Dec. 31, 2024

Ronald Tammen - A Special Presentation from Already Gone

Ronald Tammen - A Special Presentation from Already Gone
Listen to "Ronald Tammen - A Special Presentation from Already Gone" on Spreaker.
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Season 2Unsolved CaseMissing PersonCold Case

This week, we have a presentation from the Already Gone Podcast hosted by the awesome Nina Innstead. She recently made an episode about the disappearance of Ronald Tammen. Ronald was only 19 when he disappeared from his Miami University of Ohio dorm room.

This is one of Nina’s greatest episodes to date, and she was able to interview Ronald’s roommate’s son. It highlights how these cases affect the entire community. We are so grateful to Nina for allowing us to share this story with all of you.

https://www.alreadygonepodcast.com/missing-in-ohio-ronald-tammen/

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Hello and Happy New Year to all. I'm Sean and

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with me as always is the one and only John.

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I am the only John in the room.

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This week, John and I are taking a break and

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we have a presentation from the Already Gone podcast hosted

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by the awesome Nina Instead. She recently had an episode

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on the disappearance of Ronald Tamman. Ronald was only nineteen

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when he disappeared from his dorm room at Miami University

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of Ohio.

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This is one of Nina's greatest episodes to date, and

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she was able to interview Ronald's roommate's son. It really

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highlights how these cases affect the entire community. We are

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so grateful to Nina for allowing us to share this

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story with all of you.

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And now a special presentation Have Already Gone.

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Ronald Henry Tammand Junior was born July twenty third, nineteen

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thirty three. He grew up in Maple Heights, Ohio, a

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Cleveland suburb. He was the second of five children. His

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two younger siblings came along much later, so Ron, as

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he was known, grew up the middle child. His childhood

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was largely uneventful, and he was known as a nice kid.

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He was also known for his good looks, looks that

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were slightly yet endearingly flawed by a crooked front tooth

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and a cauliflower ear developed after years of wrestling. When

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Ron got to college, he was tall, handsome, athletic, and

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musically inclined playing the stand up bass. It's in college

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where the mystery develops because tall, handsome, athletic, and musical

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Ron was last seen in Old Fisher Hall, a former

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Victorian era mental asylum converted to a dormiti at Miami

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University in Oxford, Ohio on April nineteenth, nineteen fifty three.

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Not only did Ron live at Fisher Hall, he was

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also a resident hall advisor for that school year. Ron

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and his dorm mate Chuck Finley, resided in Room two

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twenty five. Room two twenty five is at the end

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of the hall. You have to walk by several other

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dorm rooms to get to twenty five. The window of

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Room two twenty five, overlooked the awning on a covered porch.

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On the night of April nineteenth, a fellow student played

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a prank on Ron, and at eight o'clock Ron requested

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new bed sheets because someone had put a dead fish

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in his bed. Now, people put a lot of stock

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in this dead fish, but it appears to be only

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a prank and not indicative of something more serious. We're

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going to come back to the fish. Ron was alone

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in his dorm room now weekend. His roommate was back

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in Dayton visiting family. The roommate, Chuck, would not return

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until late Sunday night. As to what Ron did that weekend, well,

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according to the website Ronald Tamman dot com, on Saturday,

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Ron played music with the Campus Owls, a music ensemble

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at the Omicron Delta Kappa Carnival, which was a fundraiser

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for the Honor Society. Ron's brother, Richard, who was also

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attending Miami University, was with Ron until roughly eleven o'clock

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that night. Ron may have also paid a visit to

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the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house that evening. On Sunday

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the nineteenth, the last day that anyone would see Ron.

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He was busy and spotted all around campus. In the afternoon,

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about three o'clock he was seen in his dorm room

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studying psychology, and this is unusual. We'll come back to

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him studying psychology, but make a note of it. Ron

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would have dinner in the dining hall that night, sitting

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at a table with other students. I want to note

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that there was a dress code for the dining hall.

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Shirt and tie were required garments. One of the people

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Ron sat with that late afternoon as he had dinner

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was a man named Ken mac diffettmc diffittt would later

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say that the conversation at the table was friendly and upbeat.

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Ron's main topic of conversation was music, specifically the Campus Owls,

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which is the band he'd played with the previous night.

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It's after five o'clock when another resident of Fisher Hall

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sees Ron, and they don't notice anything strange or unusual

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about his activities or his behavior. Other students will report

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seeing Ron in a towel, likely headed for the showers,

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but the timing of this is in question. One person

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said they saw him in the afternoon, another said it

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was the evening. Either way, Ron is clean and fresh

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by eight o'clock Sunday night. At seven o'clock that evening,

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Ron is in his dorm and he spent a bit

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of time helping a fellow student, Richard Titus, with his

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school work. At some point, Ron says he has his

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own studies to focus on, and he returns to Room

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two twenty five. At eight o'clock, Ron is seen again.

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He's going downstairs to request clean linen's because someone left

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fish in his bed. Richard Titus, the student that Ron

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had been assisting with his work, will later take credit

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for the prank. Ron had short sheeted Richard's bed and

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Richard was getting even. Missus Todhunter, the residence hall manager,

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told Ron that he looked tired. Ron agreed with her

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and said that he was headed to bed. He took

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the clean linens and walked back to his room. We

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know he made it to his room because his bed

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was made up. Chuck Finley, Ronald Tamman's roommate, came in

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between nine thirty and ten o'clock that evening. He found

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the room empty. Chuck figured that Ron was spending the

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night at his Delta Tau Delta fraternity house and did

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not report Ron's disappearance until the next day, while Chuck

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is settling down for the night, a mystery as unraveling

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around him. Now, looking at the dorm room, there is

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no evidence that Ron was forced from the room. Nothing

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was disturbed. His clothing, car keys, wallet, identification, his watch,

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high school class ring, and other personal items all left

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in the dorm room. He also left the lights on,

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the radio playing, and a psychology textbook laying open on

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his desk. While Ron was alone in his room that evening,

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no one residing in Fisher Hall heard anything resembling a disturbance. Now,

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we mentioned earlier that Ron was studying psychology that weekend,

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but Ron was no longer enrolled in the psychology course.

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He had dropped his psychology a few weeks earlier. Yet

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it was the psychology textbook that was left open on

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his desk in the dorm. If Ron's not taking a

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psychology class, why is he studying psychology? The book was

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opened to pages two ninety four and two ninety five.

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One of the subheadings on that page is post hypnotic suggestion.

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Could this be a clue as to what became of

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our missing student? While investigators searched for him. They discovered

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Ron's gold nineteen thirty eight Chevrolet Sedan in its place

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in the school parking lot. Inside the car, they found

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his base fiddle. Ron's bank account was untouched. He had

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about two hundred dollars in savings. That's the equivalent of

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two thousand, two hundred dollars in today's money. And remember,

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Ron's room to twenty five is at the end of

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the hall. If someone came for him, they would have

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to pass several other dorm rooms to get there. If

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they wanted to kidnap Ron, they had to pass a

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lot of occupied rooms to do so. And Ronald Tamman

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was a healthy, athletic young man, it's likely he would

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have put up a fight. While nothing eventful happened in

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the dorms that evening, late that Sunday night, something odd

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happened in Oxford, about twelve miles from campus. A woman

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claimed that a young man came to her door at

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eleven o'clock the evening. Tamman disappeared and asked what town

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he was in. She told him, and then he asked

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directions to the bus station, which she gave him, and

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he departed. However, the bus line had suspended its midnight run,

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so this young man could not have gotten on a bus.

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The witness says the man she spoke to was disheveled

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and dirty and appeared upset and confused. He was not

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wearing a coat or a hat, although it was a

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cold night and there was snow on the ground. He

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was apparently on foot, as the woman did not see

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or hear a vehicle. The man did match the physical

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description of Ron and was wearing similar clothes, but it

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was never confirmed that they were the same person, and

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Ron's brother later stated he did not believe the man

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the witness saw was Ronald Tamman. There was another odd occurrence,

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but this took place five months before Ronald Tamman disappeared.

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Ron went to the Butler County Coroner's office at Hamilton, Ohio,

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and he asked for a test to have his blood typed.

