Essays | Themes | Research
Our Family’s
Missing Person
— Diane Henrikson Russell
The nation’s focus on the missing-person case of Nancy Guthrie, Savannah Guthrie’s mother, brought to the forefront our family’s missing person, Erwin Thompson, who disappeared in 1932.
Erwin was my mother’s maternal uncle. The youngest and only boy of six children, Erwin surpassed the expectations of his Scottish-born father, Alexander Thompson, who farmed fertile Iowa land, and his American mother, Alice. A World War I veteran, Erwin earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from nearby Iowa State and worked as an electrical engineer for General Electric Inc. in Ft. Wayne and Erie, Pennsylvania. He recorded family gatherings with his 16 mm movie camera.
Erwin was laid off from his job at General Electric due to the Depression. He came home to help his mother to care for his ailing father and the family farm from December 1930 until Alexander’s passing in January 1932.
Exhausted from caregiving duties, Erwin drove his Chevrolet, with his movie camera and camping equipment in tow, to the Colorado mountains on May 17, 1932. Erwin dutifully wrote to his mother to inform her of his whereabouts.
Then the letters stopped.
Erwin’s last letter was postmarked July 6 from Estes Park. His mother became alarmed in late July when her unopened letters to him were returned to her.
Alice then was astonished to learn that there was a car title transfer of Erwin’s Chevrolet to Harry Ross (aka Floyd Conway) in Boise, Idaho. On Alice’s behalf, my grandfather, D.R. Wessling, contacted the Boise sheriff.
The Boise sheriff revealed that Ross, who drove Erwin’s car, forged Erwin’s name on title transfer paperwork and was arrested. Ross sold Erwin’s suits and luggage before escaping the area. Traveler’s checks in Erwin’s name were found in the inside pocket of one of his suits.
The sheriff wrote, “To be frank, Mr. Wessling, it looks like Thompson has been murdered.”
Convinced that Erwin was no longer alive, my grandparents drove to Denver in early October to assist investigators in the search for Erwin’s body. They went to a house on South Cherokee Street where Erwin was last seen alive. Neighbors helped my grandfather to dig in the tiny cellar.
They broke through the cement to discover Erwin’s body buried in the earth under the house. My grandfather immediately notified Denver detectives, and coroners took charge of Erwin’s body. He was identified through dental records. Investigators determined that Erwin had been struck by a blunt instrument.
Amid sadness and relief, my grandparents accompanied Erwin’s body back to Iowa. The family held funeral services for Erwin in his hometown of Grand Junction, Iowa at the Presbyterian Church. The following paragraph was read at the funeral:
“Erwin Charles Thompson was born February 6, 1900 at Grand Junction, and passed this life at Denver, Colorado about July 18, 1932, under circumstances unknown – the very mystery of which makes his loss a burden doubly grievous.”
Authorities now searched for Erwin’s killer. Harry Ross was charged with first-degree murder.
His motive? Money.
In June, Ross agreed to do repair work on a Denver home in exchange for rent. Erwin arrived in mid-July to camp nearby. Ross noticed Erwin’s flashy Chevrolet, photography equipment, well-appointed suits and traveler’s checks. Ross sensed an opportunity and invited Erwin to share his rental. Erwin and Ross did repair work together on July 16 and 17.
On July 18, Ross went to a nearby lumber yard and ordered a cement sack to be delivered immediately. A neighbor observed Ross going through Erwin’s luggage. Later that day, Ross was seen wearing Erwin’s suit and showing off a roll of bills.
The next day, Ross told neighbors that he was driving Erwin’s car to downtown Denver to pick up Erwin. Instead, Ross and his new girlfriend Stella eloped to Grand Junction, Colorado. Ross threatened to kill Stella unless she married him. Ross’ logic was that a wife cannot testify against her husband.
Ross’ Idaho criminal activity put him on the radar of law enforcement. Ross’ wife wrote to an acquaintance that she would reveal what she knew about the Thompson murder when she received police protection. Stella was held in a Denver prison until she named Ross as the killer.
My mom, who was 11 years old when Uncle Erwin was murdered, recalled that she and her family were on alert in their Des Moines home because Ross was on the loose.
For three years, Ross adopted new aliases, committed more murders, and eluded authorities. In June 1935, a detective ran across a prison photo of Charles T. Davis, who was going to be released from the Kentucky State Penitentiary. Charles T. Davis was Harry Ross with fingerprint confirmation.
The Kentucky warden received an immediate wire to hold this prisoner. Detectives transported Ross to a Denver prison, where Ross denied any connection to the murder of Erwin or the Chevy title transfer.
The testimony of Stella (now Ross’ ex-wife) convinced the jury to find Ross guilty of murder in the first degree on December 13, 1935. Judge Otto Bock sentenced Ross to a life sentence of hard labor in the Colorado State Penitentiary.
“The jury didn’t believe me; I got a raw deal,” Ross protested after sentencing. He then directly threatened my grandfather, who also testified at the trial. Ross shouted, “I’m going to get out of here and when I do, I’ll get you! I’ll get your whole family!”
In a “truth is stranger than fiction” moment, Ross escaped from prison on January 1, 1940 by climbing over a 30-foot wall and scaling up a 340-foot cliff to make his getaway.
My mom remained vigilant as a Northwestern University freshman. When she left for college, her parents moved from their single-family home to an apartment so that her mother would feel safe when her dad took frequent out-of-town trips.
A week after Ross escaped, Warden Roy Best personally caught Ross in an abandoned cement city named Concrete. Ross’ frozen feet needed to be amputated, but Ross died of pneumonia on January 12, 1940.
With today’s technology, I wonder if Erwin would have been discovered earlier or if Ross would have been caught sooner…
Diane Henrikson Russell has been an OLLI Member since 2014. In addition to her ongoing role as Curator of the Henrikson Cartoon Archive, Diane has written over 35 stories for OLLI Connects since its inception and continues to be a frequent contributor. Diane volunteers as a proofreader for the OLLI catalog and for OLLI Connects. Diane was Co-chair of the Volunteer Management Committee from 2019 through early 2023.
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