Middletown’s Own Murder Mystery
It was not simply the murder itself that captured the attention of everyone in and around Middletown in the fall of 1966. It was the victim. The murdered woman was the Hamanns’ daughter.
Huck and Skee Hamann had become popular personalities in Middletown as soon as they retired to Lake County from Los Altos in the early 1950s. Their given names were Hugo and Juanita, but not everybody knew that. They might not even have responded when addressed by their given names.
They lived on Rabbit Hill.
Rabbit Hill is that anomalous mound between Stewart Street and Santa Clara Road, bounded by Douglas and Lake streets, the highest elevation in Middletown. It held the town’s first cemetery in the 19th century, and had survived several owners before Huck and Skee inherited the 9½-acre plot that had belonged to her parents. Skee was born in Middletown and claimed a special connection with Rabbit Hill since childhood.
A decrepit water tank on its peak belonged to CDF (the California Division of Forestry) and had been leased by Skee’s father for 99 years. It was replaced in the 1960s, and leased for another 99 years by the Hamanns. Water pumped up from a spring-fed well filled its cistern and by gravity flow was available for their personal use and the birds and animals they enjoyed.
Huck and Skee welcomed and befriended practically every child in the area.
Both of them loved nature, and went out of their way to help children learn to appreciate its marvels. They were early proponents of environmental considerations and the premise of living with the earth, and preserving its bounty.
Juanita – Skee -- was a writer and photographer and an expert in identifying wildflowers. Also garden flowers – she exchanged slips and starts with neighbors throughout town.
She explained that Rabbit Hill is a rather unique serpentine outcropping, left by millennia of St. Helena, Putah and Dry creeks having wandered about on the valley floor; was fascinated by an aged map that showed St. Helena Creek running on the back side of Rabbit Hill.
Skee schooled herself in the difference in Rabbit Hill’s unique plant community and those of its surrounding area. She patiently, colorfully described the specific characteristics of individual species and instilled a lasting interest in plants in a host of children.
Skee also volunteered to create and maintain the garden at Gibson Library, planting fir trees, iris, arum, bear’s breech, star jasmine and wood violets in the lawn.
Huck’s thing was rocks. He collected semi-precious stones, which were at that time easy to find on brief hikes through the South Lake County countryside. He ground and polished them into gemstones, then set each gem in a sterling silver ring and presented one to each school child as an incentive to learning. He even resized the rings to fit as children grew. Many Middletown residents still treasure the rings they were gifted by Huck Hamann — many more did prior to the Valley Fire.
It was not simply the murder itself that captured the attention of everyone in and around Middletown in the fall of 1966. It was the victim. The murdered woman was the Hamanns’ daughter.
Huck and Skee Hamann had become popular personalities in Middletown as soon as they retired to Lake County from Los Altos in the early 1950s. Their given names were Hugo and Juanita, but not everybody knew that. They might not even have responded when addressed by their given names.
They lived on Rabbit Hill.
Rabbit Hill is that anomalous mound between Stewart Street and Santa Clara Road, bounded by Douglas and Lake streets, the highest elevation in Middletown. It held the town’s first cemetery in the 19th century, and had survived several owners before Huck and Skee inherited the 9½-acre plot that had belonged to her parents. Skee was born in Middletown and claimed a special connection with Rabbit Hill since childhood.
A decrepit water tank on its peak belonged to CDF (the California Division of Forestry) and had been leased by Skee’s father for 99 years. It was replaced in the 1960s, and leased for another 99 years by the Hamanns. Water pumped up from a spring-fed well filled its cistern and by gravity flow was available for their personal use and the birds and animals they enjoyed.
Huck and Skee welcomed and befriended practically every child in the area.
Both of them loved nature, and went out of their way to help children learn to appreciate its marvels. They were early proponents of environmental considerations and the premise of living with the earth, and preserving its bounty.
Juanita – Skee -- was a writer and photographer and an expert in identifying wildflowers. Also garden flowers – she exchanged slips and starts with neighbors throughout town.
She explained that Rabbit Hill is a rather unique serpentine outcropping, left by millennia of St. Helena, Putah and Dry creeks having wandered about on the valley floor; was fascinated by an aged map that showed St. Helena Creek running on the back side of Rabbit Hill.
Skee schooled herself in the difference in Rabbit Hill’s unique plant community and those of its surrounding area. She patiently, colorfully described the specific characteristics of individual species and instilled a lasting interest in plants in a host of children.