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The coroner claims that this was the only such request

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he ever got in thirty five years of practice, which

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is why he remembered it so well. We can't say

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why Ron wanted the test done and why he didn't

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have it conducted in Oxford, where local physicians or the

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university hospital could have typed his blood for him. Ron

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was scheduled for a physical examination by the select of

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Service for induction into the Army, but inductees did not

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need to know their blood type in advance of the physical.

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Ron's parents, who lived in Maple Heights, Ohio, last saw

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Ron a week before he disappeared, and they said he

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did not appear to be troubled during their visit and

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will be right back after a word from this Week.

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Sponsor Ronald Tamman appeared to have a normal life for

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a mill college student in the nineteen fifties. He was

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well liked by his peers. He was dating at the

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time that he vanished, but he did not have a

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steady girl friend. Ron was on the wrestling team, he

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played in the school dance band, the Campus Owls, and

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he was a business major who got pretty good grades,

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although by the end of that semester he was no

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longer a full time student, having dropped a class, and

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his grades were sliding. This is important to note because

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the draft was in effect and Ron was at risk

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of losing his selective service to ferment. When Ron disappeared,

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a full investigation took place for the university. A man

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named Carl Knox headed the investigation. The Oxford, Ohio Police

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and the Ohio State Patrol also investigated. In the days

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following his disappearance, Miami University students joined the local ROTC

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for searches of the campus and nearby wooded areas. The

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FBI also became involved in the search for Ron Tamman,

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and they did have Ron's fingerprints on file. They'd been

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taken years earlier when Ron was in elementary school. In

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the summer of nineteen fifty three, weeks after he disappeared,

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Ron's draft status changed and the FBI really started to

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look for him. Selective service violation and all that, but

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they closed the case on Ronald Tamman in nineteen fifty five.

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Investigators turned up nothing, not a single confirmed sight or

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sign of Ronald Tamman since April nineteen fifty three. When

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Fisher Hall was demolished in the nineteen seventies, extra care

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was given to search the building and the debris for

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his remains. They were able to check the wells and

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cistern beneath the building, but nothing of interest was recovered.

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A couple of odd little bits to mention Ronald Tamman

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had dropped his psychology class. Yet the night he disappeared,

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he was studying psychology. During the nineteen fifty two fifty

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three school year, Ron's psychology instructor, Saint Clair Switzer, was

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a lieutenant colonel with the US Air Force Reserve while

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he taught at university. Doctor Switzer was also a hypnosis

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expert and a pharmacist. CIA documents show that Switzer was

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likely involved in Project Artichoke, which was a forerunner of

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MK Ultra. One of Ron's classmates remembers men on the

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lawn of Fisher Hall recruiting volunteers for a study. Could Ron,

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who was just another cash strapped college student, have participated

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in something top secret at his disappearance was part of

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a larger plan? Well? Possibly, It's hard to know where

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to look when there are so many possibilities and so

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few clues to sort through. In the nineteen fifty two

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fifty three school year, Ronald Tamman roomed with Chuck Finley,

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who we mentioned earlier in the episode, and during my research,

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I was thinking about how this must have impacted Chuck

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for the remainder of his college career. Chuck Finley was

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that guy, that guy who roomed with Tamman, that guy

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who reported him missing. What do you think that guy knows?

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After ron disappeared, Chuck was moved to a different room

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with a new roommate. His own room was a crime scene.

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While the Tammon family suffered and struggled, Chuck Finley faced

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his own challenges in the days, weeks, and years after

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Tammon vanished. Today we're talking with David Finley, Chuck's son,

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who has a special interest in seeing Ronald Tamman's case resolved.

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I came back to campus, to Fisher Hall and went

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to my room as normal, and the light was in

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the room, and in the room, the door was unlocked,

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and Ron's book was opened his side of the desk.

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00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:24.080
And the desk chair was pulled back as though.

227
00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:25.159
I get up and went somewhere.

228
00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:29.279
So I thought you too much about that, and I study,

229
00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:31.200
I think to eleven o'clock that night. I got back

230
00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:34.559
to school about nine o'clock, went to bed as usual,

231
00:14:34.600 --> 00:14:37.679
and got the next morning and didn't see Ron in

232
00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:38.120
his bed.

233
00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:42.240
I still wasn't too excited.

234
00:14:41.879 --> 00:14:44.000
About it, because I thought you might spend the night

235
00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:44.919
at the fraternity house.

236
00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:49.000
So today we're talking about Ronald Tamman who disappeared from

237
00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:53.000
his dorm room back in nineteen fifty three. And you, David,

238
00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:55.799
have a unique connection to this disappearance.

239
00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:00.159
Yes, my father, Charles Finley, was Ronald Tamman's roommate at

240
00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:03.399
the time of his disappearance. And for those of you

241
00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:06.720
who may not be familiar with the story, I can

242
00:15:07.159 --> 00:15:09.360
give you tell you some things from my father's point

243
00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:12.919
of view. He returned to the dorm at Miam University

244
00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:16.279
at approximate nine thirty between nine thirty and ten o'clock

245
00:15:16.519 --> 00:15:20.200
on April nineteenth, nineteen fifty three, and he found his roommate,

246
00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:25.320
Ron Hammond's deescalight on radio was playing his class ring,

247
00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:29.159
His checkbook, his wallet and personal effects like that were.

248
00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:29.519
On the desk.

249
00:15:29.720 --> 00:15:33.919
We hit a psychology book open on the desk. Now,

250
00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:36.840
when this happened, initially, you know, my dad's just come

251
00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:39.440
back from being in Dayton over the weekend home with

252
00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:41.759
his family, and he just walked into the room and

253
00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:45.919
it's like, well, it's just kind of not that unusual really,

254
00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:48.960
you know, Ron could have emptied his pockets and stuff

255
00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:51.519
and gone down and taken a shower or something. Dad said,

256
00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:55.320
nothing crossed his mind. That really at the moment, that

257
00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:56.879
was that unusual.

258
00:15:57.360 --> 00:15:59.559
So it wasn't concerning what he came back to.

259
00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:03.559
At that moment. No, it wasn't concerning. And Dad said

260
00:16:03.559 --> 00:16:08.159
it wasn't unusual for Ron to go to the fraternity.

261
00:16:08.759 --> 00:16:12.320
His older brother, Richard Tamman, was also student on campus

262
00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:15.960
and he sometimes hung out with him, so they didn't

263
00:16:15.960 --> 00:16:18.919
think anything about it. He settled in for you know,

264
00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:23.559
settled in for the evening, of course, not realizing what

265
00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:27.279
was going on around him, and Dad said, you know,

266
00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:29.440
the next day, the next morning, he was on his

267
00:16:29.480 --> 00:16:33.080
way to class and ran into Richard Tamman and said, hey,

268
00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:35.080
have you seen Ron. He wasn't back at the room

269
00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:37.559
last night. Richard said no. And neither one of them

270
00:16:37.559 --> 00:16:40.120
at the moment really gave it much of a second

271
00:16:40.120 --> 00:16:44.320
thought because this is college kids, you know, and teenagers.

272
00:16:44.919 --> 00:16:48.840
So it wasn't until that next day they had a

273
00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:51.879
like a house meeting for the dorm. Dad and Ron

274
00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:53.720
were both advisors.

275
00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:55.080
They were like student advisors.

276
00:16:55.080 --> 00:16:57.879
They were m Yeah, they were both student advisors. Dad

277
00:16:57.879 --> 00:16:59.879
brought it up at that point and said, Ron didn't

278
00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:00.759
back last night.

279
00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:03.440
I haven't seen him. Richard hasn't seen him, and I don't.

280
00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:05.240
I can't tell you all the stats and when the

281
00:17:05.240 --> 00:17:07.279
police were called. But very shortly after that the police

282
00:17:07.319 --> 00:17:11.759
recalled and still Dad said this. At that moment, it

283
00:17:12.440 --> 00:17:14.559
was like, well, he could be off on a lark

284
00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:15.119
or something, you know.

285
00:17:15.319 --> 00:17:17.880
Yeah, nobody was panicked, and nobody was afraid.

286
00:17:18.039 --> 00:17:21.599
Nobody was panicked, right, Nobody was that upset at that moment.

