The Dry Ticket: How an Orange Stub Revealed a Murder Cover-up

The Dry Ticket: How an Orange Stub Revealed a Murder Cover-up

An orange drive-in stub found crisp in a drowned man's clenched hand suggested the body had been placed in the river hours after it was printed-yet the paper showed no water damage. That mismatch points to a deliberate act and to missing evidence: who tore eleven tickets the night Scott Berry disappeared, and why would someone plant an undamaged stub in his fist?

In this episode, we trace the sequence of events from the Motor-Vu projection booth to the Muskee River and present the facts uncovered by deputies and neighbors, asking whether missing tickets and a single orange stub can map a cover-up and identify responsibility.

Person: Scott Berry
Date: June 9, 1953
Location: Muskee River, two miles southeast of Alderton, Louisiana
Case: Missing counterfoils - eleven tickets absent from June 8 roll
Person: Deputy Earl Harris

- Body recovered at approximately 6:15 a.m. by Jerry Draper, who noted catfish had not fed on the corpse.
- Victim age: 22 years; worked 14 months in projection booth at Calvert Road Motor-Vu.
- Admission stub found in victim's right hand: orange card stock, serrated edge, number 274 stamped in black ink.
- Motor-Vu ledger showed eleven entries on June 8 with no corresponding counterfoils in the ticket roll.
- Neighbors placed Karen Keller’s car in the Motor-Vu lot at about 8:30 p.m. the night of June 8.

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