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Who Killed Susan Wickersham? Police Still Hope For Proof

The 17-year-old disappeared from a small town, and investigators think one clue could be all it takes to reveal her murderer.

Verity Partington
4 min readJul 14, 2022
Susan Wickersham, murdered in 1973

Bend in Oregon was a small, sleepy place in 1973, and its residents no doubt felt safe in a town where everyone knew everyone else.

Susan Wickersham, who had just completed her junior year at Bend High School, was no different. After spending a summer’s night driving around town with a friend, she likely had no qualms at all when she decided to walk the rest of the way home.

However, she never made it back and was never seen alive again. Although her murder case is cold, investigators and family members think they have an idea who was responsible — and they hope one day to be able to back up their hunch.

Susan vanishes into the night

It was around 11:30 PM when Susan Wickersham and her friend decided to call it a night on their evening of cruising around Bend in Susan’s mother’s car.

Susan had agreed to return the vehicle rather than driving home in it, so she headed to the Sage Room Restaurant where her mother was working to make the switch as planned.

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Verity Partington
Verity Partington

Written by Verity Partington

A writer and author of crime thrillers living in the UK. Partial to books, stationery, papercrafts and walking. You can find her books on Amazon here: https://a

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