Mary Rae French leads officers to the spot where she said she helped bury the body of Alleen Rowe at Harrison and Golf Links Rd. No trace of the blonde high school students was found after a day of digging but some hair-curlers found in the area may have been hers. Behind Miss French (left to right) are Sheriff's Capt. James McDonald, Police Capt. John Breglia and Sheriff's Det. Ken Chronister, carrying a shovel.
Richard Bruns had implicated two other people in the death of Alleen Rowe. These people were John Saunders and Mary French.
Neither lived in Tucson at the time the bodies of the Fritz girls were found.
From the Arizona Daily Star, Nov. 16, 1965:
Girl, 19, Admits Part
By DAVE GREEN
Tucson police laid their hands yesterday on a youth in Connecticut and a girl in Texas who admitted involvement in the killing of Alleen Rowe, 15.
Police Lt. Clarence Dupnik is returning John Saunders, 19, to Tucson where Saunders has promised to lead officers to the shallow grave on the desert — near Harrison and Golf Links Rd. — where the body of Miss Rowe is said to be buried.
The girl, Mary French, also 19, a former pupil at Palo Verde high school along with Miss Rowe and Saunders — was arrested in Texas. She told police Miss Rowe was bludgeoned about the head with rocks and her body buried.
Her story implicated Saunders and Charles Schmid, 23, who is being held without bond in connection with the murder of the Fritz sisters. Their partially clad skeletons were found last week when an informer — a former companion of Schmid's — led police to their bodies in the foothills north of Tucson.
Miss French was arrested in Belton, Texas, yesterday afternoon by Tucson Police Lt. George Robles. This is the story police said she told:
The night of May 31, 1964, she, Schmid and Saunders drove to within a block of the Rowe home at Calle Cuernevaca St. and she (French) lured Alleen from her house.
The four of them drove to a desert area east of the city, previously described by an informant as somewhere near Harrison and Golf Links Rd., and Alleen and the two men got out of the car and walked a distance into the darkness.
Miss French said she remained in the car and a short time later heard screams. Schmid returned to the car minutes later and took out a shovel, calling her from the car.
She was taken to the location in the desert where she said she saw the body of the Rowe girl, whose face, she said, was covered with blood. They buried her, taking turns digging the grave, and then returned to the city.
In a statement last week, Richard Bruns, 19, who led police to the bodies of Gretchen and Wendy Fritz, named Schmid, Saunders and Miss French as having been present when Alleen Rowe was killed and said he had been shown the grave of the Palo Verde sophomore while on a hunting trip with Schmid.
Schmid, already charged with two counts of murder in the death of the Fritz girls, will be formally charged in the Rowe slaying, according to Pima County Attorney Norman Green.
Green said the three will be arraigned at the same time.
Miss French and Saunders each waived extradition from the states in which they were residing when they gave their statements to police yestereday. Saunders was arrested in Westbrook, Conn.
One significant item stood out yesterday for investigators. That was the statement of the French girl who told police that Alleen Rowe was lured from her home after they "planned to kill her."
The dimpled blonde was clad only in a swimming suit at the time of her death, which Bruns said resulted from blows on the head with rocks. Bruns said in his earlier statement that he was told that both Schmid and Saunders had struck her with the rocks.
Although still without a motive, Police Chief Bernard Garmire said "It would appear that this was a conspiracy that developed over a motive of jealousy." The possibility that the girls were victims of a "thrill-killing" has not been ruled out, Garmire said.
A private detective hired by the parents of Gretchen and Wendy Fritz had interviewed Schmid after the girls' disappearance and said schmid told him he provided numerous girls for parties held by students.
Mrs. Rowe, Alleen's mother, said that before her disappearance Alleen told her "they (the suspects) had a gang and she didn't want to get involved in their parties because it involved sex, liquor and drugs."
Mary French and John Saunders attempted to lead police to Rowe's grave but no trace of her body was found after a day of digging. All that was found was hair curlers. Rowe had been wearing curlers when she disappeared, and her mother believed those found were her daughter's.
It was theorized that heavy rains in the past year might have buried the body deeper in the sand or washed it away from the area.
Note that the current (in 2010) Pima County Sheriff, Clarence Dupnik, was the Tucson Police officer who accompanied Saunders back to Tucson and to the area of the desert where searchers sought Rowe's grave.
Next: A news blackout is requested and more details emerge, along with more questions.
