An 18-year-old girl disappears.
Six weeks later, she’s found in a lake—tied to a cement block.
The last person to see her? A police officer.
THE POLICEMAN’S DAUGHTER
On March 22, six weeks after Sabrina Cain disappeared from home, she was reported missing to the Belleville Police Department by her stepfather Fred Roark, who was the last person to see her. Roark was an officer for the police department.
Two men were target shooting on April 20, 1974 at Fournie Lake in Belleville, Illinois when they spotted it: a fully clothed body floating in the pond in two feet of water. Her name was Sabrina Jean Cain. Her bullet-riddled body was tied to a cement block, and her hands were tied behind her back.
Sabrina Cain was only 18 years old.
Now the Belleville Police Department had a murder investigation on their hands, and the last person to see the victim was one of their own. Detectives questioned their officer into the evening. He told police Sabrina was last seen on February 5, when she left the house angry, but would not say what was bothering her. He said their last conversation was about her going to look for an apartment, which Roark said he tried to talk her out of.
Officers asked Roark if he knew why anyone would want to kill Sabrina.
“You think she might have been pregnant?” Roark asked. The officers said they didn’t mean that, and the autopsy revealed she was not pregnant. Roark began crying.
“She is all I had,” he said.
Then the ballistics report came in: Sabrina was shot with a .38 caliber weapon. They went back to Roark’s house asking if he owned a private gun. He did, he told them. “What kind?”, they asked. A .38, Roark told them. Police asked to see it. Roark brought them into his house to get the gun. It was nowhere to be found.
“I must have lost it somewhere,” he told them.
With Fred Roark clearly in their spotlight, the Belleville Police Department had little choice. First, they suspended Roark with pay during the investigation. Then, they ordered Roark to take a polygraph. Roark relented, but refused to answer any questions other than his name, address, and occupation. They then suspended him without pay. Finally, two months later, Roark was fired.
Their investigation led them to only one possible suspect. Fred Roark. And then...
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