Skee also volunteered to create and maintain the garden at Gibson Library, planting fir trees, iris, arum, bear’s breech, star jasmine and wood violets in the lawn.
Huck’s thing was rocks. He collected semi-precious stones, which were at that time easy to find on brief hikes through the South Lake County countryside. He ground and polished them into gemstones, then set each gem in a sterling silver ring and presented one to each school child as an incentive to learning. He even resized the rings to fit as children grew. Many Middletown residents still treasure the rings they were gifted by Huck Hamann — many more did prior to the Valley Fire.
Our librarian Gehlen Palmer’s ring was among those consumed. “After meeting Huck and Skee (a story in itself)” he says, “I found a piece of red jasper in the creek by my home which I lugged up the hill. Huck sliced it and taught me to grind and polish the stone, and let me help him set it in silver.”
The Hamanns had spent the early years of their marriage in the Bay Area where Huck worked as an engineer. By the time they moved back to Middletown, their only child, Joan, was grown. She graduated from Stanford University, married well but not wisely, and after a divorce moved to New York where she worked for New Yorker magazine. After a few years, following a burglary of her apartment and emphasis on her father’s health concerns, Joan was persuaded to come home.
Joan Hamann Dole was a tall, comely blonde, good-natured, vivacious and flirtatious. Middletown was a small town. Little went unnoticed.
Shock reverberated that November morning in 1966 when it was learned that Joan had been found shot to death in her own bed in her small cottage not far from the gates into Anderson Springs. (The cottage is now the home of Voris Brumfield.)
There were a number of suspects. Young men who were associated with her work at the Forest Service and/or had worked on her property were under suspicion. So was the editor of the Middletown Times-Star, to whom she had recently become engaged.
Early in 1968, one of the young men was charged. The trial was long and lurid. He was declared not guilty. No one was ever convicted.
Huck and Skee donated Rabbit Hill to Sonoma County’s Madrone Audubon Society in Joan’s memory. In 1999, the property was deeded to the Lake County Land Trust, which has cared for it since.
If you’d like to enjoy the view from Rabbit Hill's peak, it’s available to hikers any day between sunrise and sunset. The Land Trust also conducts tours from time to time, led by a knowledgeable guide. If you are interested in joining a tour to learn more about the unique geology, plants, or history, write to [email protected].
If you’d like to know more about Middletown’s unsolved murder mystery, attend Gibson Museum’s Fireside Chat on Sunday, June 26, starting at 3 pm. Sandy Hoberg Fox, who as a preteen at the time of the murder became intrigued by all the gossip and speculation, will be the Chat’s speaker. She has been collecting data ever since and is working on a book about the case.
The Hamanns had spent the early years of their marriage in the Bay Area where Huck worked as an engineer. By the time they moved back to Middletown, their only child, Joan, was grown. She graduated from Stanford University, married well but not wisely, and after a divorce moved to New York where she worked for New Yorker magazine. After a few years, following a burglary of her apartment and emphasis on her father’s health concerns, Joan was persuaded to come home.
Joan Hamann Dole was a tall, comely blonde, good-natured, vivacious and flirtatious. Middletown was a small town. Little went unnoticed.
Shock reverberated that November morning in 1966 when it was learned that Joan had been found shot to death in her own bed in her small cottage not far from the gates into Anderson Springs. (The cottage is now the home of Voris Brumfield.)
There were a number of suspects. Young men who were associated with her work at the Forest Service and/or had worked on her property were under suspicion. So was the editor of the Middletown Times-Star, to whom she had recently become engaged.
Early in 1968, one of the young men was charged. The trial was long and lurid. He was declared not guilty. No one was ever convicted.
Huck and Skee donated Rabbit Hill to Sonoma County’s Madrone Audubon Society in Joan’s memory. In 1999, the property was deeded to the Lake County Land Trust, which has cared for it since.
If you’d like to enjoy the view from Rabbit Hill's peak, it’s available to hikers any day between sunrise and sunset. The Land Trust also conducts tours from time to time, led by a knowledgeable guide. If you are interested in joining a tour to learn more about the unique geology, plants, or history, write to [email protected].
If you’d like to know more about Middletown’s unsolved murder mystery, attend Gibson Museum’s Fireside Chat on Sunday, June 26, starting at 3 pm. Sandy Hoberg Fox, who as a preteen at the time of the murder became intrigued by all the gossip and speculation, will be the Chat’s speaker. She has been collecting data ever since and is working on a book about the case.