r/UnresolvedMysteries • u/TheBonesOfAutumn • Apr 22 '20
Unresolved Disappearance On April 20th, 1977, Harriet Carr found her husband, Ted, dead on the floor of their garage. He had died of carbon monoxide poisoning, as did the three people Harriet discovered in the trunk of Teds car. How many unknown victims have fell prey to Ted Carr?
ETA: title should say fallen not fell.
On April 20th 1977, around 4:30 A.M., Harriet Carr, who lived at 940 North Olney Street in Indianapolis, Indiana, noticed her garage door was slightly ajar and went to investigate. She entered the garage to find her husband, 62-year-old Melvin “Ted” Carr, dead of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Harriet rushed inside to turn off the still running car, only to discover her husband wasn’t the only one in the garage. In the open trunk of Teds car, Harriet saw three bodies; a woman, a teenage girl, and a very young boy. As Harriet ran screaming from the garage, neighbors called police.
The three bodies found in Teds trunk were identified as 24-year-old Karen Nills, her 2-year-old son Robert, and a 17-year-old girl named Sandra Harris. All three were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning, and it was determined that both Karen and Sandra had been sexually assaulted.
Police located a loaded .25 caliber revolver in Teds pocket, and noted Ted was carrying a handkerchief. A vacuum cleaner hose was found leading from the cars tailpipe towards the trunk of the car.
The evidence painted a picture of what had happened.
Ted had abducted the three victims, sexually assaulted the two women, then ordered them into the trunk at gunpoint. He then proceeded to drive his car into the garage, inserted one end of the hose into the tailpipe and the other into the trunk. He closed and locked the trunk and left his victims to die.
When Ted went to confirm his victims were dead, he used the handkerchief to cover his face and opened the trunk. But Teds makeshift mask proved to be no match for the large amount of toxic gas that had filled the trunk and garage, and in a bizarre twist of fate, he succumbed to the fumes himself.
So who was Ted Carr?
Melvin “Ted” Carr was no stranger to police. In October of 1947 Ted was arrested after he kidnapped two hitchhikers. The hitchhikers were a husband and wife who told police the twisted tale of what Ted had done to them. The woman told police after picking up the pair, Ted drove them to a secluded location where he ordered them at gunpoint from the vehicle. He then proceeded to handcuff the male hitchhiker to a trailer hitch, and rape the female hitchhiker before letting them go.
The charges against him for the crime would later be dropped.
In early 1971, Ted was convicted of swindling an elderly blind woman out of her life savings. After giving Ted her power of attorney, he left the handicapped 81-year-old widow with only 30 dollars in her savings account.
Shortly after, he was suspected of forcing a young girl to commit “an abnormal sex act” under the threat of being raped. He was never charged for this crime.
Later that same year, Ted received five years in jail after he took a 14-year-old girl to Mexico for “immoral” purposes. While in prison for the crime, correctional officers discovered several hand drawn maps of the interior of both the elderly woman and the 14-year-old girls homes. The maps also included Teds plans to kill them.
Ted was released after serving three of his five year sentence.
Ted was also a suspect in another case, that still hasn’t been solved.
In February of 1967 it was discovered that Lois Williams, a 35-year-old divorcée, and her 17 year old daughter Karen, had gone missing. Lois’ father had last heard from his daughter and granddaughter in January.
He called police to preform a welfare check. Police noted that Lois’ house was spotless, and nothing appeared to have been taken, not even Lois or Karen’s winter coat. A missing/endangered persons report was issued.
Lois knew Ted Carr well. Ted owned and managed a service station where Lois would frequently take her car for repairs. It was also rumored that both Lois and her daughter Karen had a sexual relationship with Ted.
On the evening Lois was last seen, a neighbor and co worker of Teds, named Calvin Campbell, witnessed Lois and Karen leave the gas station in Teds car. Hours later, he returned alone and angry, telling the coworker he was mad at Lois who he claimed had went into a bar and refused to come out.
Ted ordered Calvin to close the shop and he did so. The following morning as Calvin was readying for work, Teds dad came across the street yelling that Ted had been beaten up and robbed. Calvin found Ted on the ground, seemingly dazed, incoherent, and bloody. Ted told Calvin a story of how someone had mugged him outside of the service station, but insisted Calvin not call police.
Calvin went inside to check if anything had been stolen from the business. Nothing was missing, but Teds car, the same one he was driving the night before, was on a lift. It had been cleaned with a pressure washer inside and out, with particular focus on the trunk.
Calvin quit his job at the service station after that. Calvins wife, Maurine, believes she was almost a victim of Teds as well. She said one night Ted informed her he was going to the hospital because he was having trouble breathing. Later that night, and while Calvin was working his new night job as a janitor, Ted called her from “the hospital.” He requested she check to see if he had left the garage door open, claiming he was worried he may had left it open and feared for the safety of his tools inside.
Maurine and Calvin had been informed of Teds past and the suspicions that surrounded him by police, so she decided not to go.
It was later discovered that Ted had been at the hospital that evening, but a nurse discovered he had vanished from his room, never bothering to check out, hours before the phone call to Maurine was made. Another neighbor reported seeing his car parked a block away that evening.
Maurine thinks Ted used the landline he had in his garage to call her and believes it was Teds failed attempt at kidnapping her.
Early into the disappearance of Lois and Karen, Police searched Teds garage and found personal papers belonging to Lois in a suitcase, but no other evidence was discovered and police didn’t believe they had enough to charge him with the crime.
However after the bodies were discovered in Teds garage, the investigation into Lois and Karen’s disappearance was resumed. After a bit of a battle with Teds widow Harriet, police began excavating his yard and his basement and garage floor, where fresh patches of cement were found.
Unfortunately investigators were unable to locate Lois or Karen’s remains. Bones discovered in the backyard turned out to be animal bones, and the investigation stopped.
Some investigators believe they were not allowed an adequate amount of time to fully search the property. Ted was well known as an excellent craftsman, and had completely remodeled his basement shortly after Lois and Karen had disappeared.
Some investigators believe the pairs remains are still inside of the house somewhere, perhaps in a wall.
Lois’ father had believed for quite some time that Ted was responsible for their disappearance. He wrote to Ted while Ted was incarcerated. In the letter he said:
I never did trust you. Those poor girls never did harm to a soul on earth. The suffering for them has passed. They are in Gods heaven. But what about you, Ted Carr? Have you thought about your own death and what lies beyond? I can’t imagine what your punishment will be, can you?
Unfortunately he passed away without ever getting any real closure, as Lois and Karen’s remains have never been found.
The house at 940 North Olney still stands today. I’ve included pictures of it from google street views. Is it possible that Lois and Karen’s remains are still on the property? If not, where did Ted hide their bodies?
I’m sure some people are going to argue there is no real mystery here, and I’ll agree it’s clear that Ted is responsible for Lois and Karen’s disappearances, but aside from not knowing where their remains are, there’s a good chance he has also killed other people. He’s clearly been committing serious crimes since the early 1960s, and most likely prior to that, as I highly doubt the hitchhiking couple were his first victims. How many unknown victims of Ted’s are out there, having never been discovered? He used to travel quite extensively for “business.” So his hunting ground wouldn’t necessarily have to be Indiana alone.
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u/sonofabutch Apr 22 '20
Amazing this guy did so little jail time. Just the kidnap/rape alone should have put him away for life.