Debbie Dappen

     Deborah Lynne Dappen was born April 10, 1960 to Karl and Rosemary Dappen. The Dappens also had an older child, Karl, Jr. In April 1963, Karl and Rosemary bought a home in the 3800 block of Lonsdale Street. A couple of years earlier, Karl’s parents Russell and Stella Dappen had moved into a home on Belmont Avenue in Mariemont, so the two Dappen households were within a few blocks of each other. The young family had a parakeet, a cockatiel, two turtles, and two guinea pigs.

     My parents’ first home together (and my first home ever) was across the street and a couple of houses up from the Dappen home. Although she didn’t get to know the Dappen family, my mom remembers seeing the little girl playing in her yard.

Debbie Dappen

Cincinnati Post & Times Star, August 21, 1964

    On Wednesday August 19, 1964, Debbie spent the morning outside playing with some neighborhood children. She and the other kids went home at lunchtime; Debbie went in around 12:30 p.m. and back outside to play at 1:00 p.m. Around 2:30 p.m., the mother of one of Debbie’s playmates mentioned to Rosemary that Debbie told her daughter that she and her mommy were going to grandma’s house. Rosemary responded that she had no plans to visit her mother-in-law that day and became concerned about where Debbie was. At around 4:00 p.m., Karl flagged down a Fairfax police officer and told him that Debbie was missing. Karl told police that Debbie had never wandered away before, though there was another report that she had once walked alone to her grandparents’ home.

     The concerned parents were able to give police a very detailed description of their daughter: 

She is about three feet tall and weighs about 40 pounds. Her light brown hair, slightly bleached by the sun, is cut in a short, ragged pixie style. She has large dark brown eyes and long eyelashes. . . . The girl's ears show through her hair and are fairly large. Her nose turns up, her lower lip is full, and one of her front teeth is darkened. She was wearing a dark brown pedal pusher two-piece suit with yellow trim. Her shoes were brown and white saddle oxfords. She wore pale blue stretch socks.

Debbie Dappen

Cincinnati Enquirer, August 22, 1964

 

    The Dappens’ property on Lonsdale was searched, as was Karl’s parents’ home on Belmont. Nothing was found. A door-to-door search commenced. Fairfax police, under the command of Chief James Finan, were joined by members of the Fairfax Volunteer Fire Department, the Boy Scouts, residents of all ages, and other local police departments, including the Montgomery Police and their two bloodhounds. 

Cincinnati Post & Times-Star, August 20, 1964

    My mom remembers the searchers looking in cars and in the storage bin behind our house. Porch lights were on for blocks around the Dappen home. At around midnight, Rosemary came out and asked searchers if the bloodhounds had picked up a scent, but they hadn’t. No trace of Debbie was found during the overnight search.

Cincinnati Post & Times-Star, August 20, 1964

    There were several reported sightings of Debbie. 10-year-old Scott Rickey, who lived at the corner of Watterson and Elder and knew Debbie, said he caught a glimpse of her at Bramble Park around 4:00 p.m. Wednesday. 10-year-old Kenny Aichholz said he thought he saw her at the Fairfax School playground at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday. A Madisonville teenager said she saw Debbie at the Madisonville School and knew her because she taught her how to swim at the Bramble Pool. However, Rosemary said Debbie didn’t know how to swim and had never been to the Bramble Pool. A Milford man said he searched a sewer under Wooster Pike and saw a piece of brown fabric with yellow edging atop a log, but the log floated away. A Terrace Park teenager reported seeing a body floating in the Little Miami River, but police found nothing.

     Helen Guthrie, who lived on another corner of Watterson and Elder, reported hanging laundry in her backyard around 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday when she said she saw Debbie across the street outside of the Watterson Market. She knew Debbie, because she had taught her in Vacation Bible School at Fairfax Presbyterian Church a couple of months earlier:

I'm pretty positive that was Debbie. I recognized her at the time and didn't think any more about it. A lot of children wait outside the store while their mothers are inside. It wasn't until that evening that my daughter reminded me the store was closed that afternoon. I wish I had remembered it then and called Debbie over. I didn't call to Debbie but I doubt that she would have answered me anyway. She's a bashful child and doesn't make up to people very quickly.

 

Helen Guthrie and the Watterson Market. The arrow indicates where she said saw

Debbie Dappen. From the Cincinnati Enquirer.

    The search throughout Fairfax continued on Thursday.  Because of the possible sightings in Madisonville, Cincinnati Police searched the areas of Madisonville and Hyde Park that bordered Fairfax, including the wooded area between Murray Avenue and Bramble Park.  All of Fairfax was searched, including the entire length of Little Duck Creek. 

