HUCKLEBERRIES: Local crime of the '70s

It has been 50 years since the Marcussens disappeared without a trace. Rita Marcussen, 20, a popular 5-foot 5-blonde with shoulder-length hair, was last seen helping clean up after closing time at a Hayden Lake dentist office, where she worked as a dental assistant. Her husband, Ron, 22, and an acquaintance, George “Ed” Stroisch, stopped at the office to pick her up. Ron, at 6-foot-3 and redheaded, was hard to miss. The unemployed construction worker had spent the day — Monday, Nov. 19, 1973 — looking for work, paying bills, depositing a check, and visiting a friend.