From: http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2003310270305



"Mystery Will Never Be Solved" Article by Cinnamon Bair; 27 October 2003



Even after 76 years, the murder of Lessie Wilkerson still leaves 

researchers scratching their heads.



Conflicting evidence. Unexplained occurrences. Possibly even police duplicity.



It all adds up to one of the odder occurrences in Polk County crime history.



"There's so much about it that doesn't stack up," said Joe Spann, director of 

the Polk County Historical and Genealogical Library, who recently presented 

his research to the Polk County Historical Association. "It's a pretty neat story."



The story, as Spann tells it, began in 1923 when Lessie Wilkerson of Levy County 

married Polk County's Ranzy Rutledge. Wilkerson was just 13 years old, while 

Rutledge, 35, was on his third marriage.



The Rutledges eventually settled in Bradley Junction -- close to Ranzy's job 

as a boilermaker in a Pierce phosphate mine -and had one son, Chester. But 

all was not marital bliss, Spann said. The couple's regular fights drew the 

attention of neighbors.



"There's a history of domestic violence," he said.



Things came to a head in October 1927, Spann said. After entertaining a friend 

at their home for the evening Oct. 20, the Rutledges were seen leaving together 

in their car. They were spotted again the next morning, driving north near Polk 

City and apparently on their way to Green Pond.



It was the last time Lessie Rutledge was seen alive, Spann said.



Ranzy Rutledge returned home alone that night and told questioning neighbors 

that his wife was visiting family, Spann said.



Rutledge acted strangely for the next few days, Spann said. He quit his job and 

claimed he was going to Cuba, but then asked for his job back the next day. He 

dropped his son off with an aunt and told her he was separating from his wife. 

And he drove all the way to Bronson to tell his father-in-law he and Lessie 

Rutledge had an argument on their way to visit and that Lessie was therefore 

let out of the car in Dunnellon.



Finally, on Oct. 28, Lessie Rutledge's father and brother arrived in Bradley 

Junction to find the 16-year-old girl. And that, Spann said, is when things 

really got odd.



The father and brother found blood stains throughout the bedroom. Soon the 

neighborhood was up in arms, causing Ranzy Rutledge to turn himself over to 

Sheriff A.H. Wilder for his own protection.



The sheriff eventually placed Rutledge in a private cell on the second floor 

of the jail -- and Rutledge started asking to be released.



"Unless I am out of jail today, I'm never coming out," Rutledge told a friend 

on Oct. 30.



Rutledge's body was found perfectly arranged on his jail cell cot the next morning. 

One day later, Lessie Rutledge's body was found sticking partially out of a gopher 

tortoise hole near Green Pond.



It was generally assumed that Rutledge killed his wife -- who turned out to be 

six months pregnant -- and then committed suicide. But many so-called facts don't 

compute, Spann said.



Police, for instance, found shotgun shells near Lessie Rutledge's grave and 

determined she was killed near where she was found -- not at her home, which 

leaves the bedroom blood a mystery.



"You wonder whose blood was that," Spann said.



Meanwhile, initial reports in The Tampa Tribune on Nov. 2 claimed a "hurried 

examination of the girl's body by the officer failed to reveal any gunshot wounds 

about the head or shoulders." Yet the very next day, the Tribune reported Rutledge 

had fired a shotgun at close range, blowing half her head away. (Apparently the 

first officer wasn't very thorough.)



Also, police said Rutledge killed himself by taking poison, but no container was 

ever found. Adding to the intrigue, the sheriff had Rutledge's cell cleaned and 

repainted a few days later.



"Other inmates heard bumping and groaning in the night," Spann said of the night 

Ranzy Rutledge died. "I personally think the sheriff let the father and brother 

of the woman in the cell in the middle of the night to take care of him."



What really happened may never be known, Spann said. With both Rutledges dead, 

the sheriff's office quickly dropped the case and nothing further was stated 

in local newspapers. 

Cinnamon Bair is a Polk County native. She can be reached at cinbair@hotmail.com.