Volunteers searching near Columbia Parkway and Red Bank Road.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer, August 21, 1964

    At 2:30 p.m., Fairfax officials dismissed the volunteers because there was no part of the village that hadn’t been searched. The authorities would handle the search going forward. There had been absolutely no trace of Debbie Dappen.

     Karl Dappen appeared at a press conference at the Fairfax Municipal Building. He believed Debbie was being held against her will, saying, "I plead to you as a father - to anyone who has Debbie - please return her . . . return her safely . . . so the family might be whole again. She is just a little four-year-old girl." He thanked everyone who had supported his family, and the police, firemen, and volunteers who had searched for Debbie.

Karl Dappen at press conference.

Cincinnati Enquirer, August 21, 1964

    Chief Finan shared his thoughts about the case with the media:

I have found the children who played with Debbie Wednesday morning. I know who she was with until she went into lunch about 12:30. I have her pegged until then. But I can't find any children who played with her in the afternoon. I just wonder why I can't find anyone who saw her after she ate lunch? I'm pretty sure she was seen about 2:45 p.m. at the grocery store at the corner of Watterson and Elder by Mrs. Guthrie. Mrs. Guthrie's description of the clothing the girl was wearing tallies with the clothing Debbie was wearing and Mrs. Guthrie had taught Debbie in church school. That's a half block north and a block east of the Dappen home on Lonsdale. I'm satisfied that was Debbie, but where was she before that and where was she after that? Who was she with?

    To add to the Dappens’ distress, they were receiving anonymous phone calls. No one would respond when they answered the calls, though at least once there was a baby crying in the background. Chief Finan enlisted Cincinnati Bell to try to trace the calls.

     Finally on Friday August 21, there was a break in the case when 13-year-old George Rickey, Jr. and a friend reported finding a shoe around four feet inside a pipe near Little Duck Creek at the Watterson Bridge, a brown and white saddle oxford. They took the shoe to Rickey’s sister, Edna, who often played with Debbie Dappen, who said it was Debbie’s shoe. They then took the shoe to Chief Finan. The shoe was taken to the Dappens, who identified it as Debbie’s.

George Rickey (left) and friend showing where they found Debbie's shoe.

Cincinnati Enquirer, August 22, 1964

Debbie's brown and white saddle oxford.

Cincinnati Post & Times-Star, August 22, 1964

    After the shoe was found, one of the reporters covering the story saw George Rickey look into an opening under his front porch. He reported what he saw to Chief Finan. (According to a comment left in 2020 on a story by Johnny Carroll about this case on Mariemont High School’s The Blueprint [Fairfax: The Summer of '64], WCKY radio’s Larry Roberts was the reporter.) 

    Upon news that a shoe had been found and identified as Debbie’s, searches began anew. Fairfax firefighters, with the assistance of machinery and personnel from Crumley, Jones & Crumley of Deer Park, Ohio, pumped out a pool in the creek near where the shoe was found. Bloodhounds were again called in. Reverend David Hadden, the Dappens’ pastor at Fairfax Presbyterian Church, led a group of men on a door-to-door search between the Dappen house on Lonsdale and Karl’s parents’ home on Belmont. Nothing more was found.

Searchers draining a pool in Little Duck Creek after Debbie's shoe was found.

Cincinnati Enquirer, August 22, 1964

    Cincinnati Enquirer crime reporter, Frank Weikel, had the kind of access to law enforcement during this investigation that one can’t imagine in today’s world. His reporting gives a lot of insight into the conclusion of this case.

Frank Weikel, Cincinnati Enquirer, August 22, 1964

    Weikel, Chief Finan, and Mayor Ronald Cribbet reasoned that 13-year-old George Rickey must have been responsible for the crime. He had found Debbie’s shoe in an area that had been searched at least twice before. There was also the reporter’s tip that Rickey had been seen looking under his front porch. Finally, some residents had reported to police that Scott Rickey, George’s younger brother, said that George had found Debbie’s shoe on Thursday night, not Friday.

    At 11:00 p.m. on Friday August 21, after most residents were in for the night, Chief Finan, Patrolman Harry Smith, and Frank Weikel went to the Rickey house on Watterson to question the family and ask to search the house. Alicia Rickey, George’s mother, answered the door and spoke to the men on her front porch. She consented to a search and suggested they start in the basement. Chief Finan said that the search would begin under the porch. Weikel was the youngest of the three men and climbed through the small opening under the porch while Finan and Smith lit the area with their flashlights. He crawled to the other side of the porch and moved a couple of pieces of wallboard and saw a child’s bare arm and midsection. Frank Weikel found Debbie Dappen’s body.

