Word: matlick
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...checkup at the Mayo Clinic; as of Feb. 17, 1977, the last day she was known to be alive; in Chicago. Most of the estimated $45 million estate will go to hospitals, churches and animal-welfare groups, but her will also includes a $50,000 annuity to John Matlick, 54, her longtime houseman and chauffeur, who was originally a suspect, though no evidence ever directly linked him to her disappearance...
From the beginning, investigators have focused most of their suspicions on Jack Matlick. In the seven years after Frank Brach's death, the muscular onetime deliveryman practically became lord of the manor. He directed workmen around the estate and took care of business for "the missus." He knew every detail of her life, even that she stored a lock of her hair in an ivory box in her bedroom. Says John Demand, a former detective who participated in the investigation: "I had the strange feeling that Matlick had taken over her entire personality." He even used her glasses...
Just before her disappearance, Matlick's relationship with "the missus" seemed in jeopardy. She had become friendly with Richard Bailey, a Chicago stable owner who boarded some of her horses. She had been talking about moving to Fort Lauderdale...
Moreover, police found flaws in Matlick's story, particularly his account of driving her to the airport at 6:50 a.m. for a trip to Florida. There were no Florida flights out of O'Hare before 9 a.m.; Mrs. Brach had no reservation with any airline...
Police have questioned Matlick about eleven checks that cleared her bank account after she disappeared, including one for $3,000 that was made out to him. The checks were not signed in Mrs. Brach's normal handwriting. Matlick told police that her hand had been hurt when a trunk lid fell on it, and she could only scrawl. Oddest of all, Matlick failed for nearly two weeks to report that Mrs. Brach was missing. During that time, he says, he summoned her brother Charles Vorhees, a retired railroad worker, to the estate, where they burned two of Mrs. Brach...