The Murder of Jeanne Durkin-
January 8, 1987-
Jeanne Durkin was a troubled soul known to wander the streets of Frankford Avenue. She was 28, and had four different children; three girls and one boy, with multiple different fathers. Her parents raised one of her children, two others lived with their biological father, while her youngest was placed in a foster home. She was known to suffer from mental problems, having been diagnosed with Schizophrenia and Bi-Polar disorder, and was in and and out of psychiatric institutions for the past six years, and had been homeless for the past five years, surviving on the streets of Frankford. She had been divorced for 10 years, but had a relationship with a man named John Bloodworth. Together they spent time off and on being homeless together, surviving on free meals at the local Salvation Army. It had been 2 years since Jeanne had seen her family.
(Photo of Jeanne Durkin.)
Locals knew her as
"Jeannie," and would see her sleeping in the door-way of the vacant Hanscom Bakery located at 5202 Frankford Avenue, which sat two doors down from Goldie's Bar. One resident, Libby Shamis who ran a news stand in the area with her husband, said she was known as
"the lady who sleeps over there." And
"many a morning I'd pass her sound asleep there." Jerry Shamis, Libby's husband said,
"Everybody knew her. Like her or not, she led a tough life... You could see that." Some of their customers would often feel sorry for her and give her money, or buy her McDonald's.
"I guess they just felt sorry for the poor soul," commented Jerry.
It had been almost three weeks since Susan Olszef's murder, and just like Susan, Jeanne was a regular at Goldie's Bar, although she primarily came in to wash herself in the restroom or to get warm on a cold day. Dee Hughes, the bartender said that despite that she was a regular,
"I didn't serve her, though. She had enough problems." Anne Schuch, another one of the bartenders, stated that she often gave Jeannie money or cigarettes, adding that
"She was part of the neighborhood."
By 1 A.M. Jeannie was last seen around Frankford Avenue and Bridge Street, across the road from Goldie's Bar. She at some point ventured her way to a lot near behind some of the businesses that contained some fruit and vegetables stalls used as a local market, which was surrounded by a wooden fence. Parked in the lot was a box truck for the fruit market. As it would turn out, she was not alone out there. In the darkness someone viciously assaulted her. Jeannie had a knife on her, which she carried for self-defense while living out on the street and fought with her attacker, but they overpowered her, disarming her, and used her own knife to stab her, again, and again. Blood splattered on a wooden fence around the produce stalls. More blood splattered across the box truck.
At 7:30 A.M., Helen Amperidis(some articles list her name as Amperidy), a waitress who worked at a local restaurant named "Jerry's" located on Pratt Street had stepped outside in the rear of the business to carry some trash out to the dumpster, when she noticed something funny about the large truck that sat in the lot. On object laid visible under the side of the vehicle.
"I couldn't believe my eyes," Amperidis said.
"It was one of the most horrible things I had ever seen. At first I thought it was a piece of cloth."
Jeanne's body was found face down with a coat pulled over her head. The victim's pants were found several feet away, and her underpants had been pulled down to her ankles, which were spread open, as if a violent rape occurred. She had been severely beaten on the face and had multiple stab wounds visible to the chest and back. Her buttocks were also allegedly mutilated by her slayer. Pools of blood laid around her. It's also alleged that she was disemboweled, from her navel to neck.
(The crime scene location in Google Maps.)
(The lot as it stood in 2007 on Goggle Maps.)
(Investigators looking under the truck where Durkin's body was located.)
January 9-
An autopsy was performed, revealing that the victim was stabbed 74 or 75 times depending on the source. Her buttocks had also been mutilated post-mortem. Her family was notified about her death, and one of her brothers, Carl Hess, who was 30, along with her father, Harry Hess traveled to the medical Examiner's Office to identify the body.
The next day Detective Captain Robert Grasso spoke with reporters, declaring that they were taking a look at the Helen Patent case, under the possibility that the same man, may have killed Jeanne Durkin. Responding to a question by reporters on if the two murders were linked, Grasso responded,
"We can't rule that out at this point." The medical Examiner's Office would also make a conflicting statement that Jeanne Durkin had not been sexually assaulted.
