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Wayne Pratt, originally of Fond du Lac and later of Neenah, was engaged to Marie Webb of Neenah in June 1959. At the time of the wedding on May 28, 1960, Pratt had just transitioned from working for Gibson Chevrolet in Oshkosh to operating Pratt’s Pate Service Station. They soon had a son, Mark.
A few years later, Wayne Pratt, now 24, was at home watching television on the evening of June 13, 1963 when a white car, either a Chevy or Pontiac, pulled up to a gas station he operated along old Highway 41, between Neenah and Oshkosh, just north of US 45.
Pratt walked to the former Enco station from the small house he shared with his wife — a distance of roughly 50-100 feet.
Within minutes, Pratt was dead, the victim of a vicious attack in which he was stabbed 53 times in the back and left side. 12 of the stabs punctured his lungs, and both collapsed. Some of the stabs were four inches deep. There was also a laceration on his head, but the coroner believed this came after the stabbing rather than Pratt being knocked out. The autopsy suggested instead that Pratt may have been hit in the head with a snow shovel. He was found face-down on the floor in the storage room of the gas station and was partially covered with a blanket, the kind used to move furniture. A battery charger and stack of tires had been knocked over.
Winnebago County Coroner Arthur C. Miller points to spot where Enco Station operator, Wayne Pratt, 24, was lying. The blood-stained quilted blanket in lower foreground was used by Pratt’s killer to cover the body. Tipped over battery charger, left, and tires in disarray, right, led officials to believe there had been some struggle. (Northwestern photo)
Pratt’s wife, who said she went to the station after noticing that the lights hadn’t been turned on, notified the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department at 9 p.m. A manhunt for the white car ensued, but no one was arrested. The Soo Line train out of Neenah was also searched – two men were found riding in the box cars, but were not considered suspects. Another man was wanted after police learned he escaped from the Oshkosh Asylum the day before and had been seen around Neenah using a worthless check to buy dinner at Loehning’s Supper Club on Wisconsin Avenue. The 37-year old man had been committed as “an inebriate.”
The motive was initially believed to be robbery – the register usually contained $200, but only had $2 in change when police counted. A note by the register indicated 243 gallons of gas had been sold that day. Police later lowered the amount stolen to $60.
As part of their investigation, the police removed the station door and tested it for prints. Anyone who had been there that day were asked to come in and get their prints eliminated. Two officers (Richard Guenther and Wilbur Fuller) were assigned to the case full time.
July 2, 1963: Four Milwaukee gas station robbers were caught on the Racine-Kenosha border. The men, all from the Chicago area, were Richard H. Lucas, Lemuel Smith, Arthur Lee Williams and Charles R. Porter. In their car were two guns and two knives. Authorities looked into if these men could have killed Pratt, but it seemed unlikely. Another gas station attendant had been shot with a .38 in Racine in March. Two of the men had been in Joliet prison during the Racine murder, but all four were free by the time Pratt was killed.
A month after the murder, leads had been tracked as far away as Los Angeles with no success. A string of gas station murders had happened in Michigan; one man in Detroit was arrested and even had a newspaper clipping of the Pratt murder in his possession, but was ruled out.
May 1964: Terry Casperson was picked up for the stabbing murder of Eleanor Kaatz in Wausau. Authorities questioned if he had been involved in the Pratt murder or the murder of a Black Creek housewife in December 1963 (we’ll cover this one eventually). Casperson had formally been an inmate at the Oshkosh Asylum for attempted suicide.
By the end of 1964, at least 75 people were questioned and 25 of those were given lie detector tests.
2015: “There’s one person who is the main focus” of the murder investigation, said Detective Lt. Chris Braman of the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department. Braman added that there are strong indications that Pratt knew his assailant.
Winnebago County authorities revealed that Pratt’s body was exhumed in late July from the Oak Hill Cemetery in Neenah and that a second autopsy was performed. DNA samples were taken during that process.
2018: the Pratt case remains a focus of the sheriff’s department, despite a lack of viable physical evidence, problems in tracking down people who may have information about the mysterious case, and changes in police procedures over the years.
“It is on our radar,” said sheriff’s Capt. David Mack. “We have actively investigated leads that came in during the past year.”
The Pratt case was relatively inactive for years before it was reopened in 2012. Since then, detectives have conducted numerous interviews and submitted a number of items for DNA testing to a variety of laboratories.
Sheriff’s officials say there is strong evidence that all 53 stab wounds weren’t inflicted during a single attack. Pratt sustained numerous wounds to his back, neck and head.
The multiple attacks, the level of violence and the presence of the blanket on Pratt’s body strongly suggest that the attacker was known to the victim, authorities said previously.
A few years ago, Pratt’s body was exhumed from the Oak Hill Cemetery in Neenah and a second autopsy was performed. DNA samples were taken during that process, but tests proved inconclusive. Deterioration of other evidence over the past five decades has created difficulties in terms of scientific testing, investigators say.
Mack said the sheriff’s department has submitted a wealth of evidence to private labs, “but, at this point, the technology hasn’t helped us because of the degraded DNA.”
But that might not be the case in the future, he said.
“Who’s to say that in the next five to 10 years that something might develop (in terms of enhanced testing procedures),” he said. “It’s amazing how rapidly it changes.”
Mack said publicity about the case has been beneficial to investigators.
“Keeping it in the public eye has generated leads for us,” he said. “It has led to people coming forth with new information. But nothing has materialized that has resulted in the arrest (of Pratt’s killer or killers).”
Mack said the department won’t give up on the Pratt case because his family deserves to find out what happened back in 1963.
And while the murder has gone unsolved for 55 years, it doesn’t mean it’s hopeless, he said.
“We’ve seen other old cases in the area that have been solved,” he said.
If you have information about the Wayne Pratt case, contact Capt. David Mack of the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department at 920-236-7336.