Frank Weikel showing the opening under the Rickeys' porch.

Cincinnati Enquirer, August 23, 1964

    Chief Finan called in Cincinnati Police homicide detectives and the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office. George Rickey, Sr. was now out of bed and dressed. Mrs. Rickey went to awaken George, Jr. Initially, George, Jr. said he didn’t know how Debbie’s body had gotten under the porch. Sgt. Russell Jackson and Detective Wilbert Stagenhorst of the Cincinnati Police arrived on the scene. George, Jr. was instructed to get dressed and Chief Finan, Sgt. Jackson, Detective Stagenhorst, and Frank Weikel took him to the Mariemont Police Station for questioning. Patrolman Smith went to the Dappen home to take them to the Fairfax Police Station; Chief Finan wanted to be sure they were notified of Debbie’s death through official channels.

Detective Stagenhorst, George Rickey, and Sgt. Jackson.

Cincinnati Enquirer, August 23, 1964

    Three minutes into the questioning, Rickey confessed to killing Debbie Dappen. Rickey said he was among the children playing near the Dappen home on Wednesday morning. The kids all went home around noon for lunch. He said he returned to Lonsdale after lunch and Debbie was playing alone on the sidewalk. He said that he asked Debbie if she wanted to go to his house to play hide and seek and she agreed. No one was home at the Rickey house. He led the little girl to his bedroom and attempted sexual advances. Debbie screamed. Rickey got a butcher knife from the kitchen and stabbed Debbie in the abdomen. After he stabbed her, he strangled her. After her crying and screaming stopped, Rickey carried her to the bathroom, washed the blood from her body, and placed a Band-Aid on the stab wound. He carried Debbie’s body out the side door of the house. He placed her under the front porch, dragged her to the other side, and covered her with debris.

 

George Rickey

Cincinnati Enquirer, August 22, 1964

    When he went searching for Debbie with his friend on Friday, Rickey was carrying her shoe in his pocket.

     The police officers (and Frank Weikel) took the boy back to his house, where he showed them the knife he used to stab Debbie. They then instructed Rickey to tell his mother what he had just told them. Rickey said, “I did it, Mom, I killed her.” Mrs. Rickey embraced him and asked him why. He replied, “I don’t know.” Police took George Rickey, Jr. into custody. The coroner’s office then arrived on the scene, completed their investigation, and removed Debbie’s remains.

    At 2:00 a.m. Saturday, the police and Weikel went to the Fairfax Police Station, where Rosemary and Karl Dappen were waiting. They had been crying and were holding hands. They were aware that Debbie was dead, but the police officers filled them in on the rest. Rosemary said, “I know it doesn’t matter now, but was her face marked up?” She was told it was not. “Take me to my baby,” she said, “I want to see my baby now. Take me to her now.” As Karl tried to comfort Rosemary, police explained that the coroner’s office had taken Debbie’s body to the morgue.

     The coroner’s office said that Debbie had been dead at least 48 hours when found and determined that suffocation was the cause of death. There was no evidence of sexual assault. The stab wound in the abdomen would not have been fatal, had it been treated properly.

Chief James Finan viewing evidence.

Cincinnati Enquirer, August 23, 1964

    Back in those days, the third weekend in August was the social event of the year in Fairfax, the Firemen’s Festival. In 1964, the timing couldn’t have been worse. Residents awoke to learn about the murder of a Fairfax child at the hands of another Fairfax child, and then later in the day made their way to the festival. Volunteer firefighters who had spent the past two and a half days searching streets, woods, creek, pipes, and sewers were now staffing booths at an “abbreviated” festival. Parents, who no doubt didn’t let their children out of their sight, took them to enjoy some rides, eat cotton candy, and maybe win a goldfish. 

Cincinnati Enquirer

    The festival was an important fundraiser for the all-volunteer department. Fairfax Fire Chief Kenneth Kuhner said that the rides and concessions had been arranged a year in advance. Chief Kuhner said, “It wasn't our desire to go ahead with it, but we did have commitments."    

Cincinnati Enquirer

    The visitation for Debbie Dappen was held at Thomas Funeral Home in Madisonville on the evening of Sunday August 23 and hundreds of people attended.

     Debbie’s funeral was held at Fairfax Presbyterian Church on Monday August 24 with Rev. David Hadden officiating. An honor guard of 200 Fairfax children was planned. Chairs and a loudspeaker were set up outside the church to accommodate as many people as possible. Rev. Hadden read a statement from Rosemary Dappen requesting “malice toward none” and that no one “persecute” the Rickey family.  Rev. Hadden said, "This courageous mother has nobly set the pattern for all of us." Debbie was buried at Mount Washington Cemetery.

