CRUEA, George
One wonders when policemen have to go through something like finding the body of an elderly woman in a well with bound hands and feet and weighted down with seven bricks if winning the election would be worth it?
This happened to George Cruea. The Indianapolis Star 18 Nov 1958 told the tale of Miss Leona Disseldorf, who was 72 and a retired school teacher. Two hunters had stopped at a farm house and sat down on the well to rest. They smelled something bad and discussing that when Gene Grady, came to get some water for his tractor. Grady could get but a bit of water. They tought perhaps an animal was in the well. Grady removed the boards covering it and dropped a lengthy piece of barb wire into the well. It came back uip with what appeared to be human hair. He also thought he saw a human form in the 36' deep well. The men called Deputy Sheriff George Cruea who called a state police detective (Jim Frazer) and the fireman from Attica and Covington who got the bottom removed.
The hands were bound to the neck and ankles tied together with a white plastic clothesline. The victim had white shoes, a pring dress and a necklace of blue-white imitation pearls. Miss Disseldorf was known as a collector of costume jewelry. Her guardian, friend and attorney Robert Clemence from Williamsport said he had been in fear of finding her with something amiss but he did not know of the $6,000 she was supposed to have had that everyone felt was the motive for the murder. However, a taxicab driver (Pete Craft) from Attica said it was true that when he took her to Williamsport the day before she disappeared she had several cans full of cash.
Or, to have to clean up a private place crash that hit a power line (34,000 volts) and killed three people or to have to transport a murderer on an icy, freezing cold night.
George was the son of Asa and Bertha Cruea and married to Shirley Gilbert and he loved his police work, serving as deputy sheriff, sheriff for eight years and a city police officer. A member of the Fraternal Order of Police he was also active in the Indiana Sheriff's Association. He was born Feb 22, 1920 in Covington and passed away in Danville, Illinois March 10, 1978 at a fairly young age, just over 58. She lived another 18 years, finishing raising their five children.
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Obituary: Lafayette Journal and Courier Mon 13 March 1978 p 4
Covington - Funeral services were schedule today here for George E. Cruea, a former Fountain county sheriff and Covington policeman. Cruea, 58, died unexpectedly Friday at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Danville, where he had been a patient since Tuesday. A native and life resident of Covington, he was elected ehriff in 1958. Cruea served as sheriff here until 1966. Later, he was a part-time city policeman here after serving as deputy sheriff for two terms. He also worked as a city policeman before he became sheriff. Cruea was a member of the Fraternal Order of Police and Indiana Sheriffs Association. He was married in 1950 to Shirley Gilbert who survives. Also surviving are four sons, Bruce Cruea of Richmond, Va; and Garth, Gilbert and Lesley Cruea, at home and a daughter, Carol Ann Cruea also at home. - kbz