Child Returns From School To Find Mother Dead
Helen Klassen’s murder may be related to the KKK.
Helen Ruth Bohn was born on May 9, 1927, in Tiskilwa, Illinois. She married Otto Dyck Klassen in 1948 and the couple eventually settled in a ranch home in Elkhart, Indiana.
The couple had four daughters: Ruth (16), Frieda (14), Bess (13), and Suzy (11). Otto was a child psychiatrist and was the medical director of the Oaklawn Psychiatric Center. Meanwhile, Helen was a housewife and often did volunteer work. The family were Mennonites.
On March 14, 1969, 11-year-old Suzy returned home from Elkhart Concord Elementary School around 4 PM. She entered her house to find her mother murdered in the hallway. Suzy ran to the neighbors’ house and they called the police.
41-year-old Helen had been attacked and raped in the sewing room. The assailant then strangled her to death with her bra and shot her four times with a .38 caliber gun — twice in the chest, once in the leg, and another time in the rib. Helen’s killer then dragged her nude body to the hallway.
It is believed that the attack took place around noon. Helen had been alone in the house since 10 AM.
Otto had been in a meeting in Ohio when his wife was murdered. He received a call from authorities and immediately returned to Indiana. He has…
