Buried Truth

In 'Plea for Justice,' the third and concluding installment in her true-crime trilogy investigating the 1970s triple murder in Lincoln, Illinois, author Bonnie J. Thompson corresponds with Michael Drabing, then goes to Menard Correctional Center to question and encourage him to submit to brain fingerprinting. Upon leaving the prison, she and a friend have an alarming encounter, which does not appear coincidental. In 2004, Thompson publishes a screenplay about some of the murders called, Process of Elimination, and also True Facts & Findings, a critical review of a book written by former Lincoln PD Detective William Krueger.Thompson’s requests for DNA testing physical evidence in two of the murder cases go unheeded by Lincoln authorities, but then an upstate Illinois detective reveals that his department has purchased her book and reopened their investigation into the disappearance of Michael Mansfield, one of the unsolved murders. Shortly thereafter, the Lincoln PD creates a media event and conducts an 'empty-handed dig' for the remains of Ruth Martin near the Lincoln High School and Immanuel Lutheran Church. In 2007, the retired ISP lieutenant is surprisingly appointed chief of the Lincoln PD, but despite his knowledge of Thompson’s investigation, the Ruth Martin case remains dormant. In 2011, Russell Smrekar -convicted murderer of the Fry double homicide and long-suspected perpetrator of the two unsolved murders - reportedly makes a 'deathbed confession' to killing Mansfield and Martin. Through the years Thompson introduces supporting evidence that accomplices more than likely aided and abetted Drabing and Smrekar, but Lincoln authorities disregard her ongoing plea for justice and consider the Martin and Schneider cases closed. Thompson finally realizes she must expose her investigation in the hope that public interest and media attention will force official reinvestigation of the murders.