Bill and Dorothy Wacker

Bill and Dorothy Wacker lived in a small town in Stark County, Ohio in the same house they have lived in for most of their 48 years of marriage. 

William Louis (Bill) Wacker was born on March 12, 1920, in Massillon, Ohio, and was a Private First Class of the United States Army who served in World War II.

His wife, Dorothy Jean Wacker, was born on April 21, 1927, where the two grew up in Massillon, a small quaint town in Stark County, Ohio. They had been married for over forty years, leading an ordinary and peaceful life.

Despite being quiet, unassuming people, they’d been subject to a campaign of harassment which began in 1984. On January 16, 1985, their home was ransacked. Though this had happened twice before In 1984, the couple was the subject of two separate home invasions where their home had been ransacked. They didn't notify Massillon's Police Department until January 16, 1985, when their residence was targeted for the third time. Despite an investigation, nothing substantial was able to be gleaned, and life went relatively quiet for six months without an incident.

In July, Dorothy was home alone, recovering from heart surgery, when she heard a knock on the door. She didn't recognize the visitor but allowed him in to use her phone, as he told her that his car broke down somewhere down the road where she couldn't see it. After making the call and saying goodbye, she believed he had left. However, he was actually still in the house and managed to sneak up behind her and knock her out with a blow to the head. She woke up bound and gagged on the kitchen floor. She managed to crawl to an open window and alert her neighbors, who called emergency services.

When Bill and the police, along with medical assistance arrived at the residence, Dorothy was able to provide a description of her attacker. A composite sketch was created from her details of the man. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties with blond hair and blue eyes, and approximately 5'9 in height.

Furthermore, Bill discovered an antique watch, movie camera, radio scanner, and his .22 caliber revolver had been stolen. Additionally, there was a message written in crayon on the kitchen wall saying, Cheaper, but will do. The message written on the wall was vague, but law enforcement visited an assortment of pawn shops and street dealers in the hope of locating the stolen items, and in turn a potential suspect, but their efforts were fruitless.

The lives of Bill and Dorothy Wacker only grew increasingly uncomfortable as time went on. They began receiving harassing phone calls throughout various hours of the day. The caller persisted to threaten them with extreme violence or occasionally breathe heavily into the receiver without speaking a word. Bill and Dorothy changed their phone number several times hoping the phone calls would stop but they never did.

Months passed by and the torment escalated in more unnerving fashion. At random hours of the night, Bill and Dorothy would hear loud, relentless pounding on the exterior of their home. The beckoning harassment prompted Bill to install security lights on the front porch hoping that would propel the individual(s) to stop, but their problems only increased.

On one particular morning, when Bill stepped outside on his front porch, he found a handwritten note that said, Your lightz are a laugh. The family would continually discover more notes on their porch

that were later examined by law enforcement anticipating to acquire fingerprints but to no avail. According to their theory, they believed the writer was trying to conceal his or her handwriting by using their non-dominant hand to write the messages.

In a strange turn of events in November of 1985, four months after Dorothy was assaulted in her home, Bill awoke to discover that his .22 caliber revolver had been returned, placed on his front porch inside of a shopping bag overnight. Periodically, he would receive the remaining three stolen items in the same formality. The police attempted to retrieve fingerprints from the returned items but they had all been wiped clean.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, and months into years, and the torment never stopped. Eight years after the initial physical assault on Dorothy in July of 1985, she was attacked once more on Wednesday, October 27, 1993, where she was admitted to Affinity Medical Center to be treated for a concussion and skull lacerations. Initially, the authorities suspected Bill to be the man behind his wife's attack and the persistent harassment over the years, but both Bill and Dorothy denied these accusations.

Police searched the neighborhood and questioned residences but failed to find any clues or witnesses.

In November 1993, the Wackers staked out their own home, splitting into three groups and keeping in touch with two-way radios. Bill hid in a trailer on the driveway, two of their sons-in-law watched from a van across the street, and Dorothy and her daughter, Cathy, stayed in the house. After four hours of waiting, they decided to call it off at around 10:30pm.

Coincidentally, the very same night while Bill and Dorothy were asleep, they were awakened by loud banging sounds on their front porch. Bill quickly ran to the front door but by the time he arrived, the individual causing the noise had fled the home. However, another note was left behind saying, Get the message. It was speculated that the person causing this harassment had somehow found a blindspot which is why they weren’t seen during the stakeout

The harasser has never been seen and the police have no leads on who he or she may be.

The most popular theory out there is that a neighbor, "friend," or family member is the cause of all the harassment given the degree of knowledge of the Wackers that they have. Although this was never proven.

The man who first assaulted Dorothy and stole the objects from their house has never been caught or identified. In 1985, he was in his mid-20's, was about 5' 9" tall, and had blond hair and blue eyes.

the case today remains Unsolved. Sadly, Bill died in 1999 at age 79. It is not known if the harassment continued after his death. Dorothy died on July 22, 2010 at age 83.

Sources:

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Bill_and_Dorothy_Wacker

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/2wd43h/the_wackers_an_elderly_couple_tormented_for_years/

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/7l70w0/the_bizarre_unsolved_story_of_bill_and_dorothy/