James M. Tiny McCrory, a 51-year-old engineer from Niles, Michigan, was killed on April 5, 1976, while working in the rail yards in Elkhart, Indiana. He was seated in the cab of his locomotive near the diesel house when a shotgun deer slug shattered the window and struck him in the head, killing him instantly. Investigators later linked his death to a series of attacks on railway employees in the region.

Police focused on Rudy Bladel, a disgruntled former railroad fireman who had lost seniority after a 1959 merger between freight yards in Niles and Elkhart and who had long harbored resentment toward the rail industry and workers from Niles. Bladel emerged as a suspect in McCrory’s killing but investigators initially lacked physical evidence to charge him. If anyone knew Tiny McCrory, his movements that day, or saw suspicious activity at the Elkhart yards in early April 1976, please share what is known.