RUSHMORE, Minn. — On Feb. 26, 1964, two residents of Rushmore vanished from the tight-knit community without a trace — local cafe co-owner Henrietta Mae DeVries and town mechanic George Steven Nicholson.
To some in the community, it appeared to be a cut-and-dry case of two star-crossed companions trying to escape their old lives and run away. Some believe Henrietta was buried on her late husband’s acreage. Either way, after 60 years without answers, the waters aren’t any clearer, but a few key insights from Henrietta’s family could perhaps unlock the greater narrative.
ADVERTISEMENT
Henrietta married Russell James DeVries in Ransom Township, Nobles County, on March 18, 1953. The two spent most of their married lives together on the DeVries farm south of Rushmore, where they raised three children — Dale, Diane and Roger. The couple moved into the town of Rushmore in the early 1960s, where they opened the restaurant now known as CD Cafe.
Family members say Russell was incredibly abusive toward both Henrietta and his second wife, Violet Thorson-DeVries, whom he married on Aug. 23, 1967, just three years after Henrietta’s disappearance.
Multiple family members, including Henrietta’s youngest sibling, Gordon Vogt, have recanted that Russell was witnessed to have waved his gun around frequently in a threatening manner. Russell was also believed by some family to have had an affair with someone in Worthington while he was married to Henrietta, although this is unconfirmed.
On Nov. 20, 1982, Russell DeVries died of a brain aneurysm, and his land was divided among his surviving family.
Back