287
00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:26.200
But my dad said a day or two later, the

288
00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:30.680
National Guard showed up and started dragging the pond on campus,

289
00:17:31.160 --> 00:17:35.200
and my dad said, the moment that happened, for some reason,

290
00:17:35.559 --> 00:17:38.880
that hit him and at that moment he was like, oh,

291
00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:43.079
something really terrible could really have happened. And it really

292
00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:45.880
at that moment, something about you know, dragging the pond.

293
00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:48.720
Just that moment really hit home with Dad and really

294
00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:52.440
had you know, a big effect on him. At that point,

295
00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:55.599
things are starting to get more serious, you know, And

296
00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:57.880
the police showed up. Dad was of course interviewed by

297
00:17:57.880 --> 00:18:01.400
the police, and the FBI didn't that wasn't until later

298
00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:02.240
their involvement.

299
00:18:02.359 --> 00:18:05.000
But the gravity of the situation really didn't hit home

300
00:18:05.079 --> 00:18:06.440
until the National Guard showed up.

301
00:18:06.519 --> 00:18:08.640
Yeah, and they had I mean, they had they had

302
00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:10.839
students searching the grounds I mean there were there were

303
00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:16.039
search parties everywhere and no ron and then strangely Dad

304
00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:17.839
got moved to a room at the other end of

305
00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:21.480
the hall, still in Fisher Hall, and spent the rest

306
00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:23.839
of the semester pretty much without a roommate, which I

307
00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:25.279
don't think mentally could have been good.

308
00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:25.759
For him at all.

309
00:18:26.039 --> 00:18:27.440
No, that must have been difficult.

310
00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:29.799
I think I think it was they should he should.

311
00:18:29.559 --> 00:18:30.319
Not have been alone.

312
00:18:30.440 --> 00:18:33.880
I want to talk just briefly about their room, because

313
00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:37.079
people say, well, he must have been dragged from his

314
00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:39.559
dorm room, but that's not really possible.

315
00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:42.839
Yeah, their dorm room was on the second floor, so

316
00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:45.880
you had to go in really probably the front doors

317
00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:48.920
of the dorm and it was a big old building,

318
00:18:48.920 --> 00:18:51.640
built in eighteen forties, and you had to go to

319
00:18:51.720 --> 00:18:54.519
the central stairs and go up to the second floor.

320
00:18:54.960 --> 00:18:56.440
Then you had to turn left and go all the

321
00:18:56.480 --> 00:18:57.960
way to the end of the hall. And it was

322
00:18:58.039 --> 00:18:58.480
quite a lot.

323
00:18:58.559 --> 00:18:59.240
It was a huge building.

324
00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:01.960
It was quite a long and of course dorms on

325
00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:04.680
either side. So this is not a situation where somebody

326
00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:07.599
walk in the front door, up a flight of stairs,

327
00:19:08.119 --> 00:19:12.400
down a long hall and you know, abduct someone who

328
00:19:12.440 --> 00:19:16.759
is an athlete who's in good shape. Right, Yeah, he wasn't.

329
00:19:17.079 --> 00:19:18.319
He was a good site.

330
00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:20.720
It was a healthy, young, healthy young wrestler.

331
00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:21.400
Yeah.

332
00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:24.759
And so the scenario of somebody, you know, taking Ron

333
00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:28.440
out of their you know, bodily is just not I

334
00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:30.599
don't know how it, ever, ever, ever could have happened.

335
00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:33.400
I see no scenario where that would have happened.

336
00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:36.119
And we know from what we discussed in the episode

337
00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:39.519
that the whole wave of the dorm was occupied. There

338
00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:42.319
were students in and out and helping someone with homework. Yes,

339
00:19:42.519 --> 00:19:44.599
it was not he was at the end of the hall,

340
00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:47.160
so he would have to go buy several dorm rooms

341
00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:48.319
to exit the building.

342
00:19:48.599 --> 00:19:52.400
Yes, absolutely, Ron's disappearance. You know, if you think about

343
00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:56.720
the fifties, nineteen fifty three, you know, college campus, this

344
00:19:56.799 --> 00:20:00.920
is a safe place. Yes, it becomes home and you know,

345
00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:03.400
and it's a safe place in general.

346
00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:07.200
Well, it's Ohio. It's not like he was in Manhattan.

347
00:20:07.160 --> 00:20:10.480
Right, not a huge university. And I think that's another

348
00:20:10.519 --> 00:20:13.200
thing that had a huge effect on my dad because

349
00:20:13.240 --> 00:20:14.519
this was Miami University.

350
00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:15.960
This was a safe place.

351
00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:22.359
And to have this happen in a place that essentially

352
00:20:22.359 --> 00:20:24.799
it's your home. I think that was one of the

353
00:20:24.839 --> 00:20:28.480
things that really affected my father, that this was a

354
00:20:28.519 --> 00:20:32.359
safe place and this happened. I should say this is

355
00:20:32.359 --> 00:20:37.079
all not necessarily in order, but my dad always maintained

356
00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:43.559
that he just had a feel, a feeling that Ron

357
00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:47.240
was always alive. Until it got much much later, you know,

358
00:20:47.319 --> 00:20:50.519
decades and decades down the road, and you know, certainly

359
00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:54.720
at lege that age, you know, natural causes could have

360
00:20:54.759 --> 00:20:58.079
taken him. But Dad always felt that Ron was alive.

361
00:20:58.359 --> 00:21:00.960
Couldn't explain it. He just always feel that Ron was alive.

362
00:21:01.319 --> 00:21:03.640
And your dad had lived with Ron for several months.

363
00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:05.440
They weren't tight, they were friendly.

364
00:21:05.559 --> 00:21:09.440
They were friendly, and they got along great. They were

365
00:21:09.480 --> 00:21:13.480
a lot alike. They were both very hard working students.

366
00:21:13.960 --> 00:21:15.680
You know, college wasn't a breech for my dad. He

367
00:21:15.720 --> 00:21:17.960
worked very very hard at it. And you know, Ron

368
00:21:18.079 --> 00:21:21.559
was remember the campus owls. He was a wrestling team,

369
00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:22.599
you know, a student.

370
00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:23.480
He was busy.

371
00:21:23.559 --> 00:21:24.359
Yeah, fraternity.

372
00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:25.440
They were both busy.

373
00:21:25.799 --> 00:21:28.279
They were both a lot alike, focused on what they

374
00:21:28.279 --> 00:21:30.920
were there to do. But got along great. And we're

375
00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:32.039
both advisors, you know.

376
00:21:32.279 --> 00:21:34.359
But they'd lived together for months, Yes, they had lived

377
00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:35.279
together for months.

378
00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:38.640
This had such a profound effect on my father. He

379
00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:42.839
actually graduated from Miami in fifty six early winter graduation

380
00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:45.839
took a little bit longer to graduate, and once he

381
00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:49.279
graduated from Miami, well, this is interesting.

382
00:21:49.319 --> 00:21:50.279
After this incident.

383
00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:52.599
The following year, when Dad moved out of Fisher Hall,

384
00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:57.400
my father never returned to Fisher Hall in his life.

385
00:21:57.480 --> 00:22:00.000
He never returned to Fisher Hall. He was on campus

386
00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:02.319
till fifty six. He could at any point he could

387
00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:04.359
have gone back to Fisher Hall, yes, of course, and

388
00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:08.640
then after graduation he never went back to Miami. My

389
00:22:08.759 --> 00:22:10.359
dad lived to be eighty five years old and never

390
00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:14.279
returned to Miami. My dad did not speak about what

391
00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:17.680
happened to his roommate. It was something that he did

392
00:22:17.720 --> 00:22:20.720
not speak about to friends, family. It wasn't something that

393
00:22:21.079 --> 00:22:25.079
anyone that knew him unless they were Miami and knew

394
00:22:25.079 --> 00:22:28.640
from the university, from the university college. They did not know,

395
00:22:28.920 --> 00:22:31.799
and he didn't speak of it. It really affected him

396
00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:32.519
very deeply.

397
00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:35.440
We talk about in the episode how your dad became

398
00:22:35.599 --> 00:22:36.119
that guy.

399
00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:40.079
Yeah, yeah, that's sort of a strange, really strange thing.

400
00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:44.079
That guy Ron's roommate, that guy that also had an

401
00:22:44.119 --> 00:22:44.920
effect on Dad.

402
00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:48.240
Sure for the next three years. I mean, anybody that

403
00:22:48.279 --> 00:22:50.000
he was in a class with there was a hand

404
00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:52.480
over the mouth. They did know who that is. Of course,

405
00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:53.799
that guy.

