Michael Albrecht

 

I heard about this case for the first time on and episode of Paula Zahn's On The Case. I was quite surprised considering not only have I heard, and blogged about, many Indiana “infamous” cases but also by the fact that I actually lived in Indianapolis when this crime occurred.

The crime itself was not “technically” committed in Indianapolis, but in the town of Speedway. If you know anything about Indianapolis then you know that Speedway IS Indianapolis. Yes, it is its own incorporated town with their own school system but unless you live there and know it you cannot tell a true difference. While I can sit and tell you that a difference cannot be made, I can also tell you that when you visit the Indianapolis 500 racetrack, you are in fact not in Indianapolis, you are in Speedway.

Cynthia “Cyndi” Albrecht was a was a chef who not only worked for the Penske Racing team, traveling with the crew, she had also catered to celebrities. It was said she was well on her way to being internationally known. It is unclear but at some point she had married Michael Albrecht. He was a mechanic that worked with Simon Racing. It was said that his nickname was “Crabby” due to his personality and attitude. The couple shared a home in Indianapolis but sometime in 1992 the marriage began to fail, Cyndi moved out and filed for divorce.

Before I go any further I want to point out an issue I found in my research. Initial articles and a few others showed the date of Cyndi's disappearance and evidently her murder as occurring on October 25, 1992. A few times I found the date as being October 26^th, including in an appeals paper. I have chosen to stick with the date of the 25^th for a few reasons. For one, at least one article stated that she was to sign the final divorce papers on “Monday” while other would vaguely say “the next day.” The 25^th was a Sunday so that seems to fit. Also most importantly, while I could not find anything on the Findagrave website or an obituary I did find a Social Security Death index notation that also showed the death date of the 25^th. I realize that this got me a little ahead of the story but I felt that it was important to point out early in case there were any questions later.

On that Sunday evening Cyndi's friends were concerned about her and a report was made with the police. Nothing was specific on who or why the report was made. I cannot say for certain that someone went to her home and saw something suspicious or they just simply could not reach her. However, Speedway police responded to her apartment. They would find the front door locked but the back patio door was not. Cyndi's car would be located in the parking lot and nothing seemed to be missing inside. She had recently returned home after the last race of the season and was preparing to go to Florida that week to visit her new boyfriend. Her luggage was found unopened, her purse and wallet were in the home. In fact, the only thing that seemed to be missing was Cyndi. Based on my research, as well as the television show, it does not appear that anything else seemed to be out of place.

The case did not really move much initially and it is unclear whether there was much done from an investigative standpoint. Then about three weeks after Cyndi disappeared there was a discovery more than 100 miles away in Newton County Indiana. Newton County is as different from Marion County, where Speedway and Indianapolis are located almost as much as you can get. I grew up in Indianapolis, in the center of the state, and I remember seeing advertisements for an amusement park in White County (located about half way between Indianapolis and Newton County). The logo for the amusement park, Indiana Beach, was a crow who would say “There's more than corn in Indiana.” I used to laugh about it because although I had lived in Indiana all my life, starting in southern Indiana, I had seen very few corn fields. Later I would live fifteen years in White County and my second husband had family in Newton County so I did finally understand the motto. That being said Newton County is pretty well known as being a dumping ground for bodies.

In the 1920s and 1930s during the “gangster” era Newton County would often find bodies in fields. It is very close to Chicago and with all of the rural farm fields around it was easy to conceal a body. In 1980 a body was found in a wooden box. All authorities could say was that it was a woman. She was buried while still being unidentified until 2000 when the body was exhumed, following a lead. She was identified as Janice Hartman Smith. I have written a blog about her husband, John David Smith III if you would like to hear more.

So when two deer hunters came across a body in a field in the area I am unsure that investigators were too surprised, at least until they got to the scene. When investigators got to the scene they were taken aback when they discovered that this woman was not only naked, but was headless. They had no way to identify her.

Word made it down to Cyndi's friends about the headless body being found. One of her friends called investigators in Newton County and asked about a few scars that Cyndi had on the lower parts of her body. The friend said she could tell by the tone in the detective's voice that it sounded like it was Cyndi. She told the detective who to contact at the Speedway Police Department. They able to identify the body officially by comparing the fingerprints on the body to those known to belong to Cyndi from her apartment. The case was now officially a homicide case.

As is nearly always the case investigators first look that those closest to the victim. With Cyndi those included her new boyfriend and her soon to be ex-husband. The boyfriend seemed to be quickly cleared. When it came to Michael Albrecht they had to dig a little deeper.

Michael claimed that at the time that Cyndi was presumably murdered he was in Milwaukee Wisconsin. He had an ex-wife living there and both she and a long time friend of his, William Filter claimed he had in fact been in Wisconsin. As far as the ex-wife goes however, it seems that while she had seen him in Wisconsin, she only admitted to seeing him within the days before and after, but not necessarily the time period of the murder. Filter however did claim to have seen him during a time that would have prevented him from committing the crime.

According to Google it currently takes just over four hours to get from Indianapolis to Milwaukee. Depending on any expansions of roads since 1992 we can probably believe that it would have taken about a minimum of ten hours for him to get from Milwaukee, to Indianapolis, commit the murder, secure the body and get back to Milwaukee.

While it appeared that Michael Albrecht had an alibi, investigators were not completely buying it. They had learned that after the separation that Michael had obtained a $50,000 life insurance policy out on Cyndi. They had learned that Michael had not wanted the divorce at all. At some point after the separation but before the murder Michael had lost his job as a mechanic for Simon Racing. I was never able to determine the reason for his firing, but it was said that Michael believed that Cyndi was behind it in some way.

While my research did not reveal this next bit of news, the television show stated that an employer of Michael's came forward at some point and stated that he had heard Michael talking about murdering his wife, or having her murdered. There were accusations that Michael had spoken of Mafia ties as well as that he had offered at least one person $50,000 to kill Cyndi, the same amount as the life insurance policy.

Finally in June of 1997 the investigators decided to take a calculated risk. They decided to not just arrest Michael on charges of murder but also decided to arrest his friend, William Filter. They had no indication that Filter was involved in the murder but they did believe that he had lied to investigators about seeing Michael in Wisconsin at the time they believed Cyndi was killed. It did not take long for them to learn that their gamble had paid off. William Filter not only admitted that he lied about giving his friend an alibi, but investigators found out he knew a whole lot more.

William Filter told investigators that even before the murder Michael Albrecht had him to Cyndi's apartment and told him his plan to not only to murder Cyndi but to decapitate her in order to make identification more difficult. Filter would later say that despite his long-time friend telling him this he still did not believe he could do anything like this. The day before the murder Michael had gone to Milwaukee, presumably to make sure people saw him. On the following day he left Milwaukee, went to Indianapolis, and then returned to Milwaukee. Filter claimed after Michael returned he asked him if he had “done it” and he was told that he had and that Cyndi's body was in the trunk. Filter claims that Michael asked him if he wanted to see but he had declined.

For his testimony against Michael, Filter was given immunity. He would tell the jury about how Michael had told him his plan to kill Cyndi, including decapitating her, prior to her disappearance. He would also have to admit to the jury that he had initially, and allegedly, lied to the police about being with Michael at the time of the murder. His new story included Michael confessing to the murder and stating that Cyndi's body was in the trunk of his car.

You have often heard me speak here about cases that while I may feel the defendant is guilty, the evidence in my opinion just is not there to prove it. This is one of those cases based on the research that I have done. While I agree that Michael had a motive to kill his wife and the fact that final divorce papers were about to be signed are incriminating. But I did not find anything forensically that was said to absolutely determine his guilt. The only real evidence it seems is the word of William Filter, someone who was given immunity from prosecution for his testimony. Now, that does not mean that I believe necessarily that Filter is guilty of murdering Cyndi either, but what if the roles were reversed? What if Michael claimed that Filter had said the exact same thing. Sure, the motive would not have been as clear as the one for Michael but it would still be one person's word against another. To add to this because Cyndi's head was never found a definitive cause of death could not be determined. It is believed that she was likely strangled, but again it could not be said for sure. As I often say if anyone has any information that I have missed I welcome it.

Regardless of my feelings Michael Albrecht was convicted at trial and sentenced to sixty years in prison. According to the Indiana Department of Corrections Michael is not only eligible for release in June of 2023, this is also expected to be his release date. He will have served twenty-six years of his sixty year sentence. According to investigators, not only has Michael maintained his innocence in this crime, he has refused to reveal the location of the remaining portion of her body.