The Letters That Should Have Burned - Murder in a Coal Furnace

The Letters That Should Have Burned - Murder in a Coal Furnace

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the arrival of a new lodger to the morning her body was found, laying out the people, places and documents that shaped the case and the unanswered question that began with a failed furnace.

Person: Rhonda Walker
Date: May 3, 1905
Location: Elgin Boarding House, Wentworth Avenue, Dellrose, Indiana
Case: Seventeen unsinged letters found in unlit coal furnace
Investigator: Russell Callahan

- Seventeen handwritten letters were tied with brown parcel string and found unsinged on the iron grate of a furnace not lit since the previous October.
- Rhonda Walker, age 32, was hired at $4.50 per week as seamstress and linen keeper and lived in the second-floor rear room from October 1904.
- Fourteen of the seventeen letters matched Rhonda's handwriting and spanned October 1904 through late April 1905.
- A dispute over three pieces of monogrammed Elgin house linen involved resident Teresa Hansen, age 38, whom Rhonda named in letters as the source of conflict.
- A woman described as wearing a dark coat and carrying a small case, later identified by a neighbor as Teresa Hansen, conducted a bogus "gas-fitting inspection" of Rhonda's room in March 1905 despite the boarding house having no gas fixtures.

Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA.
Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-7194310

© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.