Indiana’s “Upstate Slayer”: Part Three
Read parts one and two at the following links:
Indiana’s “Upstate Slayer”: Part One
Indiana’s “Upstate Slayer”: Part Two
Part Three
Three months after Mary Cheever’s murder, another killing rocked Gary to its core.
Betty Mae Fialkowski was born November 9, 1930, in Gary, IN. Her father was Phillip Fialkowski, and her mother was Mary. Little is known about the Fialkowskis or Betty’s early life. However, by the time she was 17, the family lived at 1336 Harrison Street.
Betty turned 19 in 1948, still living with her parents. Unfortunately, she would not get to enjoy her first precious years as an adult for long.
On June 6, 1949, Betty left home with two unknown men. She was last seen in Downtown Gary waiting for a bus at 5th and Broadway around 11 p.m. It is unknown if any of these men were accompanying her.
It is assumed that she rode the bus to 11th and Broadway, where she transferred to the 11th Avenue bus. This bus would have proceeded west on 11th Avenue until she reached her stop at 11th and Harrison around midnight. There were no witnesses to report her movements, nor were there any words on whether the two unknown men were with Betty on this bus or if they saw her afterward.
Betty got off the bus and walked south down Harrison. As the bus motored into the night, Betty was unaware that someone with sinister intentions was following her. As Betty walked the two blocks to her home, the assailant(s) attacked. He/they might have come from behind Betty and covered her mouth so she could not scream or make any noise. Again, no witnesses reported seeing or hearing anything that night.
Her attacker dragged her into a narrow offset between two houses mere feet away from her destination. At some point, Betty was hit on the head with an unidentified blunt object repeatedly. It is not known if Betty was sexually assaulted. However, she was severely beaten and possibly robbed of her purse. The young woman was not discovered for 9 hours.
After sunrise, Mrs. Anne E. Kish exited her home at 1329 Harrison Street. It was then she found Betty Fialkowski lying unconscious between her house and neighbor, Mrs. Helen Yelusich, of 1327 Harrison Street. Some newspaper reports say Mrs. Helen Yelusich found Betty after hearing her moaning. Yelusich lived next door to Mrs. Kish, and the Chicago Tribune had a photo of Yelusich in front of the crime scene.
The offset between the Kish and Yelusich residences had a narrow sidewalk between two brick homes. Betty was lying on this sidewalk, her shoes 20 feet away, near the street. Her dress was torn, and her purse was missing. The poor girl had a 6-inch gash on her forehead, two black eyes, and numerous other bruises and scratches. Authorities indicated later that she suffered a skull fracture and intracranial hemorrhaging.
Some interesting facts about Mrs. Kish.
Anne E. Kish was a stay-at-home mother. Though she raised two small children at the time of Fialkowski’s death, she was a costume maker and figurative sculptor who stitched dolls. She also worked part-time at Thrifty Mart. Anne’s sister, Margaret Kuchta, became Hobart, Indiana’s first female mayor. Anne was also an avid bowler.
In 1947, two years before Betty was murdered, Mrs. Kish was named in a defamation lawsuit by Gertrude Maszor. Maszor accused Kish of harassing her and her family via telephone, telling “untruths about her,” according to the Times. The article explains that Kish allegedly told Maszor, “you better watch yourself.”
She seems like a feisty lady.
The Lodger Theory
Mrs. Helen Yelusich, Anne Kish’s neighbor, was a housekeeper, though widowed at the time of Betty Fialkowski’s death — which essentially happened in her yard. She was lodging people at the time.
What follows is my theory about the “lodger,” a possible suspect to ponder.
Helen Yelusich (spelled sometimes as Jeluschich) was married to Louis (sometimes spelled Ljudevit) Jeluschich. It is unknown when they married, but records indicate Helen was widowed when the 1930 US Census was conducted. Louis had died in 1924.
