Stolen Checks and the Enigma that is Bill Vance

Among the newly surfaced images and documents is a property report for items confiscated during the Barker Ranch Raids.

This property report essentially transfers items collected in the raids from Inyo County to Los Angeles County to be investigated and used in future trials.  The transfer was made February 18 1970.

Listed among the items are numerous checks, some blank and some made out to specific people.  A Hedman Check Protector is the first item listed.  There are also office supply type items, OTC drugs, receipts, envelopes which are possibly addressed to certain people and the attache case where Shorty stored his guns.  Going down to item 29 on the second page of the report, a suitcase is listed.

The suitcase contains more checks, ledgers, a pink slip for a '55 Mercury,a hotel key, 15 Master Lock keys and various odds and ends.

Some of the checks were stolen from Spahn Movie Ranch and made out with the check protector to William Rex Cox.  Hummmm.... that sounds a lot like William Rex Cole.  All of the checks were made out in the amount of  $137.35 and signed by George C. Spahn. (More than likely George Spahn's signature was forged)

Numerous other checks were stolen from H B Irwin Plumbing Inc. located at 20555 Superior St. Chatsworth.  Some of those checks were made out partially or completely to James M Miller, John Phillip Haught and Dwayne Ernest Schwarm.  Manson used the last name of Miller on occasion, we know who John Phillip Haught was and Dwayne Schwarm was an alias used by Bill Vance.

Another slug of checks came from Oregon.  Some of them were from Lear Siegler Inc. Holly Division 7340 NE Sandy Blvd. in Portland.  Those, too, were completely or partially made out to James M Miller, John Phillip Haught and Diane Marie Von Ahn.  More checkbooks were found printed with the name Duane E Schwarm at the Sandy Blvd. address.

Duane Ernest Schwarm was a real person who, as near as I can tell, lived and worked for majority of his life in Oregon.  He married in Oregon four times, 1953, 1969, 1976 and 1982, and died in 2010.  He was born in Chicago IL Dec. 1 1933 and his first name was spelled Dwayne on his birth record but all subsequent records spell his first name as Duane with the same birth date.  There is no indication that he had any relationship to the Family.

Diane Marie Von Ahn was a Family member, she used an alias of Mary Ann Schwarm and she was from Gresham OR.  She died in a motorcycle accident in Oregon June 30 1972.  Her death record is in the name Diana Vonahn.  Her mug shot is #49 here.

What we do not know is how many checks Family members may have cashed before they were arrested.  It's probably a safe bet to believe that forged checks were cashed, Nancy Pitman took off with Bruce Davis because she was facing bad check charges.  The Missouri articles about William Rex Cole and his "flock" stated that Claudia Leigh Smith aka Linda Baldwin was wanted on some kind of check charges.  There may be more of those types of charges that we never knew about because stolen and forged checks pale in comparison to the murders.

On to the enigma of Bill Vance. Nothing has been solved but more information has come to light.

Generally when people take aliases they use a name of a real person.

Bill Vance had three different drivers licenses.

The oldest one was in the name of William Joseph Vance.  It was issued November 2 1965 and gives his address as Spahn Movie and TV Ranch on Susana Pass Rd.  Chatsworth.  On the application for the license Vance said he had a previous license in Tennessee and that it was lost.  It appears the license expired in 1968.

The next license was in the name William Rex Cole.  It was issued September 8 1969 and gives an address of Spahn Movie Ranch Chatsworth.  The application claims that his previous license was issued in Texas and it was lost.

The third license was in the name of Dwayne Ernest Schwarm, it was issued September 19 1969, just 11 days after the William Rex Cole license was issued,  This time there is an address in Reseda CA given as his residence.  The house number and street are redacted.  The application states that his previous license was issued in Oregon and, you guessed right, it was lost.

The birth dates on all three licenses are redacted but they all give the same general age.  The signatures on all three look to be written by the same hand.

What is interesting is that the Schwarm license uses Schwarm's legal first name though the checks are printed with the first name as Duane according to the report.

A little bit of research was done on the other two names.

There were two William Rex Cole's found but both were quite a bit older than the age on the license in that name.  One was born in 1917 and lived in Virginia and the other was born in 1919 and lived in West Virginia.  There was another William Rex Cole who was born in Arizona December 13 1951 and died the next day.

There were five William Joseph Vance's but one stood out to me.  When doing research on Windy Bucklee, true name Lee Saunooke, I found an obit for her step-father.  His survivors listed Lee as well as his wife Theressa Vance Longano.  The Vance name jumped out and I learned it was her maiden name.  Searching Theressa's family tree I found that she had a brother named William Joseph Vance.

