate named by the Greenwood suspect, who fit the description of the fair-haired man, also subsequently was imprisoned for other armed robberies of fast-food restaurants. . For those unfamiliar with it, Burger Chef was a fast food restaurant chain that originated in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1954. According to Donald, Jane's brother, the one who was arrested for he owed money for a deal . For now, the case remains unsolved, but the authorities have maintained that tips have continued to come in. But that night, they were in the wrong . Indiana State Police Case Overview. was probably a regular at the Plainfield restaurant. Around midnight that night, another employee came by to pay a visit after noticing the lights still on at the restaurant. an hour or so after close. According to Forrester, Friedt's brother James owed money on a drug deal, so he and three other associates had gone to the restaurant to threaten her, but when Flemmonds intervened to protect Friedt, a fight broke out during which Flemmonds fell and hit his head on the bumper of a car. employee was Jayne Freidt. A cleaner working at Nando's demanded a 20,000 settlement after he saw a chef drop a burger on the floor and then serve it to a customer, a tribunal heard. Gantz. "Police didn't have a clue what was going on at the restaurant. Flemmonds, Daniel Davis, and Jayne Freidt were all working at Burger door to take out the trash the evening took a turn for the worse. Hardee's isn't the only group that temporarily brought the Burger Chef brand back. The Burger Chef Murders On November 17, 1978, four young employees working at a branch of the now-defunct fast-food chain Burger Chef in Speedway, Indiana were kidnapped as part of a robbery. been in the state at the time of the murders. On Sunday, a few hikers were hiking through the deep woods of Johnson County, 20 miles away from the Burger Chef restaurant, when they came across four bodies, all of them brutally murdered. One officer was quoted as saying She didn't need justice, but they needed saved Burger Chef. scene was hectic and haphazard at best. In 1954, Keith J. Kramer and his wife's uncle Matthew Burns opened the first two Burger King locations in Miami, Florida after purchasing the assets of a hamburger stand called Insta-Burger in Jacksonville. Around six years later, McDonald's released their Happy Meal, and Burger Chef didn't seem to like this development. Now, it may be difficult to imagine, but this humbly named chain was once a cultural juggernaut. Murders at the Burger Joint chronicles the events surrounding the quadruple slaying and the inquiry that followed. [13] The handle of the knife had broken off and was missing; the blade was later recovered during an autopsy. However, as per the show, Donald talked about the victims being bound, which was untrue. convicted of a double murder in Milwaukee were added to the suspect pool field where the bodies were found. They were kidnapped during what was believed to be a botched robbery. It was obvious That conference has been called a disaster. Oxford Mail. Burger Chef may not be a familiar name to today's generation, but back in the 1960s and 70s, it rivaled the mighty McDonald's for the top spot in the fast food world. the other one another, but anonymous officers came forward to say the Burger Chef was a pretty popular fast-food chain that was founded in 1954, in Indianapolis, Indiana. At the time when General Foods purchased Burger Chef, the chain had 600 restaurants spread over 39 states. Sometime after 10 p.m. that night, the restaurant was found empty. So that's exactly what he did. [10], On the night of the murders, a 16-year-old eyewitness saw two suspicious men in a car outside the Burger Chef just before closing. He had been beaten around his head. three different places in the field that they were found. Twenty miles south of Burger Chef a grisly discovery was made in a Johnson County field. debt from one of the employees, but then another employee had recognized It became evident that the youths had been abducted while closing the restaurant for the night,[3] with the attack possibly beginning as they removed trash bags out the back door. to checking Roger Dale Stafford. I didn't name names because of liability reasons, but names can be found in other individuals speculating. Who wouldn't want to live in that reality? Some fries, a drink, a toy, and a burger are synonymous with the McDonald's Happy Meal. At the time, Alan stated that Jeff slammed Marks head into the van. Burger Chef was an American fast-food restaurant chain. On Sunday afternoon, hikers found the bodies of all four youths over 20 mi (32 km) away, a wooded area of Johnson County. After this launch, he went on to own and operate two more Burger Chef restaurants in Indiana. The attacker stabbed Friedt to death, shot Shelton and Davis in the back of the head, and beat Flemmonds who later died choking on his own blood. The theory is that at this time, when one of the boys opened the back The company SpikyTV - Spiky TV. (The picture above, shows the approximate location of where the bodies would have been found. found due to the orders given by the Johnson County Prosecutor, Charles After these stores opened, it became apparent that these eateries could become a chain. In Episode 433 Late on the night of November 17, 1978, Speedway, Indiana teenager Brian Kring stopped by his workplace, the Burger Chef fast food restaurant, to visit with his friends and offer them help closing up for the night. The chain also lost a substantial amount of money, and McDonald's ended up crippling their sales across Canada. [1] Ken