On November 3, 1977, Vernita L. Gusewelle, 55, was found shot three times in the back of the head on the kitchen floor of her rural Edwardsville, Illinois farmhouse. Her husband Arthur was also shot in the back of the head; he called for help but later died of his wounds. The house had been ransacked to appear like a robbery, but valuables including cash from Vernita’s purse and her jewelry were left behind, prompting investigators to question that theory.

The investigation ultimately tied the killings to a plot by the Gusewelles’ daughter-in-law, Barbara Boyle, and a St. Louis dentist, Glennon Engleman. According to the case account, Engleman carried out the murders with accomplice Robert Handy as part of a scheme to obtain the family’s estate and life insurance proceeds; Ronald Gusewelle, the couple’s son, was murdered by Engleman seventeen months later. All three conspirators were later arrested; trials and plea outcomes followed for Boyle, Engleman, and Handy.

Does anyone have memories of the Gusewelles or recollections from Edwardsville in the late 1970s that could add context to the case?