John Wesley Wable

Case overview

John Wesley Wable was convicted for murdering truck drivers who pulled off the side of the road to sleep.

Wable died in Pennsylvania’s electric chair on September 26, 1954.

Timeline

• July 25, 1953 — Truck driver Lester Woodward, 30, was shot in the head and killed as he slept in his truck, parked along the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Irwin.
• July 28, 1953 — Trucker Harry Pitts died in identical circumstances, parked near the turnpike’s Donegal interchange.
• July 31, 1953 — John Shepperd suffered a head wound while sleeping in his truck on Route 30, east of Lisbon, Ohio, within twelve miles of the Pennsylvania Turnpike; he survived.
• August 6, 1953 — Wable was arrested for failing to return a car he had rented on July 18.
• August 8, 1953 — Wable was jailed on charges of felonious assault.
• September 23, 1953 — Wable was released from the county jail after his father settled the claim with the car dealer; the case was dismissed.
• September 23, 1953 — Wable was held in the county jail until this date.
• October 9, 1953 — Cleveland police publicly announced that 24-year-old John Wable had been jailed on August 8 and delivered to police from Uniontown on charges of felonious assault; authorities also publicly announced statements about implicating himself in the shootings.
• October 10, 1953 — Belated all-points bulletins were issued.
• October 12, 1953 — Wable was arrested two days later by police in Albuquerque.
• November 14, 1953 — Formal indictments were issued.
• March 5, 1954 — Wable’s trial started.
• March 13, 1954 — Wable was convicted in the death of Harry Pitts.
• September 26, 1954 — Wable was executed by electrocution in Pennsylvania.

The offence

Lester Woodward (July 25, 1953)

Truck driver Lester Woodward, 30, was shot in the head and killed as he slept in his truck, parked along the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Irwin.

Police speculated that the killer, after pulling up next to the truck in the early morning, climbed into the cab and shot Woodward as he slept. Woodward’s wallet was empty, and robbery was assumed as the motive. A six-car pileup, occurring around the same time, killed several people and was treated as likely related to the killer fleeing at high speed.

Harry Pitts (July 28, 1953)

Trucker Harry Pitts, 39, died in identical circumstances, parked near the turnpike’s Donegal interchange.

Police described Pitts as having been killed around midnight, shot through the mouth with a .32-caliber weapon. Tire tracks suggested movement across the eastbound lanes and into the westbound lanes. Ballistics confirmed that the same gun killed both Woodward and Pitts.

John Shepperd (July 31, 1953)

John Shepperd, 36, was victim No. 3 and survived after suffering a head wound while sleeping in his truck on Route 30, east of Lisbon, Ohio, within twelve miles of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Shepperd later gave a direct account from his hospital bed a couple of days after the shooting, with his mother Agnes by his side:

“Then a noise like a firecracker went off in my head. I reared up and yelled for mother. I thought I was at home”

He described having a bandage over his jaw and said that after he felt the pain in his head, he heard a high-pitched male voice. He said the man claimed he was out of gas and needed money. Shepperd quoted the assailant as telling him to take off his pants and wrote that he complied. Shepperd said the assailant took his watch and then left:

(Additional trial narrative also described the assailant snatching Shepard’s pants and taking his watch before leaving in a car.)

Police removed evidence connecting the incident to the other shootings by linking the bullet taken from Shepperd’s jaw to the gun that had killed Woodward and Pitts.

Investigation

Investigators identified a pattern in the murders: three truckers were ambushed in their sleep and each was shot with the same .32-caliber weapon.

Police speculated about how the killer might approach and shoot the victims and treated the emptied wallets and circumstances as indicating robbery motives early on.

After the third shooting, the killer became known as “The Turnpike Phantom.”

For more than a month, there was no progress despite roadblocks and a multistate dragnet. An $11,000 reward offered by the Pennsylvania Truck Motor Association failed to bring meaningful leads.

Authorities traced a key piece of evidence when Shepperd’s watch turned up in a Cleveland pawnshop. Police traced the pawnshop transaction to John Wesley Wable to a roominghouse in Cleveland. By the time police arrived, Wable had skipped out, leaving an unpaid rent bill and a baffled blond sweetheart, Leora Crissey, 22.

