Stephen Melkey: Murdered or Left to Die?

A few days before Christmas 1939, Stephen Melkey was struck by a car near South Bend, Indiana, and thrown nearly 40 feet through the air before landing. When the police arrived, they found that someone had tied his hands behind his back and taped his eyes and mouth shut. Had someone meant for him to be struck by a car on the highway, or had they left him to die in the freezing temperatures?