Down By The River

March 12, 1947
Whittier

Sheriff’s deputies have obtained a confession from shaggy-haired Myron Funk, 23, in the shocking slaying of Mae Lorena Lund, the 46-year-old ladyfriend of Funk’s father Frank (aka Hardrock).

Lund’s strangled body was found in the shallows of the San Gabriel River in Norwalk, several miles from her home at 115 Burton Street, Bellflower. Funk admitted that he had returned alone to Burton Street after he and his father went home to South Gate following a night of heavy drinking. He claimed to recall arguing with Lund, but to be uncertain over what. He knew he had hit her in the jaw, shoved her onto the bed, then wrapped an electrical cord from a nearby iron tight around her throat. He claims he drove her corpse to the river, then returned home to sleep.

The next morning, Hardrock Funk asked his son for a ride to Mrs. Lund’s, where the lady’s absence received no special mention from Myron. They fed the chickens and left quickly.

Investigations focused on tire tracks in the soft river mud, which led Sheriff’s deputies to the Funks’ car. Myron was questioned at the Compton jail while his father sweated it out in Whittier. A search revealed human blood on the spare tire.

Myron’s confession seems to exonerate his father, who claims he was too drunk that night to remember much of anything.

Published by

Kim Cooper

Kim Cooper is the creator of 1947project, the crime-a-day time travel blog that spawned Esotouric’s popular crime bus tours, including The Real Black Dahlia. She is the author of The Kept Girl, the acclaimed historical mystery starring the young Raymond Chandler and the real-life Philip Marlowe, and of The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles. With husband Richard Schave, Kim curates the Salons and forensic science seminars of LAVA- The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. When the third generation Angeleno isn’t combing old newspapers for forgotten scandals, she is a passionate advocate for historic preservation of signage, vernacular architecture and writer’s homes. Kim was for many years the editrix of Scram, a journal of unpopular culture. Her books include Fall in Love For Life, Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth, Lost in the Grooves and an oral history of Neutral Milk Hotel.

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