A 20-year-old Springfield mother was raped and beaten to death in her home either late Friday or early Saturday with her unknown assailant also severely injuring her 18-month-old son.
The victim, Mrs. Anita Taylor of 415 Ludlow av. was removed from her residence at 1:52 a.m. Saturday by Fire Division emergency squadmen and was pronounced dead on arrival at Community Hospital.
Her son, Aaron Lee, was admitted for treatment of a possible hip fracture and abrasions and contusions of the face. He was found lying in his crib in a rear room.
The victim's husband, Larry, 21, discovered his wife, barely breathing, after arriving home from work at a local industrial plant. He had ridden home as a member of a car pool, knocked on the house door as was his custom, and became alarmed when there was no answer. He forced his a storm door, and found his wife lying in a pool of blood in a front bedroom.
Police Capt. Francis Shaffer, was was called immediately to the scene, said that the rear door to the house was found ajar.
The weapon used in the crime which mangled and smashed the woman's face, was not determined immediately but the marks of a shoe sole were clearly evident around the face and neck.
There seemed to be no immediate evidence of a forced entry to the home which is located between Lexington and Irwin Avs., near a cafe and in proximity to Fire Division Engine House No. 6.
Lt. Charles Olds, a Fire Division emergency squadmen, and Fireman Jerome Shook took the dying mother and her son to the hospital.
Both police and the emergency squadmen expressed shock at the sheer brutal force used by the killer.
Police were pushing an intensive investigation Saturday. An alert went out to other law enforcement agencies.
The slaying occurred on the eve of "Beggars' Night" Saturday in a city made jittery by the five strangulation-rape murders in Cincinnati 75 miles away.
This is the second rape occurring in the Ludlow av. area in about 14 years.
On Jan. 21, 1951, another 20-year-old girl was grabbed as she awaited a bus at Lexington and Ludlow avs. She was choked into unconsciousness and raped in a nearby yard.
Her condition became known as with her clothing ripped to the waist she sought aid at 366 Ludlow av.
A 36-year-old man was convicted of her rape and robbery Feb. 21, 1951. The Clark County Common Pleas Court jury deliberated one hour and 35 minutes. He was sentenced to the Ohio Penitentiary April 9, 1951. The defendant has since been released from the penitentiary.