The Origins of the Abortion Story
May 25th, 2012 § 4 Comments
Several readers have asked, Who started the abortion story?
We’ve done some checking and this is what we’ve found:
The first time the word “abortion” is mentioned in the police file is in a note attached to the file:
NOTE: 10-23-70
11:30 am
Florence called and said that two night ago she heard a man and woman talking, saying something about a girl by the name of Paula Ober (she didn’t know the rest of the last name) that the man told the woman that this Paula’s grandmother was offering a $50 reward to find out where Paula was. The woman said that Paula had gone to Florida to have her baby or to have an abortion. SMK
Then, from Detective Trousdale on Jan 12, 1971:
I have received numerous phone calls from Florence Donnell in which she keeps mentioning the Jackson family who lived in the vacant house on 10th Ave., and that certain articles of clothing were found in this vacant house. However I have gone to this house and searched it from the basement on up and have been unable to find anything that would have any connection with the Oberbroeckling case.
So that might be the “Florence” who tipped about the abortion.
The next time the word abortion is mentioned in the file is when the body is found.
Officer Huston reported:
On 11/30/70 I went to Franklin School to talk to a Mr. Duane A. Buchheit who is a counselor at the school; home address of 1955 Ave. S.E., phone number 365-3989. The reason for seeing Mr. Buchheit was because he had given information to Vera Oberbrockling, the grandmother of the missing girl Paula, that he had received information from a boy that the girl was in Colorado. While questioning Mr. Buchheit in regards to where he received this information he stated that he had come to Cedar Rapids in about 1960 and had rented a room from Vera for about 6 1/2 years and gotten to know the family very well and that since he had been married he and his wife are still in close contact with Vera and also attended the same church she does. When Vera’s grand daughter was reported missing he had talked to Vera about the case several times. He stated that he was also contacted by Vera when the police contacted her about the body so that he could help find Carol, her daughter, mother of the missing Paula. He also stated that the reason foul play was felt was that the family all knew that Paula was a few months pregnant and she apparently had talked to her room mate, Debbie Kellogg, about getting an abortion and that when she left her apartment she had borrowed Debbie Kellog’s car and had on only a nightgown and a bathrobe.
So it seems to have come from Debby Kellogg, as well as from the family, who likely got it from her.
Florence Donnell was 68 in 1980 and lived at 1007 6th st SE. In 1993 she was Florence Donnell aka Florence Robovsky (probably her maiden name) and she lived at 1021 9th Street SE. She died in 1994.
Rhonda Weatherwax lived with James Browning in the 1000 block of 6th street. She’s the girl who was a good friend of Paula’s, who died of a suspicious overdose in rehab at Mercy Hospital. James Browning was Junior Browning. Relia Clark said that James Browning raped her.
I have the Certificate of Marriage for Florence Robovsky Donnell. Is it of interest to anyone. If so, send a note and I’ll mail it to you.
Thanks, Noreen. We are contacting you.
I was a friend of Rhonda Weatherwax…..we did not even know she died until the Gazette found out from a friend who inquired about her funeral. She had told me that Paula got an abortion, began to hemorrhage, they would not risk being found out by taking her to the hospital, so they murdered her.
It has also been rumored that James Junior murdered her with an OD because she was going to turn states evidence on him….they imbalmed her before an autopsy was done……Too bad many of the key players are dead that could shed light on the truth…..where is the boyfriend who got Paula pregnant? Rhonda told me he knew the story.
Thank you for this, HK. We did talk to one of the boyfriends, Robert Williams, but he did not seem to know anything and he passed a lie detector test back then, too. The other boyfriend, Lonnie Bell, won’t talk to us. He also would not talk to the police. We are still trying to get in touch with him. We have also heard rumors about James Junior having something to do with Paula’s death. Maybe there is a connection? Do you know what states evidence Rhonda was going to turn on him? She went to visit Paula at work (Younkers) the day that Paula disappeared. But she was never questioned by the police. Is it possible that she was an informant?