Too Clean for an Accident: The Watch That Proved Murder

Too Clean for an Accident: The Watch That Proved Murder

The spotless, running watch on a drowned woman's wrist contradicted two days in a chemical ditch: its crystal had no haze, it was wound and set to the exact minute. That single, precise detail would connect a 1941 "accident" to a 1943 murder - but who cleaned the watch, and why was the time set correctly?

In this episode, we follow the discovery, the immediate evidence, and the investigators who linked a wartime plant's internal records to a death in Harwick, Pennsylvania; what emerges is a question of how many phantom accident entries and phantom claims went unnoticed.

Person: Kimberly Baker
Date: April 9, 1943
Location: Drainage ditch behind Consolidated Acetate, Harwick, Pennsylvania
Cause of death: Manual strangulation
Investigator: Detective Sergeant Mark Holmes

- The body was discovered at 7:14 AM on April 9, 1943, by schoolteacher Shannon Wilson.
- Kimberly Baker, age 48, had worked at Consolidated Acetate for eleven years as Quality Control Supervisor for Line Four.
- Last confirmed sighting was about 8:45 PM on April 7, 1943, near the records room, speaking to foreman Lloyd Harrison.
- Time of death was estimated between 9:15 and 9:30 PM on April 7, 1943, minutes after the last sighting.
- The watch had been cleaned with Line Four acetate solvent, wound, set to the correct time, and replaced on her wrist.

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