Reward offered for the missing skull of Mary Jane Reed

The brother of an Oregon woman murdered 62 years ago hopes a new $25,000 reward will help find her skull.

Warren Reed, Rock Falls, and Mike Arians, founder of the Mary Jane Reed Foundation, held a press conference Tuesday afternoon at Arians' Oregon restaurant to announce the new incentive to solve her murder.

Mary Jane Reed, 17, failed to return from a date on June 24, 1948. Her body was found four days later in a ditch along Devil's Backbone Road just west of Oregon and south of Pines Road. Police said she was shot once in the head.

Her apparent companion on the night she disappeared, Stan Skridla, 28, Rockford, was also found murdered on June 25, 1948 on County Farm Road south of Oregon. He had been shot five times. His car was found near the corner of Ill. 2 and Pines Road.

Neither murder has been solved despite the exhumation of Mary Jane's body in 2005 and a subsequent investigation into her death.

Arians and Reed claim that a different skull, other than Mary Jane's, was buried with her. They also say local law enforcement officials have not done enough to find her killer.

"We are offering this $25,000 reward through the Mary Jane Reed Foundation," said Arians. "We feel that after 62 years there's a good possibility that someone may have run across her skull."

Reed said his older sister Lucille, identified Mary Jane's body after the murder by a wedding ring that was on her hand. That ring was given to Mary Jane by her mother.

"Lucille didn't see her head, she saw the wedding ring on her hand that my mother had given her," said Reed.

He also said a crime scene photo taken at the time of the murder did not show Mary Jane's head.

"In the picture they took you can't see the head," Reed said.

A 2005 investigation of the murder was conducted by the Ogle County Sheriff's Department with assistance from the Illinois State Police. It culminated with the exhumation of Mary Jane's body in August of that year.

The exhumation was allowed by Ogle County Judge Stephen Pemberton after Reed and the Mary Jane Reed Foundation requested it.

An autopsy was immediately performed after the exhumation and Mary Jane's remains, except for her skull, femur and two vertebrae, were reinterred in her grave the same day.

The skull, femur and vertebrae were then sent to the Illinois State Crime Lab for further testing.

After the testing was completed, the bones were returned to Reed, her last surviving sibling. The Mary Jane Reed Foundation then hired forensic experts to examine the skull and vertebrae, Arians said.

The 2005 investigation indicated that Mary Jane died from a single gunshot wound to the head. Rumors and claims that Mary Jane's head was missing, that she had been beaten, or that there was a diary or murder weapon buried in the casket along with her were all untrue, law enforcement officials said.

But Arians and Reed claim the skull was switched sometime before she was buried in 1948, and that the coroner and medical examiner at the time of her murder could have been involved in the switch. Both are dead as are two possible murder suspects referred to in the 2005 investigation.

Reed said he wants to find his sister's real skull to place in her coffin with the rest of her remains.

Arians said he is not satisfied with the findings of the 2005 investigation and has again asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation to look into the case.

He hopes the reward will act as an incentive to anyone who has information about the murder.

"I hope this $25,000 reward will bring someone forward so we can return Mary Jane's skull back to her brother so he can have some relief," said Arians.

The web site for the Mary Jane Reed Foundation states that the reward will be given for the return of the skull belonging to Mary Jane Reed or for information that leads to the "verified recovery of said skull."

The reward will not be paid until a positive identification of the skull, including DNA testing, is complete, states the web site.

"In addition verification and acceptance of any information or tips that will allegedly lead to such a recovery of said skull will be at the sole discretion of the officers of the Mary Jane Reed Foundation and must result in recovery," reads the web site. "It is the belief of the female victim's family that during the past 62 years since this murder, that it is remotely possible someone may have inadvertently come across the female victim's missing skull. For example, a hunter, farmer, jogger, hiker or even a fisherman who frequented the near by Rock River or its tributaries."

Arians said the reward was made possible by donations from several individuals, but he would not release the names of the donors.

"I'll just say it's more than two people and less than five," he said.

Anyone with information and wishing to place a reward claim, can e-mail Arians at: shayne_west@msn.com or call Warren Reed at 815-622-1632.