Family won't be allowed to exhume body of notorious bank robber John Dillinger – for now

Family won't be allowed to exhume body of notorious bank robber John Dillinger – for now

INDIANAPOLIS – A judge on Wednesday ruled that the family of notorious Indiana bank robber John Dillinger will not be allowed to exhume the 85-year-old corpse from its resting place – for now.

Dillinger's nephew Michael C. Thompson filed a lawsuit in August after a public back-and-forth between the family and the cemetery, which had opposed digging up the body.

In his ruling Wednesday, Marion County Superior Court Judge Timothy Oakes said the parties' main question was whether the exhumation could occur without cemetery approval, as laid out under Indiana Statute 23-14-57-1.

"Court finds that the statutory requirements for this section of the statute are clear in that disinterment requires the cemetery owner to give consent before disinterment may occur," Oakes' ruling says, according to online court records, "and the statute does not require that the cemetery have a valid, rational, or meaningful reason."

John Dillinger (right) is marched into a Crown Point, Ind., courtroom on Jan. 31, 1934, for his arraignment on murder charges.
John Dillinger (right) is marched into a Crown Point, Ind., courtroom on Jan. 31, 1934, for his arraignment on murder charges.

Thompson received a permit in June from the Indiana State Department of Health to complete the exhumation sometime before Sept. 16 but ran into roadblocks after news reports drew attention to the plans.

The family's plans to exhume the body and complete DNA testing to determine its identity were to be depicted in a documentary distributed by the History Channel, which has since backed out of the project.

Oakes dismissed the case without prejudice, leaving room for Thompson's attorney, Andrea Simmons, to file an amended complaint under another section of the statute.

"We feel like Mr. Thompson should not be prohibited from seeking a disinterment to learn the identity just because his uncle happens to be infamous," Simmons said before the ruling. "If his was anonymous, if no one had ever heard the name, we wouldn't be here today."

Why exhume Dillinger's body?

Dillinger, born in Indianapolis in 1903, committed a string of bank robberies in 1933 and made several high-profile escapes from police custody.

He became a legend when FBI director J. Edgar Hoover labeled him Public Enemy No. 1, but his life of crime came to an end when police and federal agents ambushed him outside Chicago's Biograph Theater on July 22, 1934. He was shot three times and pronounced dead at the scene.

Or was he?

Efforts allegedly made by Dillinger to alter his appearance – including plastic surgery and burning off his fingerprints with acid – have led some historians and Dillinger enthusiasts to believe that it wasn't he who was shot dead but a doppelganger.

That, according to sworn affidavits filed by two of Dillinger's family members in May, is exactly why the body should be dug up.

"It is my belief and opinion that it is critical to learn whether Dillinger lived beyond his reported date of death of July 22, 1934," Thompson, Dillinger's nephew, said in the affidavit.

"If he was not killed on that date, I am interested in discovering what happened to him, where he lived, whether he had children, and whether any such children or grandchildren are living today."

Cemetery pushed back

Shortly after reports of the planned exhumation surfaced in July, Crown Hill Cemetery released a statement saying it was opposed to the idea of digging up Dillinger's body. It said it had a responsibility to the families of others interred on the grounds.

"We have a duty to the families we serve to ensure the safety and integrity of the Cemetery which is threatened by the proposed exhumation," cemetery management said in a written statement. "We also have concerns that the complex and commercial nature of this exhumation could cause disruption to the peaceful tranquility of the Cemetery and those who are visiting to remember their loved ones."

The grave of John Dillinger Jr. sits inside the walls of Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. Dillinger's smaller headstone sits in the family plot marked by a larger headstone. Small chunks of the stone, which may have been replaced once, have been chipped off by visitors over the years.
The grave of John Dillinger Jr. sits inside the walls of Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. Dillinger's smaller headstone sits in the family plot marked by a larger headstone. Small chunks of the stone, which may have been replaced once, have been chipped off by visitors over the years.

The cemetery also expressed concern that not all members of the Dillinger family agreed with the planned exhumation. Another Dillinger family member, great-nephew Jeff Scalf, previously told IndyStar that he believed the action was "despicable."

The FBI also took a rare step in issuing a statement in August confirming that the body was identified as Dillinger at the time of death.

Follow Holly Hays on Twitter: @hollyvhays

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: John Dillinger exhumation: Family can't disinter gangster, judge says