The Genealogy Search

Forty years after the murder of my Uncle Bruce, on May 15, 2009, the Macon County Sheriff's office held a news conference to announce that John J. Joynt, III had been arrested for the crime. Most of the family was happy with the arrest. Some family members felt that it was history and did not need to be brought up. I suppose I should explain, the murder changed my family's history. At one point the Macon County Sheriff arrested one of my Uncle's for the murder. A cousin of mine was said to have told the Sheriff that my one Uncle would be the culprit if a family member was a suspect. Needles to say this created a deep chism in the family - often with some relatives leaving as some were arriving. During the course of bringing Mr. Joynt to justice, our family learned how bumbled the case had been in 1967. Also, my Uncle had Mr. Joynt arrested for stealing gas from the station on Febuary 16, 1968. At one point Mr. Joynt actually admitted to murdering my Uncle whi...

On October 7, 1968 sometime between the hours of 4:20 and 5:00 A.M. in Blue Mound, Macon, Illinois, Bruce Wyman Clark, age 35, was shot and killed at the Fina Gas Station. Sheriff's Deputies were called to the scene at 5:19 A.M. Upon entry to the scene they noticed a glass display case located near the south door was broken and had blood on it. The cash drawer was open and one lead bullet fragment was found in the drawer. The cash drawer was missing all paper currency. The victim was located in the men's restroom behind the restroom door. The body was lying in a large pool of blood and appeared to have been shot numerous times. During the initial investigation three 22 caliber shell casings were located by the south entrance door, three 22 caliber shell casings were located on the ground outside the north door of the station, six 22 caliber shell casings and one live 22 caliber bullet were located near the body. Crime scene investigators arrived and performed a det...