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hole in the inside of a door, lending credence to the idea that
Chamberlain had been shot in the vehicle. McMonigle claimed to have removed the bullet from the door and buried it under a certain tree in his backyard; and also to have ripped out the car's padding and upholstery because they had been
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McMonigle's claim that he had buried
Chamberlain's clothes in his backyard could not be confirmed, but a separate excavation by the FBI at the construction site where McMonigle had been working at the time of the disappearance turned up a pair of shoes, schoolbooks, papers, a zippered binder and a
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McMonigle also claimed to have thrown
Chamberlain's body off a cliff overlooking Half Moon Bay on the San Mateo County coast, known as the Devil's Slide. Police searched the area and found two pairs of red and blue socks wedged on the cliff's face, which were recognized by Chamberlain's parents.
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stained with
Chamberlain's blood, and subsequently buried them in a drainage ditch near his workplace. Both places were searched, and the bullet and car parts (still covered in blood) were recovered successfully. The bullet was tested and proven to have been fired from McMonigle's .32 caliber
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The prosecution theorized that McMonigle abducted
Chamberlain with the intention of raping her, murdered her when she tried to resist, and later carried her body to the Devil's Slide and tossed it into the ocean. He was pronounced guilty by the jury after only 38 minutes of deliberation, and
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woman by the name of
Dorothy Rose Woods and later claimed to have murdered eleven people overall, but he was not charged with more murders. In his last statement before his execution in 1948, however, McMonigle claimed that he was not involved in Chamberlain's disappearance.
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student who was reported missing on
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that he had stolen from a real serviceman. This footlocker was found in McMonigle's home's
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uniform and military medals. Chamberlain accepted the offer and got into the car with him.
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Law enforcement's suspicions fell immediately upon Thomas Henry McMonigle, a
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232:(November 22, 1930 - c. November 2, 1945) was a 14-year-old female American
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445:"The Scientist Who Wanted To Bring A Death Row Inmate Back From The Dead"
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Chamberlain was last seen outside
Campbell High School in
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49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
419:"Eerie echoes of 1945 case in Sierra LaMar's fate"
292:agents investigating Chamberlain's disappearance.
395:"Thora Afton Chamberlain – The Charley Project"
276:. On December 6, McMonigle attempted to commit
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533:November 1945 events in the United States
369:List of murder convictions without a body
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
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295:McMonigle, who had never served in the
222:Her disappearance and presumed murder
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47:adding citations to reliable sources
548:Incidents of violence against girls
374:List of solved missing person cases
558:Missing person cases in California
349:, he confessed to the murder of a
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568:Child murder in the United States
563:Murder convictions without a body
523:1945 murders in the United States
204:Campbell High School (California)
16:Disappearance of American student
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538:Deaths by person in California
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573:People murdered in California
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58:"Murder of Thora Chamberlain"
553:Kidnapped American children
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528:1940s missing person cases
578:Victims of serial killers
473:Whereabouts Still Unknown
328:property of Chamberlain.
137:Photograph of Chamberlain
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332:Prosecution of McMonigle
238:her body was never found
230:Thora Afton Chamberlain
147:Thora Afton Chamberlain
284:while riding a bus to
543:Female murder victims
266:San Mateo, California
583:Campbell, California
280:with an overdose of
250:Campbell, California
182:Campbell, California
43:improve this article
469:"Thora Chamberlain"
364:List of kidnappings
518:1945 in California
399:charleyproject.org
497:Thora Chamberlain
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125:Thora Chamberlain
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425:. 2017-05-21
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176:(1945-11-02)
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347:death row
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200:Education
358:See also
274:Illinois
194:American
341:in the
326:cowbell
278:suicide
254:US Navy
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