Those Chitwoods. Always stirring the pot. Torrance had had a two-year period of zero traffic fatalities before J. D.’s death that August day in ’44, and as a result the City Council built a decomposed granite sidewalk on the east side of Western, which had heretofore been pavement, which was just fine before the Lumia Trailer Park went up and folks started walking in the street.
And then the pot is stirred again, with some spice thrown in for good measure, when in a bar Helen lets blab that she shivved her hubby and pushed him in front of a car.
One problem though-she didn’t do it. The autopsy revealed that Chitwood’s lung was in fact punctured when crushed in the accident, and there was no evidence of a knife wound on the body, according to Police Chief J. A. Stroh. “I was drunk and didn’t know what I was saying and wanted to make my present hubby angry†revealed Helen Chitwood Schug, who was released to presumably relieved present husband Roland Schug.