Is it possible that Windy Bucklee supplied Bill Vance with the name of her uncle?  According to his driver's license he was at Spahn Ranch in 1965 and so was Windy.  Does Windy know Bill's true name?

Circling back to the stolen checks, if John Haught was indeed murdered, did it have something to do with the stolen checks?  Could he have expressed a desire to come clean to the authorities about the checks and, like the later murder of James Willett, was he  killed for saying he was thinking about it?

And, I think now we know the answer to an often asked question, "Where did the Family get their money?"  Steal, forge and cash checks.

Windy on Larry Bailey

Using the name Larry Jones, Larry Bailey was living at Windy's home along with Juan Flynn and Johnny Schwartz during the TLB trial.  Larry had said he was scared being around the other Family members all the time and asked if he could stay there, too.  He settled in and for all intent appeared to fit in with everyone there. Both Juan and Johnny were scheduled to testify at the TLB trial in the near future.  Windy, Juan and Johnny were soon to learn that Larry was there for another purpose.

During the day they would all go to their respective jobs.  In the evening they would go back to Windy's for the night.  I believe Juan and Larry were still working at Spahn and Johnny was working for man that sold hay.  Johnny Schwartz liked western movies and TV shows and sat in front of the TV most of the time in the evening with the thing blaring.  Juan was usually restless pacing around and doing different things.  Windy would take care of her daughter, cook and the like.

One night they heard some commotion outside and it put everyone on alert.  Then it sounded like someone was on the roof and they were trying to saw through it!  Juan jumped and got a shotgun and started firing at the ceiling, many times.  Windy said that Johnny calmly sat there watching his show while Juan was shooting up the place and said "It's getting a little western out tonight." They eventually went outside and sure enough someone had tried to saw through the roof.

Juan was the one to figure out that Larry was a Manson plant that turned out to be a snitch.  He was telling the Family members that were sympathetic to Manson where Juan and Johnny were staying and what the routine was around Windy's .  The Family hatched a plan to killed both Juan and Johnny before they could testify because they thought their testimony would hurt Manson.  Naturally, they botched the thing entirely.

Ah, but no bad deed goes unpunished.  Juan didn't let on to Larry that he knew that Larry was the snitch.  One night Juan, Johnny and Windy took Larry out for the evening or so he thought. They took him to a spot near Spahn Ranch, stripped him naked and tied him to a tree and left him there.  I'm betting that ranch hands can tie some pretty decent knots. Windy has no idea how long he was there or how he became untied but they didn't have trouble with him any more.

Windy discusses Spahn Ranch

Windy was kind enough to take a Life magazine picture of Spahn Ranch and label it showing what each part of the main building was used for and what the surrounding things were in the picture.  She accompanied this with a narrative of how living and eating arrangements were before Charles Manson and the others arrived.  Windy also included a little bit about after the Family's arrival.

"OK, LOOK AT THE photo I have attached. This was it. No road covered with trees, no bungalows or whatever they were supposed to be. One of the guys, either Larry or Ben slept in the jail. It had a bunk, dresser, nite stand and a place to hang his clothes. It looked just like a cell in the old towns. It had a desk for the sheriff and places to hang guns, hats wanted posters, etc. during the day the jail was open to visitors but the cell was locked. It had electric lights etc. Now the general store was always locked but had posters of stuff you could have bought if it were a real town. The saloon was open for visitors but didn’t sell nothing. People could go in and sit and bring a picnic lunch if they wanted, we did sell soda. The café had an adjoining door and could also be used by visitors but we didn’t use it ourselves unless we were having a party with outsiders. We cooked and ate at the table in Georges house. YOU went up the steps and into the living room. To the right was Pearl's Room - always kept locked, and to the left was the area where the table set with the kitchen beyond that with a open divider and on the back wall was George's room. In the living room on the back wall was a beautiful marble mantle hand carved with colored marble animals. Near that sat George's chair. He sat there all the time with a little dog. At the far end of the living room (it wasn’t real large) was a couch and a couple overstuffed chairs. Under George's house (as you were facing it) to the right were steps going down (rather steep) turn left and there was the bathroom and next to it a shower. (the only one on the whole place except down at the lower ranch house. Both places (I believe) were connected to cisterns for water.

Now the reason the general store was locked: you could enter it from behind through the harness shop and it had been divided into several small private rooms each with a bed, dresser, chair and closet. The men decorated to suit themselves. There was also a storage room off the saloon and it too was a room for a man (or a woman) the same with the café, it was a pantry I guess. There were times when all the rooms were full. When we all lived there, we kept the mountains clean and had no near fires. It took a crew to run horses to graze each spring. We grazed the entire area off until there was no fire danger. Manson’s crew caused the fires because no one would stay there to work.

