Prosperous but unpopular dairy farmer Orville Gibson disappeared in the wee hours of New Year 's Eve 1957 Eve 1957 - his body was later pulled from a river . The case remains unsolved - but it 's been accepted a mob tied him up and threw him in a car trunk , where he suffocated , then threw body in the river . Mob were allegedly incensed by rumors that Gibson had beaten his elderly hired man . New theory claims he killed himself , with some ingenuity and difficulty , in an attempt to get revenge on his neighbors by pinning the blame on them .
Prosperous but unpopular dairy farmer Orville Gibson disappeared in the wee hours of New Year 's Eve 1957 - his body was later pulled from a river . The case remains unsolved - but it 's been accepted a mob tied him up and threw him in a car trunk , where he suffocated , then threw body in the river . Mob were allegedly incensed by rumors that Gibson had beaten his elderly hired man . New theory claims he killed himself , with some ingenuity and difficulty , in an attempt to get revenge on his neighbors by pinning the blame on them .