2:00

with so many rumors

2:02

and speculation, remains unsolved.

2:05

So if you like your coffee hot, but

2:07

your bones chilled, sit back and start your

2:09

day with a morning cup of murder. Stanley

2:13

Skritla, born May 8th, 1920, was

2:16

28 years old in the year 1948. Having

2:19

attended school in Rockford, Illinois, upon

2:22

graduation, Stanley began serving in the U.S. Navy

2:24

from October of 1943 to December of 1945,

2:30

was stationed in the Pacific and saw

2:32

action on the island of Guam during

2:35

World War II before

2:37

being honorably discharged. Now

2:39

back on U.S. soil, Stan, as his

2:41

friends knew him, began to work at

2:44

the Illinois Bell Telephone Company as a

2:46

line man, and by 1948, he

2:48

was living in

2:50

the Rockford area with his widowed mother, Amelia.

2:54

It was around this time that

2:56

Stan met a young woman named

2:58

Mary Jane Reed. Mary

3:00

Jane grew up in the Oregon, Illinois

3:02

area, where Stanley went for work and

3:04

was raised by her mother and a

3:06

father who worked at a silica plant

3:08

in the city. Quite

3:11

a popular young girl, especially with

3:13

the young men, Mary Jane

3:15

was a beautiful girl who held

3:17

a job as a switchboard operator

3:19

at the DeKalb Ogle Telephone Company,

3:22

which is how she became familiar

3:24

with Stan Skridla, who was

3:26

working in the area and why she felt

3:28

comfortable enough to say yes when he asked

3:30

her out on a date. On

3:33

the evening of June 24th, 1948, Mary

3:36

Jane clocked out of work at 10 p.m. and

3:39

met up with Stan for their date. Attending

3:42

several taverns that evening, the

3:44

exact details of their night

3:46

together remains pretty murky, but

3:49

we do know that the last time the pair were

3:51

seen in public was at around

3:53

11.30 p.m. when they left

3:55

one of the establishments, seemingly

3:57

heading towards Country Farm Road.

4:00

A popular lover's lane on the

4:02

southern outskirts of Oregon. The

4:05

next morning, a state highway worker on

4:08

his way to set fishing lines spotted

4:10

what appeared to be a men's Oxford

4:12

shoe lying in the middle of a

4:14

gravel road. Looking a

4:17

little to the side, the worker was

4:19

shocked to find the body of Stanley

4:21

Skridla with what appeared to be five

4:23

bullet holes in his body. More

4:26

to the abdomen and one deadly one

4:28

to his chest. Lying

4:31

in the ditch with Stan was a cigarette

4:33

butt marked with red lipstick and the

4:35

shells from a .32 caliber pistol. Calling

4:38

in the shocking discovery, police arrived at the

4:40

scene and a short time later, found

4:43

Stan's abandoned vehicle parked about a mile

4:46

away on White Pines Road. Just

4:48

across the street from the tavern they left that night, his

4:51

keys were missing from the scene. Those

4:54

was his date that night, Mary

4:56

Jane Reed. Police

4:59

believing that Stan was likely approached while

5:01

parked at the lover's lane and dragged

5:03

from his car began the

5:05

search for 17-year-old Mary Jane,

5:08

but from the very beginning they knew

5:11

that they were likely searching for her

5:13

body rather than rescuing the missing girl.

