At the top floor party room of Family Floors and Furniture on Thursday, August 10, Marissa Wollman and Marcia Gnadt hosted book signing and reading with Sandra Cheskey Chrans. Cheskey is the sole survivor of the 1973 Gitchie Manitou murders. The book, Gitchie Girl, is her personal account of that night and the aftermath of the events.
Marissa Wollman introduced Cheskey to the gathered crowd and then began the evening by reading a half dozen excerpts from the book. Then she gave the floor to Cheskey who fielded questions from the audience about her book and her experiences. Because we want to give readers the opportunity to read the book, mostly spoiler free, we’ll only outline the basics. The 13 year old Sandra Cheskey was out with her boyfriend Roger and two other friends for a campfire and some guitar music at the Gitchie Manitou State Park. They were then stalked and attacked. Cheskey only survived because of luck and because one of her attackers spared her because he believed she’d been intimidated into silence. But she did come forward to the investigating Sheriff, and with her help they were able to locate, arrest, bring to trial and incarcerate the perpetrators.
Aside from the devastation of losing her first love, being raped and nearly murdered; for years she had a stigma attached to her name. “Most people didn’t seem to care that I was raped and nearly murdered, and could only watch as two friends and the man who I would have married were murdered,” said Cheskey. “All they cared about was that a thirteen year old girl was out alone at a campground with three boys. Well, I was a virgin. Roger was good as gold to me, and I’d have gone with him anywhere. We were just kids out having fun, enjoying a campfire and singing and playing music. But that I was out there at all was more scandalous to some people than the actual murders, and people whispered that I must have had something to do with the murders, or that I deserved it for going out there in the first place. Those kind of hurtful things is what kept me silent for so many years. But the Sheriff never believed any of that for a minute, I trusted him and told him everything, and he came though, and never failed me.”
“I think we can speak for everybody here, Sandra, that we all support you, and have nothing but sympathy and love for you, and pride at how brave you were to see it through,” said Wollman. This sentiment was echoed by all present.
There was much more said and talked about at the event. Much of it was quite chilling. Patrons left horrified to know that such evil can lurk and spring forth without warning upon the innocent. Obviously, if you want the whole story straight from the source, you should buy the book, Gitchie Girl, which is available locally or on Amazon.com.
