by Sarah A. Peterson-Camacho

Sunday, November 2, 1986, Day of the Dead

Halloween was on a Friday that year—a boon to schoolkids flying high on a candy-fueled sugar rush, and for those party-hardy adults who’d be nursing hangovers the next day. All had that entire weekend to recover.

All, that is, except for Rhonda Sue Stankewitz, 24. By Monday morning, she would be dead.

It had been a balmy Day of the Dead in Fresno, California—77F during the day, dropping to the mid-forties by nightfall. A smattering of stars shone brilliant and glistening, but the moon was a black hole haunting the dark sky, too new to care who did what to whom in her absence.

Capping off an alcohol-fueled Halloween weekend, Stankewitz and her roommate, 29-year-old Rafaela Gayle Lewis, drank themselves late into the evening, when a fight broke out between the two sometime before midnight.

“Detective Tommy Sanchez said the argument—apparently over Lewis’s refusal to go to bed—erupted into a fight that ended with Stankewitz being stabbed once in the back,” reported The Fresno Bee on Wednesday, November 5, 1986. “The weapon, he said, is believed to have been a kitchen knife that was found in the women’s apartment at 350 N. Calaveras St.

“Sanchez said the stabbing was reported shortly before 12:30 a.m. Monday, after Stankewitz staggered out of the apartment and collapsed on the ground in front of a residence at 386 N. Calaveras.”

Fresno police found Stankewitz’s roommate looming over her crumpled form as she bled out, multiple vital organs lacerated. The young woman, barely conscious, gazed up at the glittering stars as her life seeped out.

History sure had an odd way of repeating itself; four decades earlier, another young woman had fled a drunken holiday brawl as the blade of a knife sank into her spine, rupturing vital organs in its serrated wake. Staggering away from her attacker, she had dropped to the cold, damp ground, gazing up at those same shimmering constellations.

A waning half-moon had offered up its weak silver light, glinting off her trail of blood like so many spilled blackened rubies. And the life of Rhonda Stankewitz’s young aunt Arcie—her mother’s older sister—had drained away as her back oozed, her only company the exquisite, bejeweled silence of the indifferent Milky Way.

Tuesday, December 25, 1945, Christmas Day

How a 13-year-old girl came to be making the rounds of local taverns with a 16-year-old friend, her maternal uncle, and his common-law wife—on Christmas Day, no less—is anyone’s best guess, but that’s exactly how it went down on Christ’s birthday in 1945.

Arcie Ruth Sample—who would celebrate her fourteenth birthday on January 8 of the following year—had been spending the holidays at the Clovis home of her mother’s younger brother, Pete Grigsby, and his longtime girlfriend, Myrtle Bounds. (Sample, of Auberry, was always reported as being 15 in newspapers of the time, but she was actually born in 1932, not 1930.)

Late on the evening of Tuesday, December 25, 1945, Sample, 16-year-old Mariam Moore, Grigsby, and Bounds “came to Fresno for a round of taverns,” The Fresno Bee divulged on Thursday, December 27, 1945, “and enroute, [recently discharged Army veteran, 34-year-old Rayna Tom] Carman [sic] made improper advances to the 16-year-old, who quit the party. Upbraided by the Sample girl, Carman made an angry retort which drew the fire of Grigsby and Myrtle Bounds.

“Ejected from the café [they had been patronizing], the group returned to Grigsby’s home [in Clovis], where a scuffle ensued—Carman [sic] using a pocketknife, someone else a crowbar, and Myrtle Bounds a 12-inch butcher knife.”

“Bill Charlie…who spent the night at the Grigsby home and let the celebrating party in when they returned from Fresno, described the fight—and said all were attacking Carmen,” The Fresno Bee would later report.

“Myrtle Bounds, he said, first got a .22-caliber rifle, then a crowbar, and later the [butcher] knife—and was trying to cut Carmen while he was down on the floor.

“…Miss Bounds threatened Carmen with a .22-caliber rifle, which was taken from her by Mariam Moore, another of the party. Then…the woman obtained a crowbar and struck Carmen twice over the head—and then picked up the butcher knife from the kitchen table. [But] Carmen wrested the weapon from her.”

And when Rayna Tom Carmen spied Arcie Sample attempting to flee the chaotic scene, he gave chase—burning with a deep-seated rage at the 13-year-old’s earlier rejection of his sexual advances. Catching her by the scruff of her winter coat, he slashed her across the back with the butcher knife, its foot-long blade sinking into her spine as easily as it had torn through the down of her jacket.

The newly discharged Army vet continued stabbing the terrified teen in a blood-flecked frenzy, as she fought her way out of her sliced coat—and out of his murderous grasp. Her uncle Pete “Grigsby attempted to intervene and also was cut,” continued the Bee. “He got Grigsby two or three times…[but] Miss Sample was stabbed nine times—and also was slashed on both arms and hands.

“Following the affray, Carman [sic] ran to a nearby house, announced he had been ‘cut up,’ and pleaded for a doctor. The residents instead called Constable W.T. Black and Patrolman James Lawless, who notified the sheriff’s office when the girl’s body was found.”

Arcie Ruth Sample died gazing up at the stars, in the wee hours of Wednesday, December 26; she had made it to the backyard, falling backward, landing with a soft thud on the frosty grass. As she bled out into the frozen, slumbering earth, she was already too weak to writhe in the scarlet agony engulfing her alive.

Sticky ribbons of blood laced her long, black hair as it fanned out across the dead lawn. Her intestines resembled a tangled ruby rope of shredded licorice.

But at least she had the stars.

“The Sample girl was stabbed nine times—seven in the back—and a trail of blood led from the kitchen of the Grigsby home,” The Fresno Bee would come to reveal, “to where the body was discovered in the backyard…The girl’s body was found 40 feet away from the doorway, where her bloody coat lay…She [had] slipped out of the coat, and with her last few steps, [she] fled from Carman [sic].”

The fleeing murderer was transported to a local hospital by police escorts—where his various wounds were treated, including those two crowbar whacks to the head—and then on to the Fresno County Jail, where he was booked on murder and assault charges.

“The World War II veteran told Deputy Sheriff Hubert Nevins he wrestled the knife from Grigsby’s common-law wife, Myrtle Bounds, routed an attack on him, and overtook the Sample girl as she followed Grigsby and the woman from their shack.

“‘I caught her coat collar and stabbed her several times,’ Carman [sic] told Nevins.”

“We found the crowbar where someone had hidden it,” Nevins told The Fresno Bee. “Carman [sic] was hit over the head two or three times…But all of them [the witnesses] agree that Carman took the butcher knife from Myrtle Bounds. He told us he had been trained overseas to disarm people…When he got hold of the knife, he really went to work.”

Rayna Tom Carmen’s murder confession—one freely given mere hours after the heinous crime had been committed—seemingly made for a slam-dunk win for any prosecuting attorney taking on the Christmas homicide case. But in the weeks that followed, what once appeared to be a sure bet would find its odds growing ever murkier as the case headed to trial in early 1946.

Even from the very beginning, press coverage of the horrific murder never made it north of the San Francisco Bay Area, nor south of Visalia—never mind outside the state of California. And relegated to the sidelines of her own murder, Arcie Ruth Sample would take a metaphorical backseat to her alleged murderer, whose military pedigree always preceded any mention of his alleged crimes.

The Sample family was devastated by the loss of their eldest daughter, who had been spending the 1945 winter holidays with her Clovis relations—28 miles south of her hometown of Auberry, on the Big Sandy Rancheria of the Western Mono tribe. But her parents Sam and May had their hands full with six other children, and in the troubling days and weeks ahead, would be represented by May’s younger brother Pete Grigsby—seriously injured by their daughter’s alleged killer, and living much closer to all the action, legal or otherwise.

As members of the Big Sandy Band of the Western Mono (or Monache), the Samples and the Grigsbys were a tight-knit bunch, born and raised in and around the Big Sandy area of Auberry. Sam and his brother-in-law Pete got along well, both working at the Wish-I-Ah Sanatorium, a tuberculosis hospital in the foothills. But by the early 1940s, Grigsby had fallen in love with the fiery Myrtle Bounds and relocated south to Clovis.

As the oldest daughter in the Sample family, Arcie Ruth was born on Friday, January 8, 1932, and grew up helping her mother May care for her younger siblings. So for Christmas break in 1945, her family allowed her to spend the holidays in Clovis with her Uncle Pete and “Aunt” Myrtle, accompanied by her friend Mariam Moore, 16.

It must have been with a spring in her step and a twinkle in her eye that Sample found herself out on the town Christmas night with her best friend, her uncle, and his fun-loving live-in girlfriend. But unfortunately, the two adults in their party were more intent on living it up than on protecting their two teenaged charges from the lecherous advances of a highly decorated—but mentally unstable—34-year-old Army veteran by the name of Rayna Tom Carmen.

Not much is known about the early life of Rayna Tom Carmen, but the man who would become the most unlikely of serial killers came into the world on Monday, February 13, 1911, in the Sierra Nevada village of North Fork, home to the North Fork Mono tribe. The oldest of nine children born to Louis and Ida Carmen, he would follow his father into the timber trade, though not for long.

Committed to the Stockton State Hospital in 1932 at the age of 21, Rayna spent the next six years in the San Joaquin County insane asylum, before being released to the unincorporated Madera County community of his birth in 1938. But just two years later, he would somehow be deemed eligible to serve in the armed forces.

Listed as an employee of the U.S. Forest Service on his military draft card, Carmen registered with the United States Army on Wednesday, October 16, 1940, at the age of 29. And at 5’9” and 154 pounds, he was pronounced physically and mentally fit for duty—and would serve his country heroically over the next half decade.

In fact, much was made of the newly discharged World War II veteran’s service to his country in the aftermath of Arcie Sample’s brutal slaying. And indeed, his combat pedigree was admirable and impressive. Not only had he taken part “in five major battles,” but “during the war, Carmen participated in the invasion of the Normandy beachhead,” The Fresno Bee revealed in the days leading up to the murder trial, “and fought in France, Belgium, and Holland. His unit was awarded a presidential citation for valor in the European campaign.”

But what had seemed like a sure win for the prosecution in the immediate wake of Rayna Tom Carmen’s devastating confession would later prove to be anything but—because despite the brutality and the indifference with which Carmen had perpetrated the alleged crime, the local press honed in on his heroic patriotism instead (not wholly unexpected, given that the second World War had ended just several months prior).

Jury selection commenced on Monday, March 4, 1946, and the following morning, Tuesday, March 5, eight women and four men sat down in the Fresno County Courthouse, to hear opening arguments before Superior Judge Dan F. Conway.

“The prosecution today began submitting testimony to a jury…from whom it will ask conviction of murder and assault with a deadly weapon against Rayna Carmen, World War II hero,” proclaimed The Fresno Bee later that same day. “Defense attorneys [who were never named, an egregious omission] indicated…that a self-defense plea will be made…Deputy District Attorneys Robert M. Wash and Clarence Kincheloe said second-degree murder will be the severest penalty asked…

“Carmen is a recently discharged veteran, and—in addition to numerous ribbons—he wears the Presidential Unit Citation for action in the European theater.”

Witness testimony began the following day, Wednesday, March 6, but “today is wrapped in confusion,” the Bee admitted. “State witnesses testifying…said they are not certain who plunged the knife into the back of the young…girl—but [they] related circumstances of a many-sided mix-up in which a pocketknife, butcher knife, gun and crowbar were the weapons brought to bear.

“Myrtle Bounds—common-law wife of [Pete] Grigsby, and one of the principal prosecution witnesses—testified she did not know who did the stabbing, and [she] does not know how she lost possession of the knife with which it is charged the young girl was fatally stabbed.”

Bounds was, however, able to recall threatening Carmen with a .22-caliber rifle, striking him twice with the crowbar, and then wielding the butcher knife against him as Grigsby held him down. But she failed to remember just who had wrestled the knife from her grasp. It was not a good look for Myrtle—nor for the prosecution.

And the unsound testimony of state witnesses Bill Charlie, Mariam Moore, and the wounded Pete Grigsby muddied the case’s metaphorical waters even further for prosecutors Wash and Kincheloe. None could even recall whether or not the lights had been on in the Grigsby residence that fateful Christmas night.

But the fatal blow to the prosecution’s case would be administered by the alleged murderer himself. “The defendant admitted wresting a butcher knife from some adversary,” reported The Fresno Bee on Thursday, March 7th, “and swinging wildly with the weapon, trying to make his escape from the house.

“[But] in contradiction to a story which he told peace officers the day of the slaying, he testified yesterday he does not recall stabbing anybody. He said he had become quite drunk earlier in Fresno, with Grigsby, the Sample girl, Mariam Moore, and Myrtle Bounds—and has only a hazy recollection of some of the occurrences later.

“Shown a statement he is said to have given officers that ‘I reached over and jabbed her twice,’ he said he does not recall making the remarks…Deputy Sheriff Hubert Nevins…testified the defendant told him, ‘If she has been killed, I must have done it.’”

Ending the tumultuous week of testimony were the closing arguments of both the prosecution and the defense—and then the jury retired to deliberate. But, just an hour and a half later, the twelve jurors returned to the courtroom with a verdict of Not Guilty on both felony counts.

Prosecutors Wash and Kincheloe had not anticipated their witnesses’ fumbled testimony on the stand, nor Rayna Tom Carmen’s retraction of his initial confession. And even though Arcie Ruth Sample had been held by the scruff of her coat collar and stabbed seven times in the back, the sheer chaos of the ensuing Christmas melee—and more damnably, the fact that Carmen himself had been the original intended target of the yuletide attack—had sealed the deal for the deliberating jury.

The defense “argued…that, in a fit of rage, Myrtle Bounds—an active participant in what was described as a free-for-all fight—plunged the knife repeatedly into Arcie Sample, mistaking the girl for Carmen,” The Fresno Bee summarized on Friday, March 8. “They further argued they believe Grigsby and…Bounds took the discharged soldier—who still wore his uniform—to their Clovis home, intending to rob him of what remained of his mustering-out pay.

“In support of this theory, the defense declared Miss Bounds threatened Carmen with a .22-caliber rifle…Then, it was claimed, the woman obtained a crowbar and struck Carmen twice over the head—and then picked up the butcher knife from the kitchen table. Carmen wrested the weapon from her.”

Which begged the question: if the beleaguered man in uniform had disarmed the raging Myrtle—and then later handed the bloody weapon over to the neighbors—how on earth had Bounds managed to fatally stab her common-law niece to death with that same exact weapon?

The case had been definitively closed, and—perhaps most troubling of all—Rayna Tom Carmen was now a free man once again. He returned to North Fork to live with his family, and took up work as a jackhammer operator at a rock quarry.

And in just a few years’ time, he would kill again.

Photos provided by author.

Works Cited
“Indian Girl is Stabbed to Death; Veteran is Held.” The Fresno Bee, Wednesday, December 26, 1945, p. 7.
“Murder Charge is Filed in Killing of Auberry Girl.” The Fresno Bee, Thursday, December 27, 1945, p. 11.
“Denies Clovis Murder.” The Fresno Bee, Saturday, January 19, 1946, p. 3.
“Jury is Sought to Try Veteran in Clovis Murder.” The Fresno Bee, Monday, March 4, 1946, p. 2
“State Presents Case Against Murder Suspect.” The Fresno Bee, Tuesday, March 5, 1946, p. 9.
“Clovis Slaying Witnesses Tell Confusing Stories.” The Fresno Bee, Wednesday, March 6, 1946, p. 4.
“Veteran Fails to Recall Stabbing of Clovis Girl.” The Fresno Bee, Thursday, March 7, 1946, p. 13.
“War Veteran is Acquitted of Murder Charge.” The Fresno Bee, Friday, March 8, 1946, p. 13.
“Woman Dies from Wounds.” The Fresno Bee, Tuesday, November 4, 1986, p. 48.
www.ancestry.com
www.findagrave.com

Sarah A. Peterson-Camachois a library assistant with Fresno County Library, with a Bachelor’s in English and a Bachelor’s in Journalism from California State University, Fresno. In her free time, she makes soap and jewelry that she sells at Fresno-area craft fairs. She has written for The Clovis Roundup and the Central California Paranormal Investigators (CCPI) Newsletter.