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Bill Wacker was born on March 12th, 1920 in Massillon, Ohio and was a Private First Class of the United States Army who served in World War 2. His wife, Dorothy was born on April 21st, 1927 also in Massillon.
They had been married for forty years, leading an ordinary and peaceful life up until 1984 when their home was broken into twice. They didn’t report the break ins to the police until January 16th 1985 when their home was broken into for a third time.
Despite an investigation nothing was found and lift went on as normal. That was until July of that same year: Dorothy had undergone heart surgery and was home alone recovering when she heard someone knocking at the front door.
She got up and opened the door to the visitor, it was a young white male who told her his car had broken down and he needed assistance. She let him into the house to use the phone. He said his goodbyes and Dorothy believed she was left alone in the home again.
All of a sudden, someone walked up behind her and bludgeoned her over the head, knocking her unconscious. A short time later, she awoke on the kitchen floor, she had been bound and gagged but it seemed like no one was in the house with her.
She was able to grasp to a kitchen window which had been left open and cried out for her neighbors, luckily they heard her and called the police immediately.
When the police arrived, along with her husband, Dorothy was able to provide a good physical description of her attacker. A composite sketch was drawn up. He appeared to be blonde, mid-twenties with blonde hair and blue eyes, approximately 5’9 in height.
Bill discovered that an antique watch, movie camera, radio scanner and his .22 caliber revolver had been taken. Additionally there was a message written in crayon on the kitchen wall saying: “Cheaper, but will do.”
The words confused everyone but police visited an assortment of pawn shops and street dealers in the hopes of locating the items but their efforts were fruitless.
Bill and Dorothy’s life only continued to get increasingly scary as time went on. They began receiving harassing phone calls throughout various hours of the day, the caller would threaten them with violence or sometimes just breathe heavily into the receiver.
They tried changeing their phone number several times hoping the calls would stop but they never did. Months passed by and the torment continued to escalate. At random hours of night the couple would hear loud, relentless pounding on the exterior of their home.
Bill installed security lights on the front porch in an attempt to scare the individual to stop but their problems only got worse. One morning Bill stepped outside and found a handwritten note that said “your lightz are a laugh.” More and more notes continued to show up.
Police examined the no tree a in an attempt to acquire fingerprints but failed in their attempts. They believed the individual wrote the letters with their non-dominant hand.
This is where things get even stranger, in November of 1985, four months after Dorothy’s assault Bill awoke to find his .22 caliber revolver had been returned. It was placed on his front porch inside a shopping bag overnight.
Periodically, the couple would receive the three other stolen items back in the same way, the police attempted to lift fingerprints but the items had all been wiped clean.
The torment continued for years, and eight years after the first assault on Dorothy in 1985 she was attacked once more on Wednesday, October 27th 1993. She was rushed to hospital having suffered skull lacerations.
Police suspected Bill at first, thinking he’d assaulted his wife and been behind the harassment over the years but soon came to the conclusion this wasn’t the case.
The following month, in November Bill devised a plan that included numerous family members. The group consisted of six people paired in twos with walkie talkies, they were assigned to different spots to watch the house overnight hoping to catch the culprit.
After hours of nothing, they called the stakeout off for the night. Then, that very same night, Bill and Dorothy were awoken by loud banging on their front porch. Bill ran time the front door but the individual hadn’t fled, Bill found a note that said: “get the message.”
This was the last reported activity from the person harassing the elderly couple, the pair never received closure. Bill died 5 years later on July 9th, 1999 at the age of 79. Dorothy died on July 22nd, 2010 age 83.
They died without ever receiving any answers and had to live the rest of their lives out in fear. Police believe it was a close neighbour or family member behind the harrassment.