There were some trees leading down the road to the lower ranch house and the outlaw shacks. We had electricity there and running water. But there were no flowers to pick or hardly anywhere to run around like they showed. There was no water fall at Spahn’s ranch. They would have to cross over and go down into Devil’s Canyon. That was on the other side of the road.

Actually, never saw the older kids much, I believe they kept them out of site, as they didn’t go to school, doctors, etc. I usually just saw the babies laying on blankets out in front of Spahn's house., Cold or not they would be naked. Sometimes a half a dozen or more. I covered them up and Charlie would have a fit. He said they’d grow up strong and never feel the cold if started that way (he had on a jacket off course).. I said they’d probably die of pneumonia. I still believe some did.

There were a lot more people staying there than they show in any book, movie or magazine. A lot of them were probably runaways and stayed hidden. I would see half dressed pregnant girls down by the shacks and the lower house that I never saw up top.

The dancing and partying they showed could have been in the saloon or café although neither were very large. The room they showed didn’t exist. Neither did the rooms or the beds or the cleanliness of it all. There were no laundry facilities. The shower under Georges house was mainly cold because we couldn’t keep the hot water tank working. Sometimes it did and we’d all rush to take a warm shower. Lots of times it was just was in a bowl with heated water from the stove. They generally wore those long dresses that the hippies made popular, and it seemed they all had greasy hair. Or the girls ran around with no bras, tank tops shorts so short they might as well have been naked, boobs showing etc. Most of the men ended up looking the same. Hair a mess and stubble or beards, again half naked most of the time."

More From Randy Starr's Wife

First part of the story is here:
http://www.eviliz.com/2013/03/an-interview-with-randy-starrs-wife.html

Windy and Shorty had been friends for years.  The people who were regulars at the ranch were like family and counted on each other.  Some, like Shorty came to work at the ranch between other jobs.  Windy remembers Shorty being 6' 4" and about 210 pounds, he had a dark brown beard and wild blue eyes.  She said, he claimed he was called Shorty because of a morning that he had to "goose his self and rope his tool to take a morning leak"!  They worked hard on the ranch and they played hard, too.

Shorty came from a working family and grew up in Medford Massachusetts .  His father John was a truck driver for a food distribution company.  Shorty's mother was French Canadian.  In 1940 there were five boys with Shorty being the middle son, he had two older brothers and two younger brothers.

And now we'll pick up where we left off last week.

Word had gotten up to Spahn that Windy had been beat up and Shorty, out of concern for Windy, went over to her house to check up on her.  He took one look at her and became enraged.  Windy explained to Shorty about the police stop, that her truck was seen at one robbery felt to be connected to other robberies, then how Manson had come over and demanded the keys to her truck and when she wouldn't comply proceeded to beat her up.  She said that Manson was a dirty fighter, too, kicking her while she lay on the floor.  Shorty turned on his heels and immediately headed towards Bill Vance's house screaming as he got close, "Come out of there, you yellow bastard."  Little Harvey was the first one out of the house and tried to calm Shorty down, he was swatted away by Shorty for his troubles.  Next Bill Vance came to the doorway and out of the house, Shorty coldcocked him, no questions asked, leaving him lie in the yard.  Bill and Shorty had once been friends having worked together at Spahn before Bill thought he would give up being a cowboy to become a truck driver.  The friendship ended that day.

By this time Manson had armed himself with a knife and also came out of the house.  He was talking tough but this time Manson's slick verbal patter did not do him any good.  Shorty proceeded  to beat him to a pulp from the front of the house all the way out to the middle of the street where he left him on the center line unspeaking and not moving.

Windy firmly believes that the beating Manson took that day from Shorty is the reason why he was killed. She also believes that is why so many of the guys attacked him en masse.  Manson was thoroughly humiliated that day.

An interview with Randy Starr's wife

Here at the blog we have been fortunate to have been invited to interview stuntman Randy Starr's wife. For the purpose of posting the interviews she has asked that we refer to her as Windy Bucklee.  Windy first arrived at Spahn Ranch around 1963 and went by the Windy name at that time.  Windy is a Native American Indian who has lead a varied and sometimes tragic life.  When young, in the 1940's, she, along with many other Indian children, was taken by the government from her family and placed in an Indian boarding school.  The government thought at that time this was the best way to assimilate the Native Americans into the white man's society and ways.  She was eventually placed with a white family in Ohio who treated her no better than an indentured servant.  Because of that she ran away at the age of 16 and never looked back.  At the time she ran away Montie Montana's Wild West Show was in the area and she was able to find work and a way to leave Ohio with the show.  Windy worked for Montana across the US ending up in southern California in the mid to late '50's.  She briefly worked for another Wild West Show which took her to the western states but those types of shows were dying out so she sought work in the many stables and ranches in southern California.

