This week on Speculating Wildly About Crime, Jamie and Kristy discuss the 1980 disappearance of 44-year-old Bill Schnackel from Phillips, Wisconsin. Bill, described as kind and hardworking, lived in an old school bus and earned money hauling trash and scrapping metal, sometimes with his roommate Michael Winters. Bill was reported missing on May 20, 1980—over a month after Michael claimed he last saw him on April 16—and Michael said Bill went to Chicago to collect an inheritance, though Bill’s aunt said there was no money and she was in California. Michael was seen driving Bill’s prized truck, gave conflicting explanations about being in the woods, and later moved back to Palm Springs. Investigators searched the property and nearby areas without finding Bill, arrested Michael in 1983 for murder, but he was found not guilty and records of the trial are missing. The hosts urge anyone with information to contact the Price County Sheriff’s Office at 715-339-3011.

Sources:
The Tomahawk Leader Newspaper
Ironwood Daily Globe Newspaper
The Evening Telegram (Superior, WI) Newspaper
Forgotten Wisconsin Cold Cases: William Schnackel - The Bus in the Woods 
https://share.google/lbwHOpffnCnOujN2t
https://www.wsaw.com/video/2024/07/05/price-county-man-william-schnackel-lived-bus-woods-went-missing-44-years-ago/

Shoutouts:
www.wisconsinshistory.com

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