406
00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:58.440
Roomed with Ron Right, so that was another factor for sure.

407
00:22:58.920 --> 00:23:02.640
So Dad didn't speak of And after graduation, my dad,

408
00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:06.599
with this business degree from a very well known, prestigious

409
00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:10.920
business college, didn't pursue business. He went to a little

410
00:23:10.920 --> 00:23:14.559
town south of Cleveland, West Ohio, where his younger brother was.

411
00:23:15.480 --> 00:23:19.920
His younger brother was a nationally known roller skating professional teacher,

412
00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:23.519
and my dad had skated and had done a little

413
00:23:23.559 --> 00:23:25.880
teaching with his brother in the past. And my dad

414
00:23:25.880 --> 00:23:29.200
went to West Ohio and spent a year and a half,

415
00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:34.039
two years maybe with his brother teaching skating. He needed

416
00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:36.200
to he needed some sort of a reset.

417
00:23:36.440 --> 00:23:38.640
He had to decompress after what he'd been through.

418
00:23:39.079 --> 00:23:41.400
Yes, And I think, you know, that's that's a good

419
00:23:41.400 --> 00:23:44.200
comment because I think because of his studies and the

420
00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:47.240
energy that it took for his studies, there was no

421
00:23:47.319 --> 00:23:49.160
time to decompress into process.

422
00:23:49.240 --> 00:23:52.119
It was all I have to get this done right.

423
00:23:52.279 --> 00:23:52.400
You know.

424
00:23:52.519 --> 00:23:54.759
Dad worked really hard to be able to go to school.

425
00:23:54.799 --> 00:23:57.640
There was no money pay for it, so he worked

426
00:23:57.640 --> 00:24:00.680
at graft Hardware and Dayton during the summers, and he

427
00:24:00.759 --> 00:24:04.240
worked in the mail room I think at Fisher Hall

428
00:24:04.279 --> 00:24:06.960
and delivered the mail to the students. He also worked

429
00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:08.960
in the dining hall and that allowed him to get

430
00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:09.519
free meals.

431
00:24:10.200 --> 00:24:13.000
So he had a really full plate as a nineteen

432
00:24:13.079 --> 00:24:16.279
year old whose roommate just disappeared. Yes, and he was

433
00:24:16.279 --> 00:24:20.720
not getting grace from his professors for exams.

434
00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:23.960
There was no grace for anything. And Dad had all

435
00:24:23.960 --> 00:24:26.839
these things to maintain, and he did. But I think afterwards,

436
00:24:26.839 --> 00:24:29.160
you know, he just you stop a train in all

437
00:24:29.160 --> 00:24:31.119
the cars come together and come right at you, right,

438
00:24:31.160 --> 00:24:33.000
and I think that's what happened. So he went to

439
00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:36.599
West Ohio to decompress and to have a reset, I think,

440
00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:39.839
you know, and in that process, you know, it's very strange.

441
00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:44.640
I'm sitting here talking with you, and Ron disappeared. Dad

442
00:24:44.680 --> 00:24:47.759
went to wester Ohio, which was not in the cards

443
00:24:47.799 --> 00:24:50.400
prior to that, of course, and there.

444
00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:52.240
He meets Judy Sweitzer, who would.

445
00:24:52.039 --> 00:24:55.880
Become my mom. And so if Ron hadn't disappeared, and

446
00:24:55.920 --> 00:24:58.480
all these things hadn't happened, we wouldn't be speaking today,

447
00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:03.440
and so continue on that. Dad only shared the story

448
00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:06.640
of Ron and his disappearance with my mom after they'd

449
00:25:06.680 --> 00:25:08.759
known each other about two years, and he spoke about

450
00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:12.160
it to her one time and did not speak about

451
00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:16.599
it again for decades and decades again nineteen fifty three,

452
00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:23.920
small ish university, and this happens, So this can happen anywhere.

453
00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:24.640
Anywhere, anytime.

454
00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:27.920
Yes, And that's a hard that's a I think it's

455
00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:30.799
a really hard thing to walk around with like this

456
00:25:30.839 --> 00:25:35.079
has happened in this situation, and this could happen anywhere anytime.

457
00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:38.559
I know that was really difficult for my father. You know,

458
00:25:38.599 --> 00:25:41.240
our house was a house the doors were locked. When

459
00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:42.759
I was a teenager, I smoked. I walked out the

460
00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:45.599
front door and have a cigarette ites ten degrees. I

461
00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:47.119
can't get back in the house because that's.

462
00:25:46.920 --> 00:25:48.319
All the door unlocked and locked behind me.

463
00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:52.079
When you went somewhere, you knew there was no not

464
00:25:52.279 --> 00:25:56.359
calling I'm here, I'm doing this. My parents always knew

465
00:25:56.400 --> 00:25:57.039
where we were.

466
00:25:57.079 --> 00:25:59.759
But you didn't know why that, You're right, such a

467
00:25:59.799 --> 00:26:00.359
good point.

468
00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:02.039
We did not know why at that point.

469
00:26:02.279 --> 00:26:04.640
My father was always like that, Yeah, and that was

470
00:26:04.759 --> 00:26:05.000
just the.

471
00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:05.640
Way Dad was.

472
00:26:05.720 --> 00:26:08.039
Dad was being a bit of a hard ass, right, right,

473
00:26:08.119 --> 00:26:10.680
But you didn't know there was a good, good reason.

474
00:26:10.759 --> 00:26:12.400
Yeah, we did. We did not know. We just knew.

475
00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:16.839
Dad was really extreme with security and personal safety. He

476
00:26:16.920 --> 00:26:20.119
talked to us about situational awareness. When you're out somewhere,

477
00:26:20.359 --> 00:26:23.039
it's important that you don't get so focused on what's

478
00:26:23.079 --> 00:26:24.519
going on in front of you.

479
00:26:24.519 --> 00:26:26.480
You're not so aware of what's going on around you.

480
00:26:26.680 --> 00:26:29.880
Which is not a conversation. I mean, I think today

481
00:26:29.960 --> 00:26:32.440
it's a conversation you have with your kids. But in

482
00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:35.880
the seventies and eighties, nobody had that conversation in their kids.

483
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:39.359
There was stranger danger, of course, yes, but not what

484
00:26:39.559 --> 00:26:43.720
you're talking about, you know, looking for the exits, making

485
00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:45.359
sure you lock the door when you come in and

486
00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:50.200
you're not followed, right, That sort of enhanced awareness.

487
00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:53.599
Right, And that's what always was around our household. Following

488
00:26:53.640 --> 00:26:56.519
on that, in the nineteen seventies, they made a documentary

489
00:26:56.839 --> 00:26:59.839
called The Phantom of Oxford and it was a channel

490
00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:03.119
an out of dateon Ohio, and they wanted to delve

491
00:27:03.160 --> 00:27:05.319
into it and explore what they could. Well, they started

492
00:27:05.319 --> 00:27:08.599
calling our house. My mom was taking calls, and they

493
00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:11.119
wanted to speak to my dad and he was not available.

494
00:27:11.480 --> 00:27:13.880
He was not available and he was not available to

495
00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:15.160
discuss the subject.

496
00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:17.599
And after literally I don't know if it was weeks

497
00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:20.240
and weeks of them calling and calling and calling for

498
00:27:20.279 --> 00:27:24.359
some reason, my dad finally acquiesced and said, yes, I

499
00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:28.960
will do it. And so the day I heard the

500
00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:34.319
story of Ron Tammand's disappearance was the night Channel seven

501
00:27:34.839 --> 00:27:37.240
came to our house. And it was the seventies, so

502
00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:39.119
it wasn't, you know, a little handheld thing. It was

503
00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:42.240
all the big lights in the whole, the whole set

504
00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:45.000
up and took over half the house. And I sat

505
00:27:45.119 --> 00:27:47.799
cross legged on the living room floor out of camera shot,

506
00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:52.319
and sat and listened to my dad tell the story.

