Alleged horse killers charged with murder
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1994:
CHICAGO––Illinois and federal
authorities probing a scheme to kill race and show
horses for insurance money say they have cracked
a series of the most sensational unsolved crimes in
Chicago history. Richard Bailey, 62, described
as a gigolo who cheated lonely widows out of hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars, was charged July 27
in connection with the 1977 disappearance of
Helen Vorhees Brach, the Brach candy heiress
whose will founded the Brach Foundation, a
major source of funding for animal-related chari-
ties. August 12, stable owner Kenneth Hansen, a
Bailey associate, was charged with the October
1955 kidnap-rape-murders of Robert Peterson, 14,
and brothers John and Anton Schluessler, ages 13
and 11, whose deaths, some sociologists say,
changed the attitudes of America toward hitchhik-
ing and supervision of children, and reinforced
homophobia for a generation of parents.
Hansen at the time worked for Silas
Jayne, a stable owner and convicted rapist.
Witnesses said they heard screams coming from
Jayne’s stable the night the boys were killed.
Jayne was questioned but never charged. In 1971
Hansen was indicted for conspiracy in the 1970
murder of Jayne’s brother George, but the charge
was dropped for lack of evidence. In 1973, Silas
Jayne was convicted of the same murder. He was
paroled in 1979, and died of leukemia in 1987,
In addition to the Brach disappearance,
Hansen and the late Jayne are reportedly now also
linked to the 1956 murders of Barbara and Patricia
Grimes, 15 and 13; the 1965 car bombing murder
of Cheryl Lynn Rude, 22, who died while trying
to move George Jayne’s car; the 1966 disappear-
ances of Ann Miller, 21, Patricia Blough, 19, and
Renee Bruhl, 20, from Indiana Dunes State Park,
two of whom rode horses at stables owned by
George Jayne; and the 1968 ambush shooting of
Cook County Sheriff’s Officer Ralph Probst, who
was looking into horse-related crime.
Numerous witnesses have now come
forward to testify that Hansen molested them when
they were hitchhiking; committed arson to conceal
evidence; and boasted of the boys’ murders. He
was also well-known to the Hooved Animal
Humane Society. Whenever he was charged with
horse abuse––usually for starving horses––he
would sell the horses in question for slaughter,
HAHS investigator Sally Bradley told the Chicago
T r i b u n e that she could never convince a judge to
sign an impoundment order. After all, Hansen
associated with the elite of the horsey set, many of
whom are now indicted with him.
The complete list of the accused:
Kenneth Hansen, 61, of Chicago, three counts
of murder; Richard Bailey, 65, of Chicago, racke-
teering, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, and
crimes relating to murder; Robert Brown of Michigan,
racketeering, mail and wire fraud; Jerry Farmer, 61,
of Augusta, Ga., racketeering, impeding the IRS; Dr.
Ross Hugi, 50, of Mundelein, Ill., wire fraud (pleaded
guilty); Barney Ward, 50, of Brewster, N.Y., mail
and wire fraud, obstruction of justice, threatening a
witness, and conspiracy; George Lindemann Jr., 30,
of Greenwich, Conn., wire fraud; Marion Hulick, 60,
of Greenwich, Conn., wire fraud; Paul Valliere, 43,
North Smithfield, R.I., conspiracy; Nancy Banfield,
36, of Mathews, Va., conspiracy; Donna Brown, 37,
of Palm Beach, Fla., wire fraud; Tim Ray a.k.a. Tom
Burns, conspiracy; Dr. Dana Tripp, 34, of Valencia,
Pa., conspiracy, failure to file tax returns, and conceal-
ing a felony; Johnnie Youngblood, 32, of Napierville,
Ill., mail fraud; Steve Williamson, 51, of Plainfield,
Ill., mail fraud; Tammie Glaspie, 36, of Walker,
Mich., mail fraud; James Hutson, 53, of Winona,
Mich., mail fraud; Alan Levinson, 52, of Highland
Park, Ill., mail fraud (pleaded guilty); M i c h a e l
Hunter, 45, of Mundelein, Ill., mail fraud (pleaded
guilty); Donna Hunter, 43, of Mundelein, mail fraud;
Phil Sudakoff, 76, of Chicago, mail fraud; H e r b
K r o n i n g e r, 53, of Bolingbrook, Ill., mail fraud;
Scott Thompson, conspiracy; Ron Mueller, 62, for-
merly of Harvard, Ill., lying to federal peace officer.
