Published in the Salt Lake Tribune, Nov 1, 1945


Murder in Pontiac


Police probe new death in Michigan
Oct 31, 1945, Authorities investigating the slaying of Mrs Lydia Thompson three weeks ago, were confronted Wednesday with a second death, that of an unidentified young woman whose body, a bullet hole through the head, was found floating in the Clinton river.
State police and sheriff's officers assigned to the Thompson case rushed to the scene, but sait it was impossible to determine immediately whether the two deaths were in any way connected.
Neither was it possible, they said, to determine whether the river victim was slain of had taken her own life.

Shot in the head


Two Pontiac motorist, Leaman Barbour and Howard Brooks, noticed the body lying on the rocks in the middle of the river.
The woman was described as about 25 to 30 years old and about five feet three inches tall, she wore a wedding ring.
Coroner Leon Cobb, said a preliminary examination indicated the woman had been killed or died some time after Tuesday midnight.<./br> Dr. Isaac Prevette, consulting physician, at the Oakland County Jail, said she had given birth to several children. The fact there was no water in her lungs, he said, indicated the bullet had killed her.
A woman's black purse, weighted with stones, was found in the river.


Murder Unsolved


Heading the investigation were Capt. Harold Mulbar of the state police, Sheriff Edward K. Thomas, Oakland County Prosecutor Donald C. Noggle and Pontiac Police.
Numerous leads have been followed by the same officers in the Thompson case, but it remains unsolved. A Detroit barber, William Jantilo, 49, has been held without charge for the questioning since Saturday, but the state police indicated he probably would be released soon. Held with him is Mrs. Marie Dodenhoft, 38, who operated a beauty salon adjoining Jantilo's shop.
Mrs. Thompson's husband, Louis V. Thompson, wealthy Detroit auto dealer, was interrogated for five days and then released.