507
00:27:52.440 --> 00:27:55.599
That's the first time I had heard the story, and

508
00:27:55.640 --> 00:27:57.559
of course at that moment I understood a lot of

509
00:27:57.599 --> 00:28:00.160
things that I had not understood. But I also so

510
00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:04.680
understood more the effect has had on my father. And

511
00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:08.440
then you know, it ended. I don't even know. I

512
00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:10.799
can't remember as a family if we watched it when

513
00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:16.039
it aired, and then it wasn't spoken about it.

514
00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:17.440
So it wasn't like the TV cameras came and then

515
00:28:17.480 --> 00:28:19.160
your dad sat down and had a heart to heart

516
00:28:19.160 --> 00:28:21.200
with the family about it. It was like the TV cameras

517
00:28:21.240 --> 00:28:22.759
came and then they left, and that was sort of

518
00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:23.319
the end of it.

519
00:28:23.319 --> 00:28:25.440
It was sort of the end of it. Dad didn't

520
00:28:25.480 --> 00:28:28.279
speak about it because it was such a touchy subject.

521
00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:32.319
We didn't really bring it up. Dad didn't talk about college.

522
00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:35.559
And this is one aspect of his college career, right,

523
00:28:35.680 --> 00:28:39.000
this is just one moment in time that affected so much.

524
00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:41.200
He didn't talk about college when we were kids. He

525
00:28:41.240 --> 00:28:42.759
didn't know when I was in college, I did this

526
00:28:42.920 --> 00:28:45.240
or you know whatever. There was no discussion of it.

527
00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:47.960
The one thing you think he did say over and

528
00:28:48.039 --> 00:28:51.440
over about Miami. He loved how beautiful the campus was.

529
00:28:52.279 --> 00:28:53.920
So I know, my dad used to talk about his

530
00:28:53.960 --> 00:28:56.400
college roommate, a guy named Terry. So I heard all

531
00:28:56.440 --> 00:28:57.599
about Terry growing up.

532
00:28:57.960 --> 00:28:59.880
Right, Well, that's kind of a kind of a normal thing.

533
00:29:00.200 --> 00:29:02.200
My college roommate. You know a lot of people have

534
00:29:02.200 --> 00:29:04.839
a college room with my buddy, my buddy, that's a buddy,

535
00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:07.160
and they talked about it.

536
00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:09.480
Dad didn't. I didn't speak about it at all. He

537
00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:10.200
really didn't.

538
00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:14.279
And then, of all things, my youngest brother is a

539
00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:16.880
three time world champion roller skater.

540
00:29:17.200 --> 00:29:17.519
Wow.

541
00:29:17.880 --> 00:29:22.519
And as his career in skating started to progress, well,

542
00:29:22.519 --> 00:29:25.839
he got to the point he was competing in the

543
00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:31.200
International Sports Festival Pan American Games. So he's skating and

544
00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:34.119
it comes home and says, well, supposed to go to Germany.

545
00:29:34.759 --> 00:29:36.640
I could just see the terror in my dad's face.

546
00:29:37.160 --> 00:29:37.839
My brother was.

547
00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:42.039
Maybe sixteen, and they're supposed to go to Germany to

548
00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:45.720
compete in the world level, and there's a big deal.

549
00:29:45.839 --> 00:29:48.240
My dad finally said, Okay, I found this out later.

550
00:29:48.440 --> 00:29:51.000
I'm not going to keep him from doing anything he

551
00:29:51.039 --> 00:29:55.200
ever wants to do like this. But it was very

552
00:29:55.200 --> 00:29:56.200
difficult for my father.

553
00:29:56.440 --> 00:29:59.559
It wasn't like you understood his hesitation. You just saw

554
00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:02.720
Dad trying to hold him back a little bit and thinking,

555
00:30:02.759 --> 00:30:03.880
why is dad being like this?

556
00:30:04.119 --> 00:30:07.559
Right, And then things got really serious when it was

557
00:30:07.720 --> 00:30:09.839
International Sports Festival of Pan American Games.

558
00:30:09.880 --> 00:30:10.759
It was in Cuba.

559
00:30:11.319 --> 00:30:13.640
Oh and we didn't do Cuba back then.

560
00:30:13.960 --> 00:30:16.359
No, So mom and Dad were like, well, we're not

561
00:30:16.200 --> 00:30:16.960
not gone.

562
00:30:17.319 --> 00:30:17.680
Oh no.

563
00:30:18.680 --> 00:30:20.599
He comes and he said they're going. The team is

564
00:30:20.640 --> 00:30:22.799
going to Cuba, and my dad was just you know,

565
00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:27.759
like sending him to Cuba during the Cold War, Yeah, yeah, exactly.

566
00:30:28.279 --> 00:30:31.000
But anyway, so he went. But it was a lot

567
00:30:31.079 --> 00:30:33.400
for dad, you know, it was an awful lot. So

568
00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:37.400
later in life, my dad passed away in twenty seventeen,

569
00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:39.640
but probably about five years before he passed, he had

570
00:30:39.680 --> 00:30:42.880
Parkinson's and he was getting to the point where he

571
00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:46.599
was better off if he was with someone. Okay, he

572
00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:49.319
could still function, and you know, he had all he

573
00:30:49.400 --> 00:30:52.200
was totally intact, his faculties and everything, but he just

574
00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:55.799
got to the point where the Parkinson's would be daily

575
00:30:55.880 --> 00:30:59.519
tasks became how to use his electric raser again? Or

576
00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:02.000
how do I clear this electric razor again? You know,

577
00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:05.599
things like that. He did support, but he was mentally

578
00:31:05.599 --> 00:31:09.119
completely intact, and so I started spending a lot of

579
00:31:09.200 --> 00:31:11.920
time with him, several days a week, and he would

580
00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:15.680
ask me questions, you know, what's the difference? What's Netflix

581
00:31:15.759 --> 00:31:18.559
in YouTube? And what are all these different things? And

582
00:31:18.920 --> 00:31:21.559
how are they different? What does each one do? And

583
00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:26.480
I said, well, Dad, YouTube is anything in everything. You

584
00:31:26.519 --> 00:31:29.599
wouldn't believe what you can find on YouTube, right, I said,

585
00:31:29.640 --> 00:31:32.799
you know, from from old old movie Cluch, yeah, to

586
00:31:33.319 --> 00:31:36.880
current how to trim your toenails, like anything and everything.

587
00:31:37.200 --> 00:31:39.480
And my dad said really, So I thought, what could

588
00:31:39.519 --> 00:31:42.119
I punch in and show Dad that's on here that

589
00:31:42.200 --> 00:31:47.759
would be interesting to him. So I punched in the documentary.

590
00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:50.079
That he did in the seventies, that dad.

591
00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:52.200
Did in the seventies, and I said, here it is.

592
00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:55.440
I said, what's on YouTube? You here you are, and

593
00:31:55.480 --> 00:31:58.039
the footage of him and the documentary The Fan of Oxford,

594
00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:04.359
And that actually was the impetus to start the discussion

595
00:32:04.960 --> 00:32:09.319
about Ron and Miami. And he let me go there.

596
00:32:09.640 --> 00:32:10.839
But it took fifty years.

597
00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:14.759
It took fifty years, yes, and he went there and

598
00:32:14.799 --> 00:32:19.240
we talked about it for a long time. I got

599
00:32:19.279 --> 00:32:22.039
on Miami's site and sort of pulled up some different

600
00:32:22.079 --> 00:32:25.079
buildings and asking him things whatever. Then I went on

601
00:32:25.119 --> 00:32:28.079
the National Archives and pulled up old pictures of Fisher

602
00:32:28.079 --> 00:32:30.119
Hall from the eighteen forties when it was you know,

603
00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:35.160
a yeah, yes, asylum. And that's what really started. And

604
00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:37.160
he was open. I don't know if it was late

605
00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:39.279
in life, and at that point he was like, maybe

606
00:32:39.279 --> 00:32:41.079
I should tell somebody how I feel about this.

607
00:32:41.119 --> 00:32:42.240
And how it affected me.

608
00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:45.599
That's when we really got into it, and I learned

609
00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:50.279
so much about my father and all these light bulbs

610
00:32:50.359 --> 00:32:52.279
kept going off, like, oh, that's why he did that,

611
00:32:52.279 --> 00:32:54.599
that's why he did that, that's why he was so extreme.

612
00:32:54.640 --> 00:32:54.920
With that.