An early suspect in Durkin's murder involved a woman named Michelle Dehner, who locals referred to as "Crazy Michelle," who had a history of mental illness and alcoholism. Dehner was known to frequent the local bars in the area. She was described as a large badly groomed blonde woman, who usually wore sweatshirts and jeans, and had a job occasionally selling soft pretzels. But she typically spent most of her time in bars, going from one to another until either closing time, or until being cut-off by the bartender. It was claimed that prior to her death Jeanne Durkin and Michelle had gotten into a fight over a blanket.
(Photo believed to be that of Michelle Dehner.)
January 13-
A private funeral is held for Jeanne Durkin and her family at the Salem Lutheran Evangelical Church, presided over by the Rev. Dr. LaVonne Althouse, a female minister.
January 14-
Police speak with bartenders at the Golden Bar, questioning them regarding the victims and past and current customers. Dee Hughes, one of the bartenders, was questioned for nearly five hours. Patrons at the location were also questioned by police. Hughes, who believed all four women were killed by the same man said,
"I honestly believe it was somebody that comes in here I got to know them. I look at the people sitting at the bar and I wonder."
All the bartenders and patrons gave the same statement regarding Jeannie, that she was
"much too strong" to simply be dragged off by her killer into the location where she was found. Anne Schuch recalled that one time she had seen Jeannie get arrested and that it had taken six officers to put her into the back of the police car. Schuch added,
"A stranger would never be able to overpower her. She had to have known him."
January 16-
Detectives report to the media, that the murders of Helen Patent, Anna Carroll, Susan Olszef, and Jeanne Durkin, may all be related, and all four victims had one location in common, the Golden Bar. Reports now contradicted the January 10th statement by the Medical Examiner and now Detectives were saying that Jeanne had been sexually assaulted. One detective who spoke to the media, commented,
"There's a kook running around up there," and added
"All these jobs look like they were done by the same man."
Angelo Colone, the owner of the fruit and Vegetable stand located at the 5100 block of Frankford Avenue where Jeanne was killed told reporters that he
"tried to clean up back there," but there was still visible blood seen in puddles and splattered across his truck and on the wooden fence at the location. Colone told reporters,
"Everybody around here thinks the same guy killed Jeannie and the others... I wish I knew who it was. I'd shoot him myself."
January 20-
A crowd of 50 people gathered in front of the store front for the abandoned Hanscom Bakery where Jeanne had lived the past few years to hold a candle light vigil on behalf of the local homeless who had died over the past few years. The vigil was put on by the Northeast Committee on Homelessness, an organization made up of locals from the Frankford clergy, along with former classmates of Jeanne Durkin from Harding Junior High, and her family, as well as others in the community.
The organization prayed for Jeanne and for an elderly man named Charlie, who had frozen to death on a bench located between Margaret and Orthodox Street a few years prior, and for Benny, a middle-aged man who had passed away under a bridge the year before.
John Bloodworth, Jeanne's boyfriend spoke during the vigil, stating that they had been dating off and on for the past nine months, living as transients, residing at one point in a rented room, another time living in an abandoned house, at one point living homeless in a park for two weeks.
"She was quiet and sort of nice, but she kept on leaving and coming back do the doorway here. I loved her. I really did." He added,
"I was expecting to do a little bit better and get some work... we planned to get married this coming summer."
The Rev. Dr. LaVonne Althouse, who had presided over Jeanne's funeral spoke at the vigil, asking for
"mercy on all who have wronged these people, including the one who took Jeanne's life."
A man then interrupted Althouse, yelling out in tears,
"I'm on the street... nobody has to live like this-- not in America."
Following the service, Lois Semanision(some papers list her as Seminision), a social worker for the Frankford Salvation Army stated that they planned to help John Bloodworth find a place to stay. Semanision would later say,
"It's so frustrating, people are still sleeping in abandoned buildings and in cars and at the doughnut shop. They'd rather live in the street than go to the shelters. The shelters are like war zones."
Sources-
Philidelphia Inquirer Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · Friday, January 09, 1987
Philidelphia Inquirer Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · Saturday, January 10, 1987
Philidelphia Inquirer Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · Friday, January 16, 1987
Philidelphia Daily News Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · Friday, January 16, 1987
Philidelphia Inquirer Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · Thursday, January 07, 1988
Philidelphia Inquirer Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · Thursday, October 20, 1988
The Philadelphia Inquirer Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · Monday, November 12, 1990
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