Retrospect: Police searched for suspect

Forty years ago this week, Jay County law enforcement officers had arrested one suspect and were seeking another after an attempted burglary in Hartford City. 

On Oct. 18, 1977, two men were allegedly burglarizing a farmhouse on Indiana 26, four miles east of Hartford City, when they were discovered by owner Gary Clamme. 

Clamme held them at gunpoint, but was overpowered by one of the men, who drove away in a car. Clamme told officers he fired bullets into the tires of the car. 

David Raike, 19, Columbus, Ohio, allegedly fled on foot from the scene and was apprehended by police later that day walking along Blackford County road 700 East. He was arrested and booked into Delaware County Jail. 

Police did not release the name of the other man, a 21-year-old also from Ohio, but he was seen passing through Redkey that afternoon. Redkey Town Marshal Gene Dorman spotted and chased the suspect, whose car hit a bridge near the intersection of Indiana 67 and Indiana 167. It also hit a car being driven by Rick Mock, Dunkirk, who sustained minor injuries. 

The suspect then ran on foot over a bridge that crossed the Mississinewa River.

Jay County Sheriff’s Office, Redkey Police Department and Dunkirk Police Department were three of the eight agencies that conducted a manhunt for the suspect that evening. 

The Commercial Review reported on Oct. 19 that the suspect had not been found yet, and authorities were continuing the search.