613
00:32:55.400 --> 00:32:58.160
The other thing, too, is a wonderful thing about this

614
00:32:59.039 --> 00:33:02.880
is it taught my dad you can lose anything anytime,

615
00:33:03.599 --> 00:33:06.920
and I think because of that, we never left his

616
00:33:07.119 --> 00:33:09.359
presence without him saying I love you.

617
00:33:10.759 --> 00:33:12.359
He became very.

618
00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:15.519
He was to begin with because what his parents.

619
00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:15.599
Were like that.

620
00:33:15.640 --> 00:33:19.759
He was always very expressive, even very demonstrative. Yes, but

621
00:33:20.200 --> 00:33:24.640
he was such a loving, caring man. But I think

622
00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:27.119
Ron's disappearance and the fact that anything can happen to

623
00:33:27.119 --> 00:33:30.920
anyone at any time situation really caused him to be

624
00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:33.680
so much more. Being on the other end of that

625
00:33:33.799 --> 00:33:36.720
was really wonderful. He loved us, and he always told

626
00:33:36.799 --> 00:33:39.799
us that he loved us and showed us. He told

627
00:33:39.799 --> 00:33:42.359
me about a prank where they I think they got

628
00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:45.799
the rope off the flagpole and went around Fisher Hall

629
00:33:45.839 --> 00:33:48.359
and tied all the doorknobs together so everybody couldn't get

630
00:33:48.400 --> 00:33:50.319
no one could get out of their dorm room. I'd

631
00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:53.400
never heard anything funny about that, about Fisher Call or anything.

632
00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:56.160
So I think it was really good for me because

633
00:33:56.160 --> 00:33:58.920
I got an insight into my father that I hadn't had,

634
00:33:59.319 --> 00:34:01.640
and I think it was really good for him. We've

635
00:34:01.640 --> 00:34:04.079
always been very close and I think it was a

636
00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:06.599
really good thing for him to be able to share

637
00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:11.440
it with me and share his thoughts. So later in life,

638
00:34:11.559 --> 00:34:14.400
about a year or two before my dad passed. I

639
00:34:14.440 --> 00:34:20.039
can't remember what precipitated it. Jennifer Winger may have called.

640
00:34:20.079 --> 00:34:23.639
Okay, And Jennifer Winger has the Ronald Tamman webshow web,

641
00:34:23.880 --> 00:34:24.719
sort of the expert.

642
00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:29.400
She's devoted more time. I probably a decade of time

643
00:34:29.960 --> 00:34:34.199
to this unsolved mystery at this point. But I think

644
00:34:34.199 --> 00:34:37.039
it may have been the last call from her, and

645
00:34:37.079 --> 00:34:41.519
he hung up the phone and he said, I will

646
00:34:41.559 --> 00:34:44.800
probably not live long enough to know the answer to this,

647
00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:46.760
but it's really important to me.

648
00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:49.239
I hope someday you know the answer.

649
00:34:50.039 --> 00:34:53.880
So I don't follow absolutely every word that's written about

650
00:34:53.960 --> 00:34:57.639
Ron Tamman's disappearance, and you know, updates on every site

651
00:34:57.679 --> 00:35:04.000
and everything, but I'm watching and waiting somewhat patiently. I

652
00:35:04.039 --> 00:35:07.079
know there will be an answer to this. But Dad

653
00:35:07.119 --> 00:35:12.320
always believed that Ron did something on his own, meaning

654
00:35:13.679 --> 00:35:17.559
Ron made a decision, maybe one of the ultimate life changes.

655
00:35:18.119 --> 00:35:20.239
But Ron was not forced out of that building. Ron

656
00:35:20.320 --> 00:35:20.920
chose to go.

657
00:35:22.159 --> 00:35:25.159
Absolutely Yeah, it doesn't make any sense that he was

658
00:35:25.199 --> 00:35:27.400
forced out of the building. It just doesn't too many

659
00:35:27.440 --> 00:35:30.880
people around. If you do some reading about Ron Tamman

660
00:35:31.039 --> 00:35:34.440
and his disappearance, there's a lot to read. But there

661
00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:41.000
are so many factors that point two, Ron was how

662
00:35:41.000 --> 00:35:43.679
do I say this? Ron was up to something? Ron

663
00:35:43.760 --> 00:35:47.880
was involved with. I believe one of our governmental agencies.

664
00:35:48.639 --> 00:35:50.880
We touch on that a little bit in the episode

665
00:35:50.880 --> 00:35:53.280
with Project Art to Choke and mk Ultra. It was

666
00:35:53.280 --> 00:35:56.400
a precursor to mk Ultra that he may have been

667
00:35:56.519 --> 00:36:01.239
based on his psychology professor dabbling on the peripheree of

668
00:36:01.280 --> 00:36:03.199
some of this, yes, but.

669
00:36:03.119 --> 00:36:06.360
They're just there's so many things. You know, the fact

670
00:36:06.360 --> 00:36:09.960
that he left his personal effects, He didn't take his car.

671
00:36:10.360 --> 00:36:11.559
His car was right outside the.

672
00:36:11.559 --> 00:36:15.079
Window, right with his musical instruct exactly exactly, his class rang,

673
00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:16.519
his colll ing right.

674
00:36:16.679 --> 00:36:19.599
So basically what's interesting is if you look at it,

675
00:36:20.239 --> 00:36:25.480
anything besides his DNA that could identify Ron Tamman paid

676
00:36:25.960 --> 00:36:29.039
and Ron left with nothing that would identify him as

677
00:36:29.119 --> 00:36:32.960
Ron Tamman, nothing on his person. And I think that

678
00:36:33.960 --> 00:36:36.719
was for a reason. I really do. And this is

679
00:36:37.079 --> 00:36:39.679
an opinion, and it's my opinion. It doesn't mean it's

680
00:36:39.760 --> 00:36:42.119
right by any means, but there are an awful lot

681
00:36:42.159 --> 00:36:46.440
of things that point to involvement with the governmental agency.

682
00:36:46.920 --> 00:36:47.119
You know.

683
00:36:47.159 --> 00:36:50.159
The other thing to remember is, this is a college

684
00:36:50.199 --> 00:36:54.760
student that disappeared, what seventy one years now, and the

685
00:36:54.840 --> 00:36:59.559
FBI still if you put in a Freedom of information

686
00:36:59.679 --> 00:37:03.679
records for information about Ron Tamman, a huge percentage of

687
00:37:03.719 --> 00:37:07.639
it is redacted or they don't supply it. Now, if

688
00:37:07.639 --> 00:37:09.719
this was just a simple case of a college student

689
00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:12.079
wandered off and got killed, or you know, something in

690
00:37:12.119 --> 00:37:15.480
the body has never been found, why would the FBI

691
00:37:15.639 --> 00:37:20.159
seventy one years later be guarding his file and all

692
00:37:20.159 --> 00:37:23.119
the information so closely Project Artichoke and m ka Ultra

693
00:37:23.280 --> 00:37:26.199
our public knowledge, it's all been made not all, but

694
00:37:26.280 --> 00:37:29.920
ninety percent available. Right, We're aware, We're aware that the

695
00:37:29.920 --> 00:37:34.440
government did this. So it's very incongruous that anything in

696
00:37:34.480 --> 00:37:36.159
the fairy has happened. And he was hauled out of

697
00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:39.599
the building by someone he was involved in this and

698
00:37:40.239 --> 00:37:41.280
this is a theory.

699
00:37:41.400 --> 00:37:43.920
And that's what we're talking about. We're talking about theories

700
00:37:43.960 --> 00:37:48.960
and experiences with this disappearance. Right, did your dad have

701
00:37:49.039 --> 00:37:52.000
an opinion? I mean he thought that he left on

702
00:37:52.039 --> 00:37:52.480
his own.

703
00:37:52.320 --> 00:37:56.519
Accord, so my dad in later years, after reading and

704
00:37:56.679 --> 00:37:58.880
hearing about information that had come to light that of

705
00:37:58.920 --> 00:38:00.239
course he did not know at the time, and all

706
00:38:00.360 --> 00:38:03.360
so much has come to light since then. My father's

707
00:38:03.400 --> 00:38:08.400
belief was that, yeah, Ron got involved with a governmental agency.

708
00:38:08.760 --> 00:38:13.480
And you know, there's speculation that Ron could have been gay,

709
00:38:13.559 --> 00:38:15.760
and if you were a gay male in nineteen fifty three,

710
00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:18.920
you couldn't have a life, no, not in this country.

