Milwaukee Journal - Joyce Roberts Murder Headline
The Aug. 2, 1937 headline of the Milwaukee Journal: 'Tavern Clue Spurs Hunt for Girl's Slayer'
On a cool afternoon in July 1937, 11-year-old Joyce Roberts was collecting Popsicle® wrappers on McKinley beach. She was going to mail her wrappers to the company in exchange for one of the prizes they offered. That was the last time anyone remembered seeing her.
Joyce Roberts
A picture of Joyce Roberts published after her body was identified
Four hours later, Joyce’s body was found in the Little Menomonee river just across the Ozaukee county line. Two people happened to come across the body and called the police. Joyce had been brutally raped and strangled.
Margaret Roberts could not bring herself to identify her daughter’s body at the morgue. Her 17-year-old son, Ernest, made the identification on behalf of the family. “I told her not to go anywhere by herself,” Roberts said. “I specifically warned her about talking to strangers.” At the time, Roberts had a part-time job and was living on welfare to pay her rent and grocery bills. She didn’t have any spare time to spend with her kids.
Odd-Looking Man
Police officers canvased homes near McKinley beach while others quizzed concession stand workers and maintenance men. A lifeguard recalled an odd-looking man hanging around the beach for the last several weeks. He was described as tall and overweight, possibly pushing 300 pounds. “I could pick him out of a lineup anytime,” the lifeguard said.
A concession stand employee gave a similar description of the man and told police he often bought Joyce candy and ice cream. A bus driver whose route took him near the family flat on N. Cambridge Avenue said Joyce often rode the bus by herself.
Already the newspapers were calling the suspect “The Fat Man” in their stories. Police received about a dozen crank phone calls from people who confessed to be Joyce’s killer. The most promising lead, however, came from a North Side tavern. The owner noticed blood stains on a heavy-set patron’s shirt collar around 6 p.m. When she asked about the blood, the man fled the tavern and drove away. The woman thought the car might have been a Ford sedan. Earlier a witness who lived near the river said he saw a Ford V-8 speeding down the road from where Joyce’s body was found.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Hot Tips?
In the weeks following Joyce’s murder, police questioned close to 100 people who claimed to know something relevant to the case. More “hot tip” letters arrived at the station, some from Minnesota, Texas, and Alaska. A letter from Kentucky stated, “I guess you don’t think I know the man who killed Joyce Roberts. I do know where the Fat Man is right now.” The final paragraph read “If you send $400 in advance, I will tell you his name. Send it in less than 10 days.”
County coroner Edward Milosavich called the murderer a sadist who took pleasure from the pain and suffering of their victims. “They are psychopaths with no remorse for their crimes,” Milosavich said. “They are often masters of deception and manipulation.”
As the investigation continued, nearly 100 men who fit the Fat Man’s description were picked up and questioned. All were released because their alibis proved to be truthful. Citizens began to question why a 5’ 10” man weighing 300 pounds was so hard to find.
More letters arrived when a magazine offered $1,000 to anyone with information leading to the murderer’s arrest. The magazine’s reward was never collected. Joyce Roberts’ killer eluded police and the case was declared unsolved. It was relegated to the cold case file alongside similar of young men and women. By 1940, the story disappeared from newspapers altogether.
Those cold case files remained in the courthouse until 1969 when 1,600 boxes of them were removed. Twenty tons of records were found covered in dust or damaged by decades of water seepage and melting ice. Some of the boxes contained files that went as far back as 1855.
Joyce Roberts and the other unsolved Milwaukee cases were in the tons of boxes removed.
1 of 3
Milwaukee Journal Headline - Joyce Roberts' Murder
'Suspect in Joyce Roberts Murder Receives Lie Detector Test' reads the Milwaukee Journal's headline (Oct. 15, 1937)
2 of 3
Milwaukee Sentinel - Joyce Roberts' Murder Coverage
'Net Closes on Girl's Slayer: Wisps of Hair Clue to Fiend' reads an August 1937 headline in the Milwaukee Sentinel following Joyce Roberts' murder
3 of 3
Journal Final - Joyrce Roberts' Muder
A Journal Final headline notes the sheriff 'Urges [a] Reward in Slayer Hunt' for Joyrce Roberts' murderer (Jan. 31, 1938)