Debbie Dappen's funeral at Fairfax Presbyterian Church.

Cincinnati Post & Times-Star, August 25, 1964

    The Dappen family requested that memorial donations be made to Fairfax Presbyterian Church. Rosemary suggested a room where parents could take their fidgety children and still be able to follow the service. At the time of the funeral, $1,000 had already been raised to build a soundproof room with a glass window and speaker at the back of the sanctuary. Joseph E. Smith, the architect who designed the church over 20 years earlier, donated his time to design what would later be called the “Debbie Dappen Crying Room.”

     Within a week of the discovery of Debbie’s body, the Dappens had received hundreds of letters of condolence from around the country. Rosemary was trying to answer each letter individually in appreciation to the people who took the time to reach out to them. The task also served to keep her mind occupied. Some letters contained contributions.

     Rosemary and Karl shared their thoughts about what they had been through. Rosemary said the hardest part was “the waiting and the uncertainty. Every time the phone rang, I almost jumped out of my skin. Then that Thursday I knew that she was gone. And after they found her, I felt a sense of relief. At least I knew where she was . . . that she was here with us and not off somewhere where we might never see her again, or know what happened to her."

     Karl said, "That first night was worst for me, I think. It's hard to say. But I remember the search Wednesday night the clearest. It's like a dream now, but I remember all the people milling around, the dogs, and all those flashlights."

     Rosemary said, "Everywhere I look I see something that reminds me of Debbie. There are some scribblings on the front porch that Debbie made with her crayons . . . I'll never paint that porch. Most of her things are still upstairs. I couldn't part with them . . . but I still can't face them."

     The weekend after George Rickey, Jr. was taken into custody, Rev. David Hadden twice took George and Alicia Rickey to visit him. In the coming weeks, Rickey underwent physical and psychiatric testing. The Juvenile Court retained jurisdiction over his case and in December 1964 found him guilty of delinquency in the murder of Debbie Dappen. The judge turned him over to the Ohio Youth Commission with the recommendation that he remain in custody until the age of 21.

     This was not Rickey’s last brush with the law. In 1970 at the age of 19, he was serving time at a halfway house in Columbus when he was charged with assault with intent to rob. He worked at a hospital during the day and attempted to rob a nurse at knifepoint. He was sent to the Lima State Hospital, then returned to Columbus, where he was on probation until November 1972.

     He then returned to Cincinnati and worked as an orderly at the Cincinnati Mental Health Institute. On March 9, 1973, Rickey, then 22, knocked on the door of a Butler County woman’s home, asking to use her phone because he was having car trouble. Upon entering her home, he choked, bound and gagged her, and forced her into a sex act. He left the woman bound and gagged, but she was able to free herself quickly and call police with a description of his car. The police arrested him five minutes later. He was convicted of sodomy, malicious entry, and assault with intent to rob and sent to the Mansfield Reformatory. He first went before the Parole Board in March 1974 and wouldn’t again be eligible for parole until 1979.

     Upon hearing of Rickey’s arrest on the television news, Karl Dappen contacted Frank Weikel at the Cincinnati Enquirer to express his “horror and shock that George Rickey has been returned to society.”

     I’m not sure how much longer the Rickey family lived in Fairfax. Life couldn’t have been easy for them in the village or in that house. Rosemary and Karl Dappen sold their Lonsdale home in December 1969.

     Even though this horrific case happened less than 60 years ago, society has changed a lot since then. We have a tendency to look back at stories like this with our modern-day sensibilities and judge the actions and decisions of the people involved. I have to remind myself not to indulge in this type of judgement.

     Instead, I want to try to glean some good from this story. Our community came together to search night and day for a little girl most residents didn’t know. The Fairfax Civic Association announced that they would drain their treasury to establish a fund for information leading to Debbie’s whereabouts. Volunteers from the Red Cross Disaster Unit, without request, came to the village to offer equipment and manpower. Village residents brought coffee and sandwiches to the firehouse for the searchers. Fairfax Police, as well as law enforcement from other local agencies, spent hours searching and investigating. The Fairfax Volunteer Fire Department searched tirelessly for Debbie. Rev. David Hadden of Fairfax Presbyterian Church ministered to the Dappen family, led a search for his little congregant, supported the Rickey family, and officiated Debbie’s funeral. Finally, Rosemary and Karl Dappen showed dignity and empathy in a situation that no parent wants to ever think about facing.