According to the 1930 census, Helen Yelusich lived at 1327 Harrison Street and went into business herself, running a candy store out of her home. At the time, her children lived with her and were also there during the 1940 census. In addition, she opened her home to at least one lodger, a man named Mike Tomina. Tomina was married; however, his wife did not room with Yelusich.
There is no record of who lived in the house with Yelusich at the time of Fialkowski's murder in 1949. However, by 1950, at least two people were staying there. According to the 1950 US Census, all Yelusich children had left the nest. This means she opened her home to lodgers again.
The 1950 lodgers were Frank Hermanovich (29) and Mary Glad (59). Glad was also a widow, while Hermanovich was single and worked at the US Steel Gary Works merchant mill.
Research into Frank Hermanovich revealed another man who lived in Gary simultaneously, with the same name, from the same European country (Croatia). The only difference is the age. There was a Hermanovich who was young enough to be drafted to fight in WWII and one who was too old. One Hermanovich lived in different areas throughout Gary for over three decades; the other only had one record in Gary stating where he lived in 1950.
What if the younger Hermanovich, the one rooming with Helen Yelusich, was the one who killed Betty Mae Fialkowski? What if Hermanovich was one of the unknown men she was with?
The Stretch
It’s a stretch, for sure. The killer would have to know precisely when Betty Fialkowski would arrive home the night she was murdered. Additionally, he would have to know the right time of night to pull it off without being heard or seen by anyone else. Finally, he would have to know the best routes to get away from the scene without drawing suspicion.
None of the newspapers indicated that anyone on Betty’s block was questioned outside of the women who found her. I find it strange that the two unknown men she was with earlier in the day, innocent or not, were not exposed in the press.
I am not accusing Frank Hermanovich of murder. I’m just leaving the possibility open that he could have.
Additionally, this theory could potentially put Fialkowski’s death out of the running for being connected to the Cheever case. The suspect in Mary Cheever’s case was supposedly a light-skinned black male. Ethnic Croatians such as Hermanovich are not black.
However, a soot-covered Caucasian steelworker could be mistaken for someone being black in a partially lit alley in the middle of the night.
The Manhunts and Suspects
Just as with the Cheever case, Gary police went on a similar manhunt for Betty’s killer. Every scoundrel they could think of got detained and questioned within a day of her death. Every purse snatcher, molester, vagrant, punk, thief, or familiar criminal face was rounded up. This was not such a vast number as you may believe. About 20 suspects ended up being ripped, and as with Cheever, most of them were black.
Yet, with Fialkowski known to have left home with two unknown men, it would be unusual for any of these men to have been black.
Let’s look at both the Cheever and Fialkowski cases and compare and contrast.
- Both women.
- Both occurred at or about midnight.
- Purses taken.
- No rapes.
- Cheever shot, Fialkowski beaten.
- Cheever’s screams were heard. Fialkowski’s silenced.
- Cheever’s attacker was seen as Fialkowski’s not.
- Cheever was 26 years older than Fialkowski.
- Both women were left where the most vicious level of attack occurred.
- Both were attacked on darkened blocks or alleys.
- Cheever was attacked off of a main thoroughfare.
- Fialkowski was attacked on a quiet, residential street where she lived two blocks from a bus stop.
- Both were attacked at least one block from a public park (Norton School was not built yet).
- Fialkowski’s dress was torn. It could have come from resistance or attempting to fight back.
- Cheever’s clothing remained intact besides power burns and holes from a bullet.
- Both cases have “John Doe” indictments.
- Both murders were about seven blocks from each other.
Twenty suspects were rounded up that same day Betty died and questioned vigorously. All were released. Yet, two suspects were vetted by the press.
The first was Lloyd Grabowski — Escabana, MI. The second was Henry Williams—Gary, IN.
Grabowski robbed an unknown Gary florist and was captured. He said he had not eaten in three weeks and did the robbery out of desperation. He was not arrested for Fialkowski’s murder but suspected of it. Henry Williams ran from police when they attempted to question him on the street. He was questioned and released.
Look out for part four!