Police sought suspects across surrounding states, including people who were described as having alibis or being unable to be connected to the shootings.

Arrest and custody

Uniontown and jail

On October 9, police in Cleveland publicly announced that 24-year-old John Wable had been jailed on August 8, delivered to police from Uniontown on charges of felonious assault.

In Uniontown, Wable allegedly confessed to the turnpike shootings to a jailer, but authorities dismissed him as a “screwball” and returned him to the streets.

Albuquerque arrest and then denial

Two days after the all-points bulletins were issued, Wable was arrested by police in Albuquerque.

Back in jail, Wable denied involvement in the crimes. He did admit possession of the murder weapon. He claimed the weapon had been sold to an anonymous Cleveland resident shortly before the series began.

Authorities responded with announcements that Wable had signed statements implicating himself in the murders. Formal indictments were issued on November 14, 1953.

Flight and related pursuit

A day later in the narrative, a New Mexico state patrolman spotted a stolen car near Isleta, 10 miles south of Albuquerque. The car was described as containing three men wanted in a stickup of an Albuquerque gas station. With police on their tail, Wable and his sidekicks, J.D. Francis and Marvin Pierson, sped off at 100 mph and crashed through two roadblocks. When police reached the car, only Francis and Pierson were still inside. Wable fled on foot.

Trial

Wable insisted during his trial that he had nothing to do with the murders. He said he had been at the scene when Shepperd was shot, but claimed that Jim Parks had pulled the trigger and stolen the watch.

Wable admitted owning the murder weapon, but claimed that Jim Parks had borrowed the gun and had it at the time of the killings. Wable said he bought the watch from Parks and then pawned it.

A prosecution witness account described Wable’s father as swearing Wable was tucked in his bed, sound asleep, when one of the truckers was shot.

Wable’s trial started on March 5, 1954.

The verdict returned after four hours deliberation was:

“Guilty. First degree. Death Penalty.”

Sentencing

Wable was sentenced to death nine months after his conviction in the death of Harry Pitts.

Outcome

Wable died in the electric chair in Pennsylvania’s electric chair on September 26, 1954.

Other details

People named in the case narrative

• Lester Woodward (30) — Truck driver killed near Irwin along the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
• Harry Pitts (39) — Trucker killed near the Donegal interchange.
• John Shepperd (36) — Truck driver wounded while sleeping and survived; gave a hospital-bed account.
• Agnes Shepperd — Shepperd’s mother, present by his hospital bed.
• John Wesley Wable (24) — Suspect; convicted and executed.
• Leora Crissey (22) — Wable’s sweetheart; baffled by his disappearance from the roominghouse.
• Jim Parks — A person Wable claimed borrowed the gun and pulled the trigger.
• J.D. Francis — Sidekick in the flight from police; found inside the car after the crash.
• Marvin Pierson — Sidekick in the flight from police; found inside the car after the crash.
• Carolyn Smith — Off-duty nurse who reported seeing Wable as a hitchhiker.
• Midge Harman — Carolyn Smith’s friend who also spotted Wable walking toward a hobo jungle near the Santa Fe railroad track.
• Michael Newton — Mentioned as an author reference in the case narrative.
• Mara Bovsun — Mentioned as an author reference in the case narrative.
• Uniontown jailer — Named only as a jailer who dismissed Wable as a “screwball.”
• Police — Multiple agencies and officers are referenced without individual names in the narrative.

Weapon and method

The shootings involved a .32-caliber weapon. The bullet taken from Shepperd’s jaw matched the gun used to kill Woodward and Pitts.

Motive and assumptions in the narrative

Early investigation treated robbery as a likely motive based on emptied wallets, though investigators initially continued their search when a suspect confessed and was dismissed.

Juvenile, race, sex, and motive fields from the narrative

The narrative included fields that stated: SEX: M, RACE: W, TYPE: N, MOTIVE: PC-nonspecific, and MO: Shot sleeping truckers in random, motiveless attacks.