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Submitted: 10/27/10 • Approved: 10/28/10 • Last Updated: 8/13/15 • R127955-G0-S3
Joseph H. Penwell
Born: June 12, 1950
Died: October 6, 1970
Aged: 20 yrs. 3 mos. 24 ds.
Son of Benjamin & Mary
From: The Press - Gazette – Hillsboro, Ohio – Tuesday, October 13, 1970 – page 5: “Joseph H. Penwell” – Greenfield – Funeral services for Joseph H. Penwell, 20, Greenfield, were held Sunday at 2 P.M. at the Anderson-Strueve Funeral Home. Rev. Charles Snyder officiated and burial was in Madison Township Cemetery.
Penwell was fatally wounded from a shotgun blast at a home near Portland, Ind., Tuesday night, October 6.
Born June 12, 1950, in Bourneville, he was the son of Benjamin H. and Mary O’Connor Penwell. He was employed as a timber worker. He was a member of the Greenfield Christian Community church.
Surviving are his wife, Katherine; his father, Benjamin Penwell, Lyndon Rt. 1; his mother, Mrs. Cecil (Mary) Benson, Greenfield; three sisters, Mrs. Woodford (Evelyn) Briscoe, Lyndon Rt.1, Virginia Penwell, Indianapolis, Ind., and Mrs. Rick (Nora) Daugherty, Greenfield; a half sister, Betty Benson, Greenfield; seven brothers, Fred A. Penwell, Greenfield; Benjamin C., Bainbridge Rt. 2, Everett, South Salem, William, Chesterton, Ind., Henry, Greenfield, Edward, Greenfield, George, Greenfield Rt. 1.
He was predeceased by a brother and a sister.”
Abstracted from the Anderson Herald, Anderson, Indiana, Thursday, October 8, 1970 – page 35 – “ ‘Siege Tactics’ Slaying Depicted” – “Porter, Ind. (AP) – “It must have been like a siege,” a sheriff’s deputy said Wednesday as Porter County and state police detectives made a joint investigation into the killing of Joseph H. Penwell, 20, of Chesterton. The young man was slain Tuesday night by a shotgun blast at the window in the home of Mr. Morris Buzalski, Chesterton florist, on a thinly settled fringe of Porter.
Penwell’s brother, William, 25, of Chesterton, was arrested by George Early, criminal investigator for the Porter County sheriff’s office, when William went into a hospital to inquire about his brother.
Joseph Penwell was found fatally wounded outside the house. Sheriff’s deputies said they were told he had lived in Greenfield, Ohio, until recently and had come to Chesterton to look for a job. Leonard Wetmore, Port County coroner, said the Buzalski house was sealed temporarily during the investigation. He said he would not return a verdict until after receiving results of tests for alcohol in the dead man’s blood.
“I have not recommended that any charges be filed,” Wetmore said.”
Follow up stories ran in The Press – Gazette, Hillsboro, Ohio, on Friday, October 9, 1970, under the heading of “Former Greenfield Resident Shot to Death In Indiana,” and in the The Valparaiso Vidette -Messenger in Valparaiso, Indiana, on Saturday, January 9, 1971, on page 1, under the heading of “Probation for 2 N. County Men.”
Contributed on 10/27/10 by ljellis_2000
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Record #: 127955