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Marsa Gipson death remains unsolved after 30 years
Imagine the fate of poor Marsa Gipson, an innocent 28-year-old Arcadia woman, 30 years ago today.
It’s 1:15 in the morning on Aug. 27, 1991 as she and a male companion make their way through the darkness in Gipson’s Chevrolet Camaro, nearing the Manhattan Road overpass on Interstate 70 in western Putnam County as they head to Terre Haute to rendezvous with her two children, ages 9 and 10.
Out of the darkness at the 33-mile marker, a jagged 22-pound chunk of riprap is tossed brazenly, maliciously and alas, fatally, from the overpass, crashing down on the windshield of Gipson’s car. She is killed almost instantly. Her family has never had closure. Her children are 39 and 40 now, likely with children of their own that Marsa Gipson has never gotten to hug or kiss as her grandchildren.
So, now 30 years later, is there anything new at this point in the investigation?
“Nothing ... nothing,” Putnam County Prosecutor Tom Bookwalter said Thursday, repeating himself for emphasis.
It is a cold case now, he said. “We get the stuff out every year and bring it out and talk about it in our office.
“We’re waiting for a break. We’re certain somebody out there knows something. We know at least two people were involved.”
The case remains an unsolved mystery, an unsolved murder that gnaws at investigators and the public alike, especially whenever they drive over, under or around that overpass. Its sterile, cold nature belies that it remains the scene of every motorist’s worst nightmare.
For the random act of violence that brought an end to Marsa Gipson’s young life could have happened to anybody. She was literally and fatally in the wrong place at the wrong time, her only mistake being driving along I-70 at that precise moment.
Most certainly people were seen that night and morning atop the overpass. From all accounts, they appeared to be young people. Probably late teenagers or in their early 20s. Investigators even checked the attendance records at local high schools the next day to see who might be missing from class.
And over the years, the focus has been on two young men, each of whom would now be about 50 years old.
But without any real witnesses that could identify the culprits and little actual physical evidence -- basically just the fatal piece of concrete and another 11-pound rock that bounced off the passenger’s side of the hood, indicating at least two suspects were on the overpass that night -- the investigation has gone nowhere. The pieces of rock were tested for DNA years later but came back with only “unknown female” DNA, most likely that of Gipson.
By now, authorities would have thought a guilty conscience would have gotten to at least one of the perpetrators. But instead it’s been 30 years of tight-lipped quiet. No sharing the story over a couple of beers. No bragging to a classmate or cellmate. No Facebook chatter.
Thirty years and counting without even allowing a guilty conscience to get to them.
Authorities have long believed they know the people and the group involved.
Several persons had been known to frequent that I-70 overpass for various nefarious activity. And while several will admit to being up there on previous occasions, nobody will admit to being on the bridge or knowing who might have been up there that fateful night in 1991.
“We’ve had a number of people say, ‘We think these people did it,’” Bookwalter said in an earlier interview, “but we don’t have any firsthand information.”
In the weeks leading up to the fatal incident, there were reports of at least only eight instances of items being thrown from area overpasses, including six at the Manhattan Road site. Items like corn cobs, PVC pipe, small rocks and more rained down on unsuspecting motorists.
One rock reportedly crashed through the windshield of a semi, breaking the leg of a passenger who probably had no idea how close he or she probably came to tragedy.
“We’ve pretty much been able to figure out who those people were,” the prosecutor said of those tossing the earlier items. “It started out small with the PVC pipe and corn cobs and progressively got more serious.”
Over three decades, more than 100 people have been interviewed about the Marsa Gipson case, authorities say.
While a 2008 State Police re-enactment generated some new publicity and a provided a few more would-be witnesses, nothing was able to put the investigation over the top.
As an Indiana State Police corporal at the Putnamville Post, Putnam Superior Court Judge Denny Bridges recalls the tragic details of Aug. 27, 1991. He and others investigated two possible suspects, even making a trip to Evansville to interrogate one young man while detaining both of them simultaneously at the State Police post, hoping one or the other would spill his guts when he saw his would-be accomplice being walked into the room by detectives.
“If the two of them indeed did it,” Bridges told the Banner Graphic previously, “that’s the best job of keeping their mouths shut of anybody I’ve ever witnessed.”
Like others before him over the past 30 years, Prosecutor Bookwalter has been wanting to take the evidence in the case to a Grand Jury. But he knows there has to be enough evidence to convict the perpetrators. Just one shot at justice -- a murder charge -- now remains. The statute of limitations has run out on anything lesser.
“We have persons of interest,” Bookwalter assured, “that’s where we’re at with it.
“We’re just going to need somebody with a conscience that will come forward and tell what they know.”
Until then, it remains an unsolved murder mystery and the poster child for ruthless, heinous acts.