When a young woman is found brutally murdered in her Indianapolis home in 1958, police start pointing fingers at everyone that’s been in and out of the house. But for every twist and turn and decade that has passed, there’s still so many questions around who killed Malvina.If you have any information about the murder of Malvina Krutz in Indianapolis in 1958, please contact Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-TIPS (8477), or via their app. You can also contact the Indiana State Police’s cold case hotline at 1-800-453-4756, or visit their website at [email protected]. Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit: crimejunkiepodcast.com/murdered-malvina-krutz Did you know you can listen to this episode ad-free? Join the Fan Club! Visit crimejunkie.app/library/ to view the current membership options and policies. Don’t miss out on all things Crime Junkie!Instagram: @crimejunkiepodcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @CrimeJunkiePod | @audiochuckTikTok: @crimejunkiepodcastFacebook: /CrimeJunkiePodcast | /audiochuckllcCrime Junkie is hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat. Instagram: @ashleyflowers | @britprawatTwitter: @Ash_Flowers | @britprawatTikTok: @ashleyflowerscrimejunkieFacebook: /AshleyFlowers.AF Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to talk all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more!
Chapter 1: Who was Malvina Krutz?
Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm Ashley Flowers.
And I'm Britt.
And the story I have for you today is one that I actually found in our own backyard, like actually steps away from where we're recording right now. I had never heard of it, but I do not know how because it's one of the weirdest, twistiest, bizarre cases that I have come across. One with questions that still people will have, but there is no family around to ask the questions anymore.
Chapter 2: What happened on January 29th, 1958?
So it's up to us crime junkies to ask, who killed Malvina Krutz? It's a brisk Wednesday afternoon on January 29th, 1958, when Charles Krutz pulls up to his home in the Meridian-Kessler neighborhood in Indianapolis right around 5 p.m. after like a typical day of work. And when he pulls up, he's a little taken aback because his wife's 1950s Buick isn't around.
So he walks into his house and sees his 10-year-old son, Charles, sitting on the couch watching television. And he says, hey, buddy. Charles goes, bye, buddy, by the way. He says, buddy, where's your mom? And buddy says, well, I think she's out delivering newspapers. I came home from school today for lunch and she told me that she was going to take care of my route.
And I don't know if that's like a normal thing for her to offer to do or even if getting to go home on your lunch is a normal thing. Like wasn't when I was a kid. Again, 58 though. But Buddy makes it sound like their lunchtime combo was routine. Except there was something weird about it.
He tells his dad that the entire conversation that they had about this paper route, even his mom telling him, you know, eat the sandwich that I made you. It's sitting on the kitchen table. All of that is through the bathroom door. Like he never actually laid eyes on his mom. And then he adds, I don't like the looks of the bedroom.
What bedroom is he talking about?
He's not entirely sure, but this is like a teeny tiny house. So he goes to where the two bedrooms are. I've got a map of this like on the website, but it's like a bathroom in the middle and a room on each side. And some of the stuff I'm going to mention is like in Buddy's room. Some of it is in Charles and Malvina's room. But I think there's like toys and stuff in Buddy's room.
I know there's a pillow or pillows and a blanket on the floor. Again, I think in his room, maybe in the other one, but it's basically not how Buddy would typically leave his room. But like I said, he's looking at the room. He's probably not even in it. And if you're standing in between the two rooms, you're looking at the bathroom.
And there's something about the shower curtain that catches Charles' eye. It's closed and they never leave it closed. So he grabs one end and he begins to pull back the curtain and right away he sees her. His wife, Malvina, is laying on her side submerged in water. It looks like she'd almost been twisted to fit in the tub. Like her knees are bent. Her head is by the faucet.
And though her top is on and she's wearing both of her shoes, her pants are missing and her underwear is rolled down to her knees. So Charles immediately calls the police. And when investigators arrive, they find 41-year-old Malvina Krutz. She is still warm. So is the bathwater. It's like lukewarm. And she doesn't appear to be in rigor mortis.
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Chapter 3: What did the police find at the crime scene?
No, the coroner already ruled that out.
He did. But in another article by the Daily Reporter, one of Malvina's friends apparently went to detectives and told them that she had dislocated a disc in her back or neck or something that could put her out of commission at times. And she says at one time, like in front of this woman, Malvina had it flare up and she actually fell straight back onto the floor. So, I don't know.
I think it's something that they're throwing out because, like, I don't know.
They don't have anything on the murder angle, so... Yeah.
And then if you go to the murder angle, I think their other theory there is that Malvina was attacked in her son's bedroom, became unconscious at some point, then was dragged to the bathroom, either using those rugs that were found underneath her or... They were just accidentally grabbed when someone like scooped her up and picked her up, like put her in the tub.
Which to me seems way more likely because if her back was acting up and she fell into the back, like how do the rugs get there? It doesn't get explained in an accident.
Yeah. Like the rugs from his room specifically.
Right. Not like the bathroom rug.
There's a movie. There's like a rom-com. I can't think of it where someone like hurts their back and they're like naked and they have to like cover themselves with the rug. Do you know what I'm talking about? Oh, someone listening will know what I'm talking about. But it's like what I was picturing. But that doesn't make sense if we're talking about rugs from a bedroom.
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