Shelby Jean Venable
Drawing by author
Across the state line, in Maryland, two teenage girls had disappeared in 1956.
Mary Elizabeth Fellers, 18, and Shelby Jean Venable, 16, were best friends. They liked to jitterbug together to swing music at home as they spun recordings on an old Victrola. Whenever they could, they attended dances in Beltsville, Maryland, and flirted with musicians in the bands. They liked the good-looking one who played saxophone, piano, vibraphone, and accordion—practically everything, it seemed, but drums. He had the look of danger about him.
Shelby Jean Venable
Drawing by author
The dark-haired musician was tall and lean, with dreamy eyes. He always smiled at them when they showed up, and even talked with them during breaks. He’d been a soldier and he’d gone to college, and he sounded like he knew a lot. Sometimes he even talked about philosophy or quoted poetry. His attention made them feel grown up.
The girls would come home from the dances, chattering about what fun they’d had. Their parents enjoyed their enthusiasm, but like other parents across America, they worried about the wildly physical dancing these jazz bands inspired.
The social emphasis was on normal families safely pursuing the American dream, and television programs offered guidelines: Fathers were providers and mothers contented homemakers for well-dressed, mildly naughty kids. Problems were minor and could be quickly resolved when Dad came home.
But teens kept secrets. They had a lot of freedom and it was cool to flirt with the counterculture’s “dangerous” dismissal of the mainstream norms. James Dean, the Beats, jazz, and getting high on speed—his was “hip.” So, the girls would sneak away to indulge and hope their parents never found out.
On the evening of June 1, they waited together at a bus stop. Mary Elizabeth’s younger brother, Erwin (or Edwin or Irwin—different sources have different spellings), saw them standing there together. But then a blue Ford pulled up. Curious, he kept watching. The girls went over to talk to the driver. Erwin noticed a Virginia tag on this car. He wondered who this guy was, especially when he saw a scar on the guy’s face.
To his surprise, the girls got in. He supposed the driver was a friend who was giving them a ride home. They passed him and he kept watching. The man gave him a dirty look. Erwin wondered why they’d accept a ride with someone like that.
However, they didn’t make it home. Hours passed and there was no sign of either girl. The parents phoned one another, growing frantic. Erwin told them what he knew, which wasn’t much. They called everyone who might have the slightest bit of information about this driver from Virginia in the blue Ford. They also called the police.
The girls just seemed to have vanished. So had the blue Ford. Erwin was unable to give any more details about the driver. He was kicking himself for not being more attentive.
Over a week passed. The girls were gone. Their parents feared the worst. They were right.