Volume 17 , Issue 30

Unsolved Mystery, March 13, 1956, Avard, Oklahoma

It was in the Chicago Tribune dated Thursday, 15 March 1956, that we found this news article concerning the body of Mildred Ann Newline Reynolds' found in a flaming car wreck East of the small rural town of Avard, Oklahoma, on a dirt road. Was it a wreck or murder? It is still unsolved as of today, 31 August 2015, 59 years later.



Oklahoma City, March 14 (1956) [Special] -- An autopsy was held March 14, 1956 that disclosed that Mrs. Mildred An Reynolds, 22, a co-ed bride, received a fractured skull before she was burned to death in her car near Alva, Oklahoma, 13 March 1956.

Dr. A. Max Shideler, pathologist, who made a preliminary report, said that a large quantity of carbon monoxide in her blood indicated he was alive when the flames swept her car.

Sheriff Ed Doctor at Alva, where she was a senior at Northwestern State College, previously had said, "There's no doubt" that the attractive young woman was murdered.

Fire Must Have Had Help

Shideler said evidence at the scene indicated her car had been forced from the road by another auto, that her car had struck and broken a small tree, then was pushed back onto the roadway where it was demolished by flames so hot "the fire must have had some help."

Mrs. Reynolds' body was charred beyond recognition and the car windows were melted and the tires burned off. Her body was identified by her husband of 10 months, D. R. Reynolds, 23, teacher and athletic coach at the award High school, from her jewelry, shoes, and fragments of her clothing.

At the time of the tragedy, about 2 p.m. 13 March 1956, Mrs. Reynolds was driving from he college at Alva to her home near Avard, a distance of about 15 miles, which he rove daily to attend classes.

Grass Blood Spattered

Police spent several hours questioning MRs. Reynolds' nephew, Jerry Huckabee, 20, who lived with the newlyweds and was also a student at Northwestern. He rode to school frequently with his aunt.

He and Mrs. Reynolds had lunch together in Alva on 13 March 1956. Mildred then left to drive home and Huckabee said he went to the school library and then attended a class in which he remained until 2:45 p.m.

Altho there was no sign of a struggle at the death scene, police said they found grass beside the road splattered with blood and weeds flattened.
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