Windy is not very good with dates, it is not in the Indian culture to keep constant tabs on time in general, for that reason she has been vague at times about when certain things took place.  I have tried my best to organize her timetable by comparing it to when her children were born or some other well known event that could be looked up.  Windy had worked for a woman named Gladys Cox who took in horses that were less than desirable and turned them around to be well mannered and saleable.  Mrs. Cox was acquainted with George Spahn and his ranch having done business with him.  When Mrs. Cox became ill she arranged for Windy to work and live at Spahn.  This was in 1963 and Windy worked and lived there off and on until the ranch burned in 1970.  She did not always work full time and at times she took other jobs elsewhere.  Such was life on the ranch where people came and went with whatever opportunities seemed best in the moment.  Windy did tell me that Ruby Pearl was a constant at Spahn although Ruby gave up spending the night at Spahn when things with Charles Manson and the Family became overwhelmingly tense.

Windy met Randy Starr at Spahn around 1964, they fell in love and had a wedding ceremony up on Indian Mesa at the ranch.  Randy wore all black and rode a black stallion, Windy wore white buckskins and rode a white mare.  Windy told me that it was an Indian ceremony and I'm not entirely certain that it was a legal marriage.  Windy really did not have much use nor see the point in the white mans way and still doesn't.  Randy and Windy had a daughter in March of 1965 and named her Starlina.  Starlina was born, what Windy called a thyroid baby, and she lived only four months. After the baby died Randy was devastated and took off for his home state of Illinois for about 18 months leaving Windy behind in southern California.  While in Illinois Randy was in an automobile accident and lost the use of one of his arms.  Windy and Randy still had a bond and worked together at Spahn off and on but never lived together again. 

Sometime in 1967 Windy had moved from Spahn to a house on Gresham St. a few houses away from Bill Vance.  She knew Vance from working at Spahn, he had been a cowboy but wanted to try something else so he bought a semi truck, he had no trailer for it and was planning on getting jobs hauling other peoples trailers.  Apparently the semi was always needing repairs and he rarely used it.  At this time Windy was working for a company called New Art Publishing and Party Company full time and not working at the ranch.  She became close friends with Vance and his roommate Little Harvey.  Little Harvey was a midget who had a Bull named Elmer that he put in fairs, parades and sideshows.  Elmer was a Swiss bull with three eyes and four horns.  I kid you not!  Windy was telling at that time that part of Gresham St. and the next block were parcels with a little bit of acreage.  Kind of like ranchettes. 

Windy first met Charlie Manson in late 1967 or early 1968 at Bill Vance's on Gresham St.  She does not know how Bill and Charlie met, he just showed up there with a few of the girls and started living there along with Bill, Harvey and Elmer.  Since Bill and Windy were close friends and Bill's only mode of transportation was the semi she gave Bill a second set of keys to her truck and allowed Bill to use it while she was at work.  She never really knew when he was going to use the truck and she was fine with that as long as the truck was there when she left work.

One day while she and her daughter, from a marriage previous to Randy, were out in the truck she was pulled over by the police and questioned about where she was at certain times.  She learned from the police that there had been a number of robberies and that the license plate number of her truck matched the plate number of a truck seen at one of the robberies.  In total there had been eight robberies that they were investigating.  She was able to prove that she had been at work at the time the robberies were committed and couldn't have done them.  The police let her go but by this time she had put two and two together and knew who had done the crimes.  She did not tell the police her suspicions.  When she arrived home she went immediately to Bill Vance's madder than a wet hen, read him the riot act and demanded her truck keys back.  A couple of hours later Charlie came over to her house and asked for the truck keys back and she refused.  Charlie proceeded to beat the crap out of her breaking her jaw and causing other injuries.  She had a gun in her house that her brother had left for her, she tried to shoot Charlie three times but because she was unfamiliar with the gun and she was pretty beat up she could not figure out how to get the safety off.  Windy told me that Charlie ran when he saw she had the gun and she regrets not having shot him as she figured she could have saved a few lives down the road.   Windy ended up in the hospital for a couple of days.

Next, I will tell you Shorty Shea's reaction to Windy's beating by Manson.



Photo compliments of cielodrive.com