Nearly 50 years ago, the murder of an eccentric heiress in Indianapolis made headlines across the nation.
Marjorie Jackson, 66, a multi-millionaire heiress to a local Indiana grocery chain, was shot and killed at her home in early May 1977 during a robbery gone wrong. But what confounded investigators was that, despite being robbed twice previously, Jackson continued to hide millions of dollars in cash around her house before her death — and refused to report the crimes.
The deadly heist has regained attention on social media in recent weeks, and PEOPLE is looking back at the 1977 mystery that was once named one of the city’s “most notorious crimes” of all time by Indianapolis Monthly.
Who Was Marjorie Jackson?
Jackson was an heiress of Standard Grocery, one of Indiana’s most notable grocery stores in the 20th century, through her marriage to Chester Jackson, whose father founded the company. According to The Indianapolis Starafter Chester died in 1970, Jackson inherited roughly $14 million and became intensely reclusive. “The shock of losing him really cracked her,” a neighbor told Time Magazine years later, noting that she became paranoid and extremely religious. The Star reported that investigators later found cakes with messages to God on them, while Time reported that her door knobs were covered in tinfoil in an attempt to protect her from what she believed were demons.
About six years after Jackson deposited her inheritance in the bank, the Star reported that a bank employee siphoned her account and embezzled about $700,000. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to Time, but the incident left a lasting, bitter impression about banks in Jackson’s mind.
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As a result, the widow began withdrawing her millions and stashing her money in various places across her home – something her husband liked to do when he was still living, the Star reported. But word quickly got out in the neighborhood, and within months, a pair of local teens hatched a plot to break in and take all they could get.
The First Robbery
Time described Jackson as “a vulnerable target,” given the rumors about the cash in her house and the fact she was known to always be home alone. Two local 19-year-olds, Walter Bergin Jr. and Douglas Howard Green, soon decided to break into her home. According to the Star, the teenagers initially broke in on May 16, 1976, to steal jewelry, but then stumbled upon hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the end, they left with $817,000 in cash and hoards of jewelry, which they later discarded out the window of their car as they drove away from the scene of the crime, according to the newspaper.
The teenagers openly talked about their crimes, and their robbery reportedly became such a well-known rumor that police came to Jackson to ask if she’d like to press charges. However, according to the Star, Jackson responded angrily to the visit: She pointed a toy gun at the officers and told them to get off her property.
Two More Robberies — the Second One Fatal
The initial robbery, and Jackson’s refusal to discuss it with police left Jackson’s cash-splashed home even more vulnerable, according to several accounts. And in early May 1977, a pair of burglars with more nefarious intentions twice broke into Jackson’s home. On May 1, 1977, the Star reported that burglars Howard Willard and Manuel Robinson broke in and stole about $1 million from Jackson’s home. The crime again went unreported.
A few days later, they returned for more. This time, at some point during the robbery, Jackson was shot in the stomach and bled to death on her kitchen floor. Willard and Robinson attempted to cover up the murder by burning Jackson’s house down. However, according to the Star, the fire only burned a portion of the home, leaving her body and key evidence unscathed from the blaze. Willard was later found guilty of murder, while a jury determined Robinson was not guilty in Jackson’s death, according to local WRTV.
Several million dollars of Jackson’s fortune remain unaccounted for, according to the Indianapolis Monthly, while WRTV reports that it was never officially determined how much of Jackson’s millions were taken from her home through the years.
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