In Memory
Scott Edward Banish
Feb. 14, 1947 - Dec. 23, 2015
One of the strangest murder cases in St. Joseph County history remains a mystery, a cold case that investigators look at still.
The one-time prime suspect died 50 years after he already was presumed dead.
Scott Banish was 18 when his father, Staff Sgt. Edward Banish, 49, a career soldier, was stabbed fatally on Aug. 22, 1965, in the modest Banish home in Clay Township. At that time, Scott was presumed dead. He had faked his drowning in Lake Michigan at Warren Dunes State Park back on June 3, just before he was to graduate from Clay High School. When he came back from "dead," Scott was arrested, accused of the murder.
Was Scott back in town, killing his father, or out on a tuna boat on the Pacific Ocean when his father was slain? That was the question at a preliminary hearing on whether he should be held on seconddegree murder charges.
There was a lengthy search for Scott's body in waters at Warren Dunes. He had driven there and left his wallet and street clothes in the car. His blanket and towel were found at water's edge. Finally, with no trace, he was officially listed as "presumed dead." His parents said they held out hope because his wristwatch, that he would not have worn in the water, was not found with the items left behind.
Somebody removed a screen to gain entrance to the first floor of the Banish home on the night Sgt. Banish was killed. Most members of the family and other relatives were playing cards in the basement. The sergeant had left the game and was in a first-floor bedroom when he was attacked, stabbed viciously. He died before he could tell what happened.
Then Scott was found to be alive. An Aug. 31 Tribune article told of Scott being detained at an Army recruiting office in Fort Wayne, where he sought to enlist. St. Joseph County Sheriff William J. "Billy" Locks brought him back.
Scott admitted faking his drowning. He said he disappeared in hope of finding a way to enlist for his dream of Army life after being declared unacceptable physically in draft status in South Bend.
Sheriff Locks "cleared" Scott after phone contact with a tuna boat skipper who said a "Daniel McFarland," a name used by Scott, had been on his boat out in the Pacific on the night Sgt. Banish was murdered. His description of the young man he hired fit Scott perfectly.
The sheriff changed his mind. He brought in Scott. Got him to take a lie detector test. Told him he flunked it. (The operator did find key areas of deception.) Informed him that blood on a pair of jeans, which Scott said was from the tuna, had tested as human blood, same general type as his father's. (That was true.) Warned that things looked bad.
Scott confessed.
Then he withdrew the confession, claiming Locks after lengthy questioning offered a deal, confess and get probation for involuntary manslaughter or go to trial, be convicted of murder and serve a lifetime sentence.
A lengthy court hearing was to determine whether Scott should be held for a murder charge.
The tuna boat captain and his wife came from Oregon to testify. They identified Scott as the "Daniel McFarland" who was on the boat out in the Pacific, never closer than 100 miles from shore on the day of the murder back in South Bend. Two people on another boat testified that they also saw Scott.
With such a solid alibi, the court found no probable cause to hold Scott. He was released. The case was taken to the grand jury. It wouldn't indict.
Scott sued Locks and six of his deputies for up to $2 million in federal court, claiming false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. He collected nothing. A Circuit Court of Appeals panel found probable cause for the arrest because of the blood on the jeans, the polygraph examiner's findings and the confession.
The family moved to Illinois.
Scott died on Dec. 23, 2015, half a century after he earlier had been presumed dead. An obituary in the DeKalb, Ill., Daily-Chronicle said he worked at Northern Illinois University as an electrical foreman for over 20 years and was a DeKalb Public Library board member.
St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Commander Tim Corbett recently looked into this cold case. He concedes it is unlikely now that new evidence will provide a definitive solution. But he notes the solution of 23 other cold cases of murder. "You never say never," Corbett says.
Jack Colwell is a columnist for The Tribune. Write to him in care of The Tribune or by email at jcolwell@comcast.net.
09/15/2022 DEC
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