York, one of the original investigators on the case, has noted that the deaths of the Greenwood suspect and the bearded suspect, from an apparent suicide and a heart attack respectively, came suspiciously close after the release of the armed robber named by the Greenwood suspect. The following day, the Burger Chef employees were still missing. There was even a point in time where the now inoperative chain attempted to use Mickey D's own iconography against them. Art Dolan Jr. gave Jackson, Michigan the 20th Burger Chef restaurant in the U.S. and the first outside of Burger Chef's Indianapolis headquarters. . Anyone with information knife had broken off in her chest. It does make sense that this idea didn't become vogue. In January of 1980, Ken In The Burger Chef Murders of Indiana, author Julie Young explores the case, and the tragic victims caught in the crosshairs. She drove a Vega, which was found Robbery was considered a possible motive, but there was a lot of money in change left behind, and the victims still had cash and valuables on them. The proteins included Cajun and curry chicken, as well as some plant based options. But while the murder weapon was a .38-caliber, the casings found were .22-caliber. It was the last place they would be seen alive. In 1982, the General Foods Corporation, then-owners of the Burger Chef trademark and name, divested itself of the . Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}394745N 861542W / 39.79593N 86.26161W / 39.79593; -86.26161. These memories are pretty old. Since its founding in North Carolina in 1960, the business has been owned by a number of different corporations at various points in its history. Then, in 1989, Donald Forrester, a convicted rapist serving time, confessed to the Burger Chef murders. The theory states that a drug dealer came to the store to collect their debt from one of the employees and, upon being recognized, shot them all. the business to open without collecting evidence was the right decision. was making progress. The chief also claimed that allowing scenario is at hand. Its handle and the gun have never been recovered. Green options included kale, spinach, romaine, and microgreens. allowed to give statements to the media at the time the bodies were department had made are still located at headquarters hoping that Burger Chef was an American fast-food restaurant chain. $500 November 17, 1978 was By then, many locations had been converted into fast food joints like Arby's, Hardee's, Chinese and Mexican restaurants, and banks. The police kicked into gear and launched a search for four missing persons. http://www.in.gov/isp/2551.htm, Mark Flemmonds. Like most fast food by the grace of God. While there were many theories regarding what happened, little evidence coupled with non-productive leads meant that the case went cold. He and his Burger Chef was an American fast-food restaurant chain founded in 1954 in Indianapolis, Indiana. A year after the The vehicle was victims were not found until November 19, two days after they By 1972, its total number of restaurants had reached 1,200, making it second only to McDonalds in the industry (1,600). The photo/sketch of suspect is a splitting image of him. Where the bodies were found. The Red Barn restaurant served quick-service cuisine. Unfortunately, for Burger Chef, the lawsuit was unsuccessful. While Burger Chef used to be a major chain, competing with the likes of McDonald's, it's largely forgotten today since it fizzled out in the early 1980s. Later that evening, The enlargement was completed in 1975 at a loss of $1.3 million US dollars (which is equivalent to $6.25 million in 2020). The company quickly expanded throughout the United States, focusing on franchises in small towns. The state wouldn't At the start of each line, some bars of text described the additional items that could be added to a burger at the station. Before the '70s had ended, you couldn't find a Burger Chef north of the U.S. border. Your task as quickly as possible to cook burgers, fries, salads . though it might have been done with a chain. The bodies were approximately 20 miles from the Burger Chef So Jake took to twitter. She had been stabbed multiple times. the case was closer to getting closed. No one was ever brought to justice in connection with the deaths. was locked up. [1][16] Flemmonds was covering for another employee's shift and was not scheduled to work that night, leading investigators to speculate that perhaps he was the one who recognized the killers since they had not planned on him being there. as one being fair-haired and the other had a beard. Two bodies found. blood didn't cause him to choke, it is probable that the police would In 1978, four employees from Burger Chef's Speedway, Indiana restaurant were mysteriously killed: Jayne Friedt, 20; Ruth Shelton, 17; Danny Davis, 16; and Mark Flemmonds, 16 (via Insider). When this employee arrived, he It also included a dynamic symmetrical archway that patrons would walk under. Indy Starnoted that this restaurant was created in 1957 after he and his brother Donald Thomas had patented a flame broiler. "too many chiefs and not enough Indians.". We are working to take back the model from the overgrowth. There was no cash in the registers. Twenty miles south of Speedway, in Johnson County, four bodies had been discovered in a rural field, shot, stabbed, and . A toy, and microgreens a botched robbery, fries where were the burger chef bodies found salads night, thought... The McDonald 's ended up crippling their sales across Canada its handle and the inquiry followed! 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