The mysterious death of Aileen Conway

Every true crime buff has one of those cases. This is mine. I think if there is any crime in the history of the world that I could be a fly on the wall and know what happened, it would be this case. The case of Aileen Conway.

links:

unsolved.com...

oklahomacoldcases.org...

Pat first became suspicious when he returned home a few hours after his wife’s death to find the patio door wide open. Aileen’s purse, which she always carried with her, had been left behind. Her driver’s license and glasses were inside. An ironing board was set up and the iron left on. Water from a garden hose was running into the backyard swimming pool. In the master bathroom, the tub was still full of water and the phone was off the hook. All of these clues seemed more than suspicious to Pat:

“The thing that really got my attention was the phone being off the hook, as though she’d attempted to make a phone call, possibly to the police department. We have no way of knowing to whom. Between me and the kids, one would see one thing, and one another, and we start putting it together and right away we found out, well, this was no accident at all."

Aileen Conway had been married to her husband Pat for 33 years. On April 29th, 1986 something happened that caused her to leave her home without her purse or glasses, with the iron and ironing board set up, iron turned on, water hose filling the backyard pool and a full bathtub with the telephone off the hook.

Her car was found in flames crashed into a guardrail on a rural bridge on a road she had absolutely no reason to be on or near with her burned beyond recognition body inside. The fire burned so hot it actually melted the guardrail. This combined with the fact that the gas cap was missing led authorities to change the status of her case from accidental to unexplained, reasoning that the fire burned so hot that accelerants may have been used and removing the gas cap is a common tactic in arson car fires.

A bulletin from Aileen and Pat's church that had been on the dashboard of the car was found 200 feet from the wreckage, Pat found this strange because Aileen was known to always drive with the windows rolled up and air conditioning on in the car, so there really wasn't any way he could see it would blow out of the car.

There were skid marks indicating the car's speed was approximately 50-60mph when it impacted the guardrail, and obviously skid marks indicate braking which means someone was actively driving the car at this time.

There had been a string of burglaries in the area and theories that perhaps she interrupted a burglar and was murdered in this strange way, body burned beyond recognition. It just seems like a lot of effort to go through for a would-be burglar. To abduct her, somehow stage the accident complete with skid marks, then light the car on fire. In my mind, it would be much easier for an interrupted burglar to either bludgeon her with an object in her home or drown her in the full bathtub or pool. I just don't see a burglar going to this extent to avoid being caught. But maybe. Anything is possible in this case.

Who was Aileen calling? I am skeptical it was 911. Nothing was taken from the home and 911 is a pretty quick dial, just 3 digits. Unless the perp grabbed her before she had the chance to dial, immediately after she picked the phone up always a possibility.

If there was no interrupted burglary, why did Aileen leave the house in the manner she did seemingly in the middle of a bunch of tasks and without her purse or glasses?

If it was a mental break and she was tearing down the backroads at speeds of well over 60mph as indicated by the skid marks, what caused this and why were there apparently no signs of mental anguish or distress noted by her husband or children? Was she a great actress?

HOW if there are indeed skid marks, HOW did the perpetrator wreck the car without themselves being incapacitated from hitting the guard rail at 50 or 60 MPH and if it was a brick on the accelerator type staging, how were there skid marks leading up to the guard rail? The smoke from the fire was noticed quickly by a farmer working his field nearby.

WHERE DID THE MISSING GAS CAP GO?!?!?!?!?!?! If the gas cap was missing, where is it? Doesn't that indicate that SOMEONE walked away from that fire with the gas cap? Can the gas cap just disappear in a fire? I know NOTHING about car fires so I don't know.

This is a true unsolved mystery, but it does remind me of another case that has been solved, the case of Ethel Kidd. Circumstances are different and the perpetrator has been caught in Ethel's case, however she was just a retired lady who was apparently abducted from her home, raped and murdered then held in a refrigerated circumstance for about a week before the perp brought her body back to the woods behind her house and tied her naked body to a tree. The perpetrator in her case was a man who was completely unknown and unrelated to Ethel's life whatsoever, and nothing was disturbed in her house at all, just the front door left unlocked.

So in my opinion something similar possibly happened to Aileen. In Ethel's case, the man had apparently asked for directions and then just decided to rape and murder Ethel. With Aileen's body being burned beyond recognition I doubt investigators could determine whether sexual assault occurred or may have acted as a motive.

I am aware that the perpetrator in Ethel's case has absolutely nothing to do with Aileen's case, but I do feel that something similar happened. A "thrill kill" as it were. Perhaps someone knocked on the door asking for help, Aileen answered and this tragic homicide occurred. I have seen many cases where the motive is totally inexplicable such as murdering a random elderly person to steal their car and just motiveless murders, just because somebody wanted to know what it was like to kill someone, so I rule nothing out in this and I am hoping against hope that some resolution comes in this for her family. Someone's conscience is telling them to get this off their chest and tell Law Enforcement what they did that terrible April day in 1986 and I hope they talk soon.

What do you guys think?

Murder?
Mental Breakdown?

I just don't buy the interrupted burglary angle on this.

a reply to: Shoshanna

From the evidence, I'd say she was taken. They'd been married for 33 years so that would put her somewhere in her 50s. People that age don't just suddenly snap and they certainly don't set fire to their own cars and burn themselves to death. The guardrail being melted is unusual but not that much. Car fires burn around 1500 degrees and steel will start to deform at around 1000. Guardrails are relatively thin, so melting may happen at lower temps, but if an accelerant was used, the fire was probably hotter than normal.

She had her keys, but not her purse or glasses. That's a big red flag. Women don't just "forget" to grab their purse. It's such an ingrained habit I think my wife could walk out naked before she'd forget to grab hers'.

Most gas caps are plastic. If whoever killed her just threw it in the car after setting the fire, it could have just burned.

a reply to: Shoshanna

Was there any evidence that showed Aileen Conway was on heavy medications?

a reply to: DAVID64

Most gas caps are plastic. If whoever killed her just threw it in the car after setting the fire, it could have just burned.

I had a bad habbit for years of setting my gas cap on the rrof or bumper and then forgetting to put it on after fueling up, so a missing gas cap wouldn't be out of character for me.

What if she got a phone call telling her one of her children or her husband had benn in a terrible accident on that raod and she needed to come quickly, then somebody ran her off the road?

That's about the only scenario that could get me out of the house that quickly without at least turning the iron off.

a reply to: nugget1

If she was in that much of a hurry, that she didn't turn off the iron, left the hose running and leave her purse behind, she wouldn't have stopped to get gas....and if she left her purse, how did she pay for gas ?

Another thing that sticks out....In 1986 you could hit *69 to redial the last number who called you. If they did that and didn't see anything strange about the last incoming call, that points to her trying make one before she was forced out of the house.

I'm sorry, I've never heard of Aileen Conway. Please forgive me for not knowing her.

People die every day. Some of them die under questionable circumstances, and some of them just die.

With all due respect, and I mean this in the deepest way...who is Aileen Conway? And...why should 'Aileen' matter more than my nepnew, uncle, BIL or just someone walking down the street?

edit - Again, please forgive my ignorance.

a reply to: Shoshanna

First impression...She was in the middle of doing a bunch of things and she received a phone call relating an absolutely time-sensitive emergency...something like a loved one has been in an accident or something similar.
She dropped the phone and immediately rushed out of the house without thinking of anything else.