Ruth Guthrie was a 12 year old 7th grader. She was one of four siblings, the daughter of Willis P. and Edna Gurthrie of Tallmadge, Ohio. It was summer vacation and Ruth really wanted to attend the Midwest Industrial Free Fair on June 12, 1963, at Tallmadge High School's stadium. So she helped her mother with chores around the house and earned $2.00 for the fair. She left her West Howe Road home at about 2:00 pm on a Wednesday and walked the mile south to the school. She had fun riding amusement rides and playing carnival games. There was 30,000 people that day at the fair. She and two friends left at dinner time and took a shortcut through a grassy field near Overdale School on their way home. A half-mile from home, Ruth said goodbye to her friends. "I'll see you later!" She said to them. When Ruth did not show up at home for dinner, her parents simply thought that she was having fun at the fair. When she didn't show by evening, they knew something was wrong. Willis reported his daughter missing at midnight. Police questioned carnival workers, friends and some who attended the fair. Over 100 searchers turned out to look over the entire township including police, firemen and the local Boy Scout Troop. There was no clues as to what had happened to Ruth. Willis and Edna posted handbills and a reward for information as to her whereabouts, but nothing came in. As the months passed, the Guthrie family prepared for the worst news. It came 11-months later when a farmer and his wife in Palmyra Township, in Portage County, were surveying an orchard about 50-yards from McClintocksburg Road on May 28. They saw a skull at the base of a hickory tree. They called the police who found a skeleton with it's arms crossed and hands tied. Dental records confirmed it was Ruth Guthrie. She had been strangled and dumped 22-miles from home. Willis and Edna Guthrie had to identify Ruth's clothing in th woods. The girl's purple purse was missing. Edna Guthrie told a reporter, "We always suspected it was going to end this way." Evidence was sent to the FBI and the Smithsonian Institution, but it didn't help. To make matters even worse, just a few days before Ruth went missing, a 15 year old boy named Thomas Sumerix, from Akron, the next town, went missing also. His body was found within 48 hours of Ruth's. Plus, the year before, 12-year old Marion Brubaker, another Akron resident, was ambused on her bike and murdered on August 27, 1962 in the woods. Were the murders related? To the date of this writing, no one has ever been charged with these three crimes.