He Built the Bench That Displayed His Body: The Donald Chambers Case

The bench that held Donald Chambers’ body was built by his own hands and placed outside so its paint could cure - yet someone carried him there and staged him upright; over fourteen months he withdrew between seven and ten thousand dollars in unexplained cash payments. Who was extracting money from a retired drafting teacher and why did he keep paying in secret until he was killed?

In this episode, you will hear how investigators traced a pattern of steady, escalating cash withdrawals, the discovery of a concealed compartment in a prop, and the link to a contractor who worked in Chambers’ home - can the timeline of payments and the electrician’s visit explain what Donald Chambers knew?

Person: Donald Chambers
Age: 55
Location: Pembrook Lane, Delphos, Indiana
Period: fourteen months of withdrawals before death
Person: Howard Roberts

- Donald Chambers made monthly cash withdrawals of $400, $600, $700 (mid-July), and $800 (late August) over approximately fourteen months.
- Total cash withdrawn over that period is estimated between $7,000 and $10,000 in increments with no corresponding purchases.
- Donald retired at 53 after a thirty-year career teaching drafting and technical drawing and volunteered as a set builder at Millbrook Community Playhouse.
- The bench he was found sitting on was constructed by him and moved outside the previous weekend so paint could cure.
- Howard Roberts, a 49-year-old freelance electrical contractor from Delphos, upgraded the electrical panel at Chambers’ house about fourteen months before the first withdrawal.