Do you know who killed J.C. Dunn in 1973? In the fall of 1973, the community of Ardmore, Oklahoma, was unsettled by the violent and mysterious death of JC Dunn, a 47-year-old male high school teacher and coach. On the morning of October 24th, Dunn had gone to the high school where he worked but left after his first-period class, telling people he wasn't feeling well. Later that day, his wife, Betty, also a teacher at the same school, returned to their home to find a tragic scene.
Her husband was in the bathroom, having been fatally shot in the neck with a shotgun.
What at first may have appeared to be a suicide was quickly viewed by authorities as a homicide. Investigators noted several inconsistencies that pointed towards foul play. The shotgun found at the scene had been wiped clean of all fingerprints, except for those of Dunn himself, and crucially, no spent shotgun shells were located in the bathroom where his body was discovered. Furthermore, Dunn's wallet and money clip were empty. The district attorney at the time described the death as an 'execution-type' slaying that had been staged to look like a suicide.
The investigation into the murder of the well-known and respected coach, who had also been a minor league baseball player, uncovered a few leads but no definitive answers. Police questioned a 68-year-old rancher whom Dunn had befriended. This individual had even spent a couple of nights at the Dunn home shortly before the murder. Investigators also found shredded checks in the home that had been made out to Dunn from the rancher. Despite these suspicious circumstances, the man was cleared as a suspect and released after passing a polygraph test.
Over the years, the Ardmore Police Department has interviewed more than a dozen individuals in connection with the case. However, the murder of JC Dunn remains unsolved, leaving his family and the community without closure. The case has been revisited over time, with hopes that new information or advancements in forensic science might one day shed light on who was responsible for the death of the beloved coach and bring his killer to justice.