5:16

Especially when they heard from her mother that she

5:18

had not returned home that evening and

5:21

was about to be made of honor in her

5:23

brother's wedding in just a few days. With

5:26

the wedding day postponed so the family could

5:28

focus on finding Mary Jane, hundreds

5:30

of searchers fanned out over several

5:33

counties looking for the teenager. The

5:36

search however came to an abrupt

5:38

end on June 29th when her

5:40

nearly nude body was found abandoned

5:42

amongst the tall weeds along a

5:45

road a few miles outside of

5:47

town. She too

5:49

had been shot in the chest with

5:51

what forensics determined was the same .32

5:53

caliber pistol. Despite

5:56

being left in just her undergarments,

5:59

the coroner on the case determined that there

6:01

were no signs of sexual abuse. Though

6:05

the sources differ on where the fatal

6:07

shot landed on Mary Jane's body, as

6:09

well as some that claim she was

6:11

sexually assaulted prior to her death, we

6:14

do know that her family, getting

6:16

her ready for a funeral, carefully

6:18

and lovingly dressed her in the gown

6:20

that she planned on wearing to her

6:22

brother's wedding. Despite

6:24

the clear signs that the pair

6:26

were brutally murdered after an evening

6:29

out, the case pretty much immediately

6:31

hit roadblocks. According

6:33

to the former chief deputy sheriff in

6:35

Ogle County, quote, some people

6:37

wouldn't talk at all. And

6:40

he said that some were afraid that

6:42

they too would become a victim, especially

6:45

the women in the community. All

6:48

leads dried up, the investigation came to a

6:50

halt, and despite the hundreds interviewed to try

6:52

and get a clear picture of what happened

6:54

that night, including former lovers

6:57

from both victims, the

6:59

case of who killed Mary Jane

7:02

Reed and Stan Skrittla ran completely

7:04

cold. Rumors

7:06

and theories spread like wildfire,

7:08

but nothing stuck. And

7:11

though a roofer from Wisconsin confessed to the

7:13

murders, that too turned out to be nothing

7:15

more than a lie. As

7:18

years passed, more and more people forgot

7:20

about Mary Jane and Stan. Then,

7:22

in the late 1990s, a

7:25

man named Mike Arians purchased the building

7:27

that had once housed a bar visited

7:29

by the couple that night just before

7:32

taking the car to Lovers Lane. The

7:34

mayor of Oregon at the time and

7:37

a former insurance fraud investigator, Mike had

7:39

read an article in the newspaper about

7:41

the case on its 50th anniversary and

7:43

found himself intrigued by the mystery.

7:47

So when residents began asking him to look into the

7:49

murder, he was more than willing to

7:51

help out. Problem was, in

7:53

December of 1999, the King

7:56

County prosecutors, alleging that he finessed

7:58

his official residence, and

8:01

therefore was not eligible to be a mayoral

8:03

candidate, Mike was charged

8:05

with official misconduct and

8:07

disregard of election laws. After

8:10

two years of battle, the case was finally

8:12

settled in October of 2001, and

8:15

Mike paid $3,000 in fines. Finally

8:19

able to concentrate on other things, like

8:21

a decades-long unsolved double murder, Mike

8:24

soon formed the opinion that Mary Jane

8:27

Reed, like many others who

8:29

lived in the same, quote, bad

8:31

side of town that she did, was

8:33

seen as disposable, and

8:36

therefore her murder was not a priority.

8:39

So he dove headfirst into

8:41

his own investigation, which

8:43

he claims brought Mary Jane's spirit

8:46

to the Roadhouse that he now

8:48

owned, claiming

8:50

a cold draft will blow through the restaurant even

8:52

when the air conditioner is off, and

8:55

that the jukebox will spontaneously and

8:57

repeatedly play the same song. Those

8:59

who believe in the supernatural believe that

9:02

Mary Jane's ghost now haunts the last

9:04

establishment she was in before being shot

9:06

to death. Fueled even

9:08

more by the alleged presence in his

9:10

restaurant, Mike hired private

9:13

investigators and paid a local

9:15

newspaper reporter to start a book on the double

9:17

murder, while also working with

9:19

a writer to compose a screenplay about

9:21

the case. All

9:24

of those projects seem to fizzle out, but

9:27

the investigation continued without fail. While

9:30

examining police files, interviewing

9:32

people, contacting forensic pathologists,

9:35

and even having a seance and

9:37

psychics walk through the building, Mike

9:40

decided to make Mary Jane Reed

9:42

an icon of the Roadhouse. With

9:45

photos of the young girl covering the walls, as

9:48

well as newspaper clippings about the case, he

9:51

even placed a mannequin in her likeness

9:54

on the establishment's balcony to greet

9:56

guests and to, quote,

9:58

recreate her spirit. her legend

10:00

as a celebration of life. Though

10:04

some accuse him of using the murder

10:06

victim as a quote, gimmick to bring

10:08

in customers, Mike claims that

10:10

his intention was to keep

10:12

Mary Jane's memory alive and

10:14

in the forefront of people's minds as

10:17

he continues to try and solve the case. The

10:20

problem is the murders happened so

10:22

long ago that most of those

10:24

involved likely carried their secrets with

10:26

them to the grave. Not

10:28

to mention the fact that rumor has now become

10:31

fact to so many as it

10:33

was handed down from generation to generation. According

10:36

to some, Mary Jane Reed was

10:38

the target that evening and

10:41

the suspect was one of her many

10:43

other suitors. Others,

10:45

like a retired sheriff who continues

10:47

the investigation believes that someone

10:49

had a score to settle with

10:51

Stanley Skridla and that

10:53

he was the true target. Claiming

10:56

Mary Jane was killed simply because she

10:58

was in the wrong place at the

11:01

wrong time with the wrong guy. He

11:04

claims that he came to this conclusion after receiving a tip

11:06

in 1986 about a woman in the bar who

11:10

said her ex-husband, now deceased, had

11:12

once told her that he killed

11:15

two people in Oregon, Illinois. Mike

11:17

Arians has continued to dedicate his life

11:20

to solving the murder to the detriment

11:22

of his life and career. Alienating

11:24

himself, Mike lost friends over the

11:27

case and even lost his

11:29

reelection bid because of it. He

11:32

even endured a slump in business at

11:34

his restaurant and has spent around

11:36

$25,000 on his efforts. Not

11:41

showing any signs of stopping though, in November

11:43

of 2003, Mike requested the exhumation of

11:47

Mary Jane's body. Supported

11:49

by Warren Reed, Mary Jane's

11:52

last surviving sibling, Mike

11:54

said that it was his hope that

11:56

DNA evidence could be found, like materials

11:58

under her fingernails.