Memories fade after haunting disappearance 25 years ago
It wasn’t the crime itself that moved me to write and record an original song about what happened at the Spokane Street Motel.
Bloody murder, sad to say, is far too common an occurrence in the Lilac City.
What ultimately led me to create “Life Goes On” was that a husband and wife could so easily vanish from the planet and the rest of us could so easily forget.
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the disappearance of Frank and Tessie Pozar.
Reporter Jody Lawrence-Turner has written about the details of this haunting, still-unsolved case.
I decided to add to the remembrance by letting you read my lyrics below. You can also hear the vocals I recorded with my band mates awhile back at Spokane’s Cue11 studios. As usual, Joe Brasch handled lead guitar and production duties.
“They’d be happy to know that somebody remembered them 25 years later,” said Linda Rose of her parents, Frank and Tessie.
This crime, of course, has always had one element that many cold cases don’t have – a prime suspect.
He is Linda’s younger brother and the Pozars’ son, Frank Pozar Jr.
Even he conceded in 1986 that “half of Spokane probably thinks by now that I killed them.”
There were plenty of good reasons for that, as outlined in Lawrence-Turner’s story.
But the case was never made. Murder without a body, as I wrote in my song, is difficult to prove.
At least we can remember this simple, industrious couple whose efforts to better their lives ended mysteriously one day 25 years ago.
Life Goes On
Tessie and Frank ran the Spokane Street Motel.
Two hardworking souls, everybody wished them well.
Sailing away – into their golden years.
’Til that October day. Tessie and Frank disappeared.
Just a small crime in a small town.
Happens every day.
Just a small crime in a small town.
Headlines fade away.
And life goes on just like it did before.
Evidence bags. Cops collected all the clues.
But with no bodies, murder is so hard to prove.
Sonny Boy said: “I ain’t takin’ no blame.”
And life goes on and the mystery still remains.
Just a small crime in a small town.
Happens everywhere.
Just a small crime in a small town.
Nobody seems to care.
And life goes on just like it did before.
Was there blood on the walls?
Did they put up a fight?
Did they recognize the face of a killer that night?
Did they cry out in fear?
Were they simply erased?
How can two human beings disappear – without a trace?
Tessie and Frank ran the Spokane Street Motel.
Two hardworking souls, everybody wished them …
Just a small crime in a small town.
Happens every day.
Just a small crime in a small town.
Headlines fade away.
And life goes on just like it did before.