711
00:38:19.400 --> 00:38:24.880
And so the possibility exists that Ron did this to

712
00:38:25.639 --> 00:38:28.599
have a life that he wasn't allowed to have in

713
00:38:28.639 --> 00:38:31.519
this country or on his present path at the time.

714
00:38:32.119 --> 00:38:33.719
So there were a lot of things going on in

715
00:38:33.800 --> 00:38:38.039
Ron's life that at the moment in nineteen fifty three,

716
00:38:38.639 --> 00:38:41.400
Ron was probably the only person that knew all these

717
00:38:41.400 --> 00:38:45.559
things were happening. In some unusual things about Ron and

718
00:38:45.880 --> 00:38:48.039
what was going on with him at that time. One

719
00:38:48.119 --> 00:38:50.880
was that he had a scholarship from I think his

720
00:38:50.880 --> 00:38:53.519
family lived in Shaker Heights outside of Cleveland, but some

721
00:38:53.559 --> 00:38:56.880
country club or something. He had a scholarship. But the

722
00:38:56.920 --> 00:38:59.920
guidelines for that scholarship were that he had to mean

723
00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:02.840
a certain great average and he asked had to be

724
00:39:02.840 --> 00:39:06.320
a full time student. Well, he had dropped a psychology

725
00:39:06.360 --> 00:39:09.360
class and another class, and so he had lost his

726
00:39:09.440 --> 00:39:12.239
full time status, so he was going to lose that.

727
00:39:13.320 --> 00:39:15.800
And he also didn't come from a wealthy family, so

728
00:39:15.840 --> 00:39:17.320
he was relying on credit.

729
00:39:17.400 --> 00:39:19.039
He did not come from a wealthy family, had a

730
00:39:19.079 --> 00:39:21.320
lot of siblings, They did not come from a lot

731
00:39:21.360 --> 00:39:23.960
of money, so that that was very important. The other

732
00:39:24.039 --> 00:39:27.039
thing is because he had dropped enough classes that he

733
00:39:27.039 --> 00:39:30.119
had lost his full time status, that meant he became

734
00:39:30.320 --> 00:39:33.599
l's for the draft. He would lose this deferment. Those

735
00:39:33.599 --> 00:39:35.519
things we know for sure were going on if he

736
00:39:35.679 --> 00:39:39.280
was gay, if someone approached a young man in that

737
00:39:39.320 --> 00:39:45.880
situation and said, look, we can offer you this right,

738
00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:48.519
We can offer you a situation where you can spend

739
00:39:48.519 --> 00:39:52.239
a certain amount of time overseas and countriesider much more

740
00:39:52.960 --> 00:39:56.480
and more understand and accepting of folks like you, And

741
00:39:56.920 --> 00:40:01.119
it makes sense. I can't cite all of the evidence

742
00:40:01.199 --> 00:40:05.239
and everything to back all that up completely, but it's there.

743
00:40:05.480 --> 00:40:07.079
It is, And we talked about it a little bit

744
00:40:07.119 --> 00:40:11.000
in the episode with his psychology professor. The class that

745
00:40:11.039 --> 00:40:12.960
he dropped, the class where the book was open on

746
00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:16.360
his desk. I think the night he disappeared, the psychology

747
00:40:16.400 --> 00:40:19.159
professor was known to have connections to the Department of

748
00:40:19.199 --> 00:40:23.960
Defense and the Air Force. So there's it. So we're

749
00:40:23.960 --> 00:40:28.920
not pulling this theory out of thin air. There's breadcrumbs, yes,

750
00:40:29.000 --> 00:40:30.199
that lead us in this direction.

751
00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:34.079
Yes, So you know, seventy one years later, it's still

752
00:40:35.480 --> 00:40:41.679
to me a very very very fascinating and complicated and

753
00:40:41.840 --> 00:40:47.760
intriguing mystery. The Fisher Hall was an asylum in its

754
00:40:48.159 --> 00:40:51.760
early life, and my dad said it was kind of creepy.

755
00:40:51.840 --> 00:40:54.639
He said the dining room was on the second floor

756
00:40:55.440 --> 00:40:58.920
and the kitchen was in the basement. And Dad said,

757
00:40:58.920 --> 00:41:01.719
when the cooks used to spend the weekend, so we

758
00:41:01.800 --> 00:41:03.760
used to stay at Fisher Hall for the weekend, they

759
00:41:03.760 --> 00:41:07.079
would sleep in the old cells in the basement. Fisher

760
00:41:07.079 --> 00:41:09.000
Hall was, you know, it was it was the building

761
00:41:09.119 --> 00:41:11.800
was so old, you know, besides the cells in the basement.

762
00:41:11.840 --> 00:41:13.519
And Dad said, you know, there were weird things, like

763
00:41:13.559 --> 00:41:15.840
all the steps in the building were stone or granted,

764
00:41:16.039 --> 00:41:17.880
but he said in the middle of them they were

765
00:41:18.199 --> 00:41:19.000
they were half gone.

766
00:41:19.039 --> 00:41:19.679
They were so.

767
00:41:19.840 --> 00:41:22.079
Worn for so many you know, from all the traffic.

768
00:41:22.239 --> 00:41:25.079
And he said the third floor was closed off because

769
00:41:25.079 --> 00:41:28.119
it was not in good condition. And he said, what

770
00:41:28.159 --> 00:41:30.239
would happen is he said, the plaster would fall off

771
00:41:30.239 --> 00:41:33.679
the ceiling on the third floor then hit the floor

772
00:41:34.559 --> 00:41:36.920
on the third floor, which was of course right above

773
00:41:36.960 --> 00:41:39.519
the second floor, and you would hear it. So there's

774
00:41:39.599 --> 00:41:42.679
sort of weird, you know, weird things.

775
00:41:43.079 --> 00:41:44.480
The building went bump in the night.

776
00:41:44.679 --> 00:41:47.360
The building definitely went bump in the night very well put. Yes,

777
00:41:47.800 --> 00:41:50.320
you know, and there's there are stories that the people

778
00:41:50.440 --> 00:41:53.880
sighting the ghost of Ron wandering through the formal gardens

779
00:41:53.920 --> 00:41:57.360
behind Fisher Hall. You know, when Fisher Hall was still standing.

780
00:41:57.800 --> 00:42:00.199
They tore it down almost fifty years ago, and they

781
00:42:00.239 --> 00:42:02.199
looked for him. We talked about that briefly, and yeah,

782
00:42:02.239 --> 00:42:05.599
it did. They searched the rubble, they searched the cisterns

783
00:42:05.639 --> 00:42:07.960
and the well under the building. Yes, they did not

784
00:42:08.079 --> 00:42:08.639
find him.

785
00:42:09.199 --> 00:42:12.679
There are things that the university didn't do what I

786
00:42:12.719 --> 00:42:16.960
would consider a great job investigating. They didn't follow all leads,

787
00:42:17.320 --> 00:42:20.119
and looking back, there were leads that they definitely should

788
00:42:20.159 --> 00:42:23.039
have followed but did not. So there's a lot of

789
00:42:23.199 --> 00:42:24.760
inconsistencies in that.

790
00:42:25.480 --> 00:42:27.559
There's two things I want to talk about. One is

791
00:42:27.599 --> 00:42:29.000
the New York sighting.

792
00:42:29.800 --> 00:42:34.119
Months after Ron's disappearance. A professor from Miami. He was

793
00:42:34.400 --> 00:42:36.639
in a restaurant in New York. A look across the

794
00:42:36.679 --> 00:42:40.320
restaurant a table, and there were approximately five men sitting there,

795
00:42:41.039 --> 00:42:44.440
and he swore one of them was Ron Tampon, and

796
00:42:44.639 --> 00:42:49.159
I believe he made eye contact with him. Professor got

797
00:42:49.239 --> 00:42:52.079
up shortly after that, went to use the restroom, and

798
00:42:52.119 --> 00:42:55.719
when he came back, the whole table was cleared, the

799
00:42:55.760 --> 00:42:59.639
men were all gone. It's never been substantiated, but it

800
00:42:59.719 --> 00:43:01.719
makes you under It certainly.

801
00:43:01.360 --> 00:43:02.960
Does well for me.

802
00:43:03.360 --> 00:43:06.480
It follows in with my idea he's out there, you know,

803
00:43:06.639 --> 00:43:08.599
he's working for the government or whatever.

804
00:43:09.119 --> 00:43:11.480
The other thing that I wanted to talk about, because

805
00:43:11.519 --> 00:43:13.559
when you told me this, I was just like, what

806
00:43:14.280 --> 00:43:19.119
were the fingerprints? Ron's fingerprints were in the system from

807
00:43:19.119 --> 00:43:22.199
when he was a child, So when he went missing

808
00:43:22.239 --> 00:43:25.719
for the Selective Service, they pulled his fingerprints and they

809
00:43:25.760 --> 00:43:28.719
had them in a database. Eventually, as technology caught up,

810
00:43:28.800 --> 00:43:33.280
they were entered into a database, the national database, probably

811
00:43:33.320 --> 00:43:36.280
Athos or Cotis or one of those. But then in

812
00:43:36.320 --> 00:43:40.039
the early two thousands, something happened.

813
00:43:41.119 --> 00:43:45.360
Well, they were removed. And that's strange because normally when

814
00:43:45.360 --> 00:43:49.360
they're removed, that means the person is deceased.

815
00:43:49.920 --> 00:43:52.679
So why in two thousand and two.

816
00:43:52.880 --> 00:43:55.000
Right, why were they just out of the blue removed?

817
00:43:55.679 --> 00:43:56.199
We don't know.

818
00:43:56.840 --> 00:43:59.199
The FBI won't answer, It won't tell us why they

819
00:43:59.199 --> 00:44:01.960
were removed. I'm so intrigued. I want to know what

820
00:44:02.039 --> 00:44:06.400
Ron did. I'm the type person. It's just how David

821
00:44:06.400 --> 00:44:11.639
Finley is wired. I feel immense connections to people. I

822
00:44:11.679 --> 00:44:14.880
am terribly terribly close to my father. A matter of fact,

823
00:44:14.960 --> 00:44:16.840
his ashes are with me today in my ring that

824
00:44:16.880 --> 00:44:20.519
I'm willing. So yes, my dad always wanted to know.

825
00:44:20.599 --> 00:44:23.039
It was really it was important to him. He never

826
00:44:23.119 --> 00:44:27.280
expressed that through his life to myself, I don't think anyone,

827
00:44:27.440 --> 00:44:30.280
not even my mom. Later in life, he told me

828
00:44:30.519 --> 00:44:31.920
that it was really important to him.

829
00:44:31.920 --> 00:44:34.760
He really really wanted to know what happened to Ron.

830
00:44:34.840 --> 00:44:37.119
And as I said earlier, if he couldn't find out,

831
00:44:37.360 --> 00:44:38.119
he really.

832
00:44:37.880 --> 00:44:39.440
Hopes that in my lifetime.

833
00:44:39.480 --> 00:44:39.719
I know.

834
00:44:40.239 --> 00:44:42.880
But again I go back to if this was just

835
00:44:43.800 --> 00:44:47.360
a college student that wander off somewhere in nineteen fifty three,

836
00:44:48.199 --> 00:44:51.320
why is all the information so impossible to get your

837
00:44:51.320 --> 00:44:55.320
hands on it. Jennifer Winger has had to pull teeth

838
00:44:55.400 --> 00:44:59.639
to get information. I think by the FBI guarding all this.

839
00:44:59.639 --> 00:45:02.519
So closely, it adds to the mistique.

840
00:45:02.519 --> 00:45:05.239
They just throw up red flags everywhere. They're just like, hello,

841
00:45:05.360 --> 00:45:06.760
look at us, because right.

842
00:45:06.760 --> 00:45:09.039
Something's going on here, something to see here, right.

843
00:45:09.480 --> 00:45:12.599
Very strange. But I really hope we have an answer.

844
00:45:13.000 --> 00:45:17.719
But until then, it's a very very intriguing mystery, a

845
00:45:17.760 --> 00:45:20.280
mystery that has had an effect on my life and

846
00:45:20.320 --> 00:45:23.239
my family's life in a way that I never would

847
00:45:23.239 --> 00:45:25.400
have imagined. And I don't think a lot of people

848
00:45:25.480 --> 00:45:28.320
would think about this collateral effect.

849
00:45:28.519 --> 00:45:30.480
Yes, you know. That was one of the reasons I

850
00:45:30.519 --> 00:45:32.519
wanted to talk with you about this today, is because

851
00:45:32.519 --> 00:45:36.639
we talk about how an incident like this can impact

852
00:45:36.679 --> 00:45:39.880
the community, and you give us such a clear example

853
00:45:40.599 --> 00:45:42.599
of how not only it impacted your dad, but it

854
00:45:42.639 --> 00:45:46.800
impacted you and your siblings and the way life ended up.

855
00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:49.719
If Ron hadn't disappeared, it would have been completely different.

856
00:45:49.960 --> 00:45:52.840
And you know, this is not so much about my family,

857
00:45:52.880 --> 00:45:55.519
but I've read enough I'm aware of the effects that

858
00:45:55.559 --> 00:46:00.639
this has had on Ron's family. Yes, and that's really, really,

859
00:46:00.679 --> 00:46:01.519
really tragic.

860
00:46:02.159 --> 00:46:05.480
Speaking of Ron's family, I'm going to end this episode

861
00:46:05.480 --> 00:46:07.079
with the word from Ron's father.

862
00:46:07.280 --> 00:46:15.639
I have never lost hope but sometime, somehow something would

863
00:46:15.679 --> 00:46:20.840
come up, so we'd have some evidence of either his

864
00:46:20.960 --> 00:46:25.199
death or his disappearance or the reason reasons for it.

865
00:46:27.559 --> 00:46:34.800
I've never given up a lot of times I've I've

866
00:46:34.800 --> 00:46:40.639
thought that, oh, he's going to show up. He's gonna

867
00:46:41.239 --> 00:46:42.519
going to show up here pretty soon.

868
00:46:43.039 --> 00:46:45.400
While there is a ton of coverage about Ron's case

869
00:46:45.440 --> 00:46:51.039
available online, I strongly suggest you visit www dot Ronald

870
00:46:51.119 --> 00:46:54.360
Tamman dot com, which I linked to in the show notes.

871
00:46:54.920 --> 00:46:59.800
This website offers the definitive look at Ron's case. I'm

872
00:46:59.800 --> 00:47:04.360
your host, Nina instead. I appreciate you listening and please

873
00:47:05.159 --> 00:47:22.079
be safe.

874
00:47:29.480 --> 00:47:33.679
Thanks for listening. Visit sinspod dot com, slash subscribe for

875
00:47:33.800 --> 00:47:37.960
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876
00:47:38.159 --> 00:47:41.840
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877
00:47:41.960 --> 00:47:45.559
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878
00:47:45.639 --> 00:47:48.400
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879
00:47:48.559 --> 00:47:52.679
You can contact us at questions at Sinson Survivors dot com.

880
00:47:52.840 --> 00:47:55.119
If you are someone you know as affected by domestic

881
00:47:55.199 --> 00:47:58.480
violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources

882
00:47:58.559 --> 00:48:01.480
or the National Domestic Violence LIE. A list of resources

883
00:48:01.519 --> 00:48:06.079
is available on our website sinsensurvivors dot com. Sins and Survivors,

884
00:48:06.119 --> 00:48:09.000
a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research, written, and

885
00:48:09.039 --> 00:48:12.400
produced by your hosts Sean and John. The information shared

886
00:48:12.400 --> 00:48:14.679
in this podcast is accurate at the time of recording.

887
00:48:15.119 --> 00:48:18.079
If you have questions, concerns, or corrections, please email us.

888
00:48:18.199 --> 00:48:20.599
Links to source material for this episode can be found

889
00:48:20.639 --> 00:48:24.199
on our website, sinsensurvivors dot com.

890
00:48:24.480 --> 00:48:27.440
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely

891
00:48:27.519 --> 00:48:31.840
those of the podcast creators, hosts, and their guests. All

892
00:48:31.840 --> 00:48:35.800
individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not

893
00:48:35.920 --> 00:48:40.000
constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal

894
00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:41.159
professionals for guidance.
Nina Innstead