Local historian Pat Jollota will discuss a 1950 murder case next week as the Clark County Historical Museum continues its “History on Tap” program at Kiggins Theatre.
Jollota’s presentation about her true crime book, “The Murder of JoAnn Dewey in Vancouver, Washington,” is scheduled for April 18. Doors open at 6 p.m., with the event starting at 7 p.m.
Admission is $15 in advance and $18 the day of the event. Tickets can be purchased at the theater’s box office, 1011 Main St., and the Clark County Historical Museum, 1511 Main St. They also are available online at: kigginstheatre.com/movies/history-on-tap.
“The story of JoAnn Dewey has fascinated me since I first read about it years and years ago,” Jollota said in a news release. “I heard urban legends, opinions, so many differing tales of what happened that spring night in 1950.”
On March 19, 1950, 18-year-old Dewey got off a bus in downtown Vancouver after watching a movie in Portland with a friend. At 11:30 p.m., numerous people witnessed an altercation between two men and a woman, who was screaming before she was forced into a car. One week later, Dewey’s nude body was discovered in the Wind River in Skamania County.
Two Camas brothers, Turman and Utah Wilson, were arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to death. They were hanged shortly after midnight Jan. 3, 1953, in the state penitentiary at Walla Walla. The two brothers maintained their innocence right up to their execution.
The April 18 event at Kiggins Theatre also will include a Clark County games show-style quiz featuring Noland Hoshino, Temple Lentz and Jim Mains, cast of the community talk show “Hello Vancouver!”
Another segment, “Ask Pat,” will feature Jollota’s answers to one question about local history, as selected from social media (#AskPat), email or submitted through the Clark County Historical Museum.
