Jackie Hendry
For South Dakota News Watch
Editor's note: This is the third in a series of stories on children that Jackie Hendry, producer and host of South Dakota Public Broadcasting's "South Dakota Focus" will write for South Dakota News Watch. Each month, she will preview the show that will air the following week.
This piece contains discussions of violence, sexual assault and suicidal thoughts. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 for 24-7 support.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Phil Hamman knew someone died. The rumors began over a November weekend in 1973. He was a sophomore at Sioux Falls Washington High School.
"We'd gotten some word in the neighborhood that some kids from our school had been killed, but we didn't know any details," Hamman remembered. "We thought maybe it was a car accident or something."
The following Monday, as he got ready for school, Hamman heard four names announced on the radio: 18-year-old Stewart Baade; his 14-year-old brother, Dana Baade; 17-year-old Roger Essem; and 15-year-old Mike Hadrath, Hamman's childhood best friend.
"I became physically sick. I went to the bathroom and almost threw up," Hamman said.
All four boys had been shot to death near their campsite in Gitchie Manitou State Preserve, just across the border into northwestern Iowa. A couple driving through the park found their bodies the next morning. At first, there was no suspect or motive.
Hamman went to school to find other students crying in the hallways. All, like him, were shocked and desperate to understand what happened.
"But the teachers were starting to get irritated," Hamman said. "They were yelling at kids. 'Don't talk about this! Just go to class. No more talking about this Gitchie Manitou thing!'"
Hamman said he and other students obeyed without much resistance. "It's not that the teachers were doing anything out of line. That was the philosophy in those days. You just be quiet."
Privately, though, friends talked among themselves about who could've done such a terrible thing and why. When the suspects – three brothers – were captured, new questions arose. Turns out, there had been a witness: a 13-year-old girl named Sandra Cheskey.
Sandra Cheskey: The Gitchie Girl
Cheskey met Essem at a drive-in movie theater earlier that summer, and they'd been smitten with each other ever since. He'd invited her to join him and his three friends for a campfire at Gitchie Manitou the night of Nov. 17, 1973.
Three men, later identified as brothers Allen Fryer, James Fryer and David Fryer, posed as law enforcement. They shot Essem to death before taking the rest hostage. Cheskey was separated from the others, raped and threatened to silence before one of the Fryers dropped her off at her home late at night.
The next day, as rumors began spreading in Hamman's neighborhood that some kids had been killed, Cheskey learned none of the boys made it home. She took her story to the authorities. Despite her fear and the officer's initial doubt to her story, Cheskey played a crucial role in finding the Fryer brothers. She served as the only witness in the subsequent trial that landed each brother with a life sentence.
More article below - Read with a full on-line subscription!
More article below - Read with a full on-line subscription!
Already have an account? Log In:
