THE DISAPPERANCE OF Maud Crawford
CAMDEN — A former Camden resident recently released a book with articles covering a locally famous cold case on the disappearance of Maud Crawford. The case is considered by many to be the Natural State’s version of the Jimmy Hoffa disappearance.
Beth Brickell, who grew up in Camden but now lives in Los Angeles, Calif., released the book just three years shy of the 60th anniversary of Crawford’s disappearance. Crawford disappeared from her home at 430 Clifton St. in Camden on March 2, 1957.
Maud Robinson Crawford was a lawyer with the Gaughan, McClellan and Laney law firm in Camden. She excelled in abstract examination and title work during the South Arkansas oil boom of the 1920s through 1950s, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
Crawford was also active in civic affairs. She was the first woman elected to the Camden City Council — serving from 1940 to 1948. In 1942, she was a founder of Arkansas Girls State — a program which made it possible for high school girls to go to Little Rock (Pulaski County) for a week each year to learn how state government works. She served as one of the program’s eight counselors every year from 1942 until her disappearance in 1957. She was elected president of every women’s civic club for which she was eligible in Camden: The Business and Professional Women’s Club, the American Legion Auxiliary, and Pilot Club International, a sister club of Rotary International.
In 1954, the Pilot Club named her “Woman of the Year.” In 1955, the city of Camden won an achievement award for “Outstanding Community Improvement” in the state, and Crawford was chosen to go to Little Rock to give a speech and accept the award on behalf of the community.
The night she disappeared, her husband, Clyde, had gone to a movie. When he returned home at about 11 p.m., all the lights were on inside and outside the house, his wife’s car was in the driveway where she always left it, the television was on in the living room, her purse was on a chair with $142 cash in it, and her guard dog was undisturbed. When she had not returned home by 1 a.m., Crawford’s husband drove to local cafes and then past the homes of some of her friends to see if lights were on. He then flagged down two policemen to ask if there had been a car accident which might explain her absence.
At 2 a.m., he drove to the police station and reported her missing. The next day, the police and local citizens began an extensive search for her body.
Crawford’s body was never found. However, the unsolved mystery has been complete with rumors of where Crawford might have been buried: In the foundation of a local furniture store, under an old building’s parking lot along U.S. 79 South, in the foundation of a grocery store when it was being built in the 50s, and other theories.
The first lead about Crawford’s disappearance involved the Mafia due to former business partner, U.S. Sen. John L. McClellan, being the chairman of a high-profile Senate investigation into alleged mob ties to organized labor, the Encyclopedia of Arkansas website stated. The theory was rejected after no ransom note was received.
In Brickell’s book, she gives an introduction discussing the fact that Crawford’s case was not investigated properly. Brickell said that when she was living in Los Angeles, her agent asked her to write a screenplay about the disappearance. When Brickell returned to Camden in 1985, she said people were frightened to openly talk about Crawford’s disappearance — 29 years after the event. Brickell was a reporter at the time and she spent 16 months working the investigation which was, she said, like a jigsaw puzzle.
Brickell eventually had 19 articles about the investigation published on the front page of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette in 1986. The articles received “a lot of attention and were a sensation,” Brickell said. The attention from Brickell’s articles also got the case reopened.
She also attributed the attention the story got to her finding the motive behind Crawford’s disappearance. Brickell said she feels the motive was that a state police commissioner — along with the wealthiest man in Ouachita County — had her murdered over a $20 million estate. The estate was worth $20 million in 1957, but is now worth $164 million, according to Brickell.
“Over the years, people have been asking me how they can read the 1986 articles, so I put them in a book and added an introduction,” Brickell told the Sunday News. Brickell said she also included 60 photos that ran along with the articles in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. “I posted a notice on Facebook on Dec. 6,” Brickell said, “and I’ve received over 600 orders todate.” She said her holiday season was spent packing the books and sending them to individual buyers.
Brickell said she has also wrote two screenplays about Crawford’s disappearance: The first is about the investigation which was aborted by the police commissioner because of power and money.
The second is about the motive Brickell found while investigating for her articles. She said it covers the Rose Berg estate which was
supposed to be inherited by the woman’s three nieces, but was taken by Berg’s husband's nephew, Mike Berg. Brickell stated Crawford drew up Rose’s will and was legally appointed over her estate.
Brickell said neither one of the screenplays have been financed at this time, but she is hoping her book will stir up some interest. Brickell’s book can be purchased at www.luminousfilms.net for $15.
Due to the release of Brickell’s book, The Sunday News asked the Camden Police Department about the case. The CPD Criminal Investigation Division Commander Evin Zeek said he is familiarizing himself with the case details. He also wants to look into getting the original case file from the FBI or any other possible agency that might have it. CPD has a file of information collected several years after Crawford’s disappearance along with newspaper clips about the disappearance.
However, Zeek stated that even if Crawford’s remains were found, or if new evidence came to light during his investiga- tion, everyone involved in the case is now deceased. Therefore, no one could be prosecuted.