Ramsey County History – Winter 2018: “Terror Visits Fort Snelling: The 1940 Murder of Mary Jane Massey”

Terror Visits Fort Snelling: The 1940 Murder of Mary Jane Massey
Author: Steve Lydon

On the afternoon of July 13, 1940, thirteen-year-old Mary Jane Massey disappeared from the grounds of Fort Snelling, a quiet US Army base on the western outskirts of St. Paul. Mary Jane’s father was a sergeant stationed at the fort, and he and his wife and daughter lived there. Extensive searches for Mary Jane failed to find the missing teenager. The authorities came to believe she had run away from home until the desperate father persuaded the post commander to enlist the help of the St. Paul police. Eight days after her disappearance, two detectives located Mary Jane’s body. She had been murdered, and her body had been stuffed in a barrel that was then hidden in a ravine on the fort’s perimeter. By that time, however, forensic evidence at the crime scene was so deteriorated that the murder was never solved. By reconstructing the events of this case, the author explains how police today handle child abduction and murder cases and some of the forensic techniques that have been developed since 1940. Although use of these newer procedures might not have found Mary Jane before she died, they would have definitely improved the chances of solving this gruesome crime.
PDF of Lydon article