An Illinois college student is found stabbed and strangled to death in a gulley in SW Indiana In the spring of 1976, the life of 18-year-old Bennett Brown was tragically cut short, leaving a mystery that has endured for decades. A Caucasian male and a freshman at Northern Illinois University, Brown had just completed his first year of college. He was last seen in the Chicago area on May 4, 1976, after telling friends and family he was heading to a summer job at a boys' camp in Wisconsin.
However, no camp in Wisconsin had any record of his employment.
On May 27, 1976, a grim discovery was made in a wooded ravine in rural Lawrence County, Indiana, just west of Bedford. The body of a young man, later identified as Bennett Brown, was found by two hunters. He was clad in a blue denim shirt, jeans, a red zip-up jacket, and white sneakers. An autopsy would later reveal the brutal nature of his death; he had been strangled and stabbed multiple times in the neck and chest. The presence of defensive wounds on his hands and arms indicated a struggle for his life. With no wallet or identification on his person, investigators were initially at a loss. The only clues were $1.06 in change in his pocket and a dormitory-style key found nearby.
The key proved to be the crucial piece of evidence that unlocked his identity. After a painstaking investigation, a detective traced the key to a dormitory at Northern Illinois University. The university confirmed that Bennett Brown, an 18-year-old from Evanston, Illinois, had just finished his freshman year. His family was contacted and they positively identified his body. They had last spoken to him on May 4th, and were under the impression he was working at a summer camp.
Despite a thorough investigation, the question of why Bennett Brown was in southern Indiana, nearly 300 miles from where he was last seen, remains unanswered. It is widely believed that he was killed shortly after he was last seen in Illinois and his body was then transported and dumped in Indiana. Over the years, investigators have explored various leads and theories, including the possibility of him hitchhiking, but no definitive answers have emerged. To this day, the murder of Bennett Brown is an open cold case with the Indiana State Police. No suspects have ever been publicly named, and no arrests have been made, leaving his family and investigators still searching for the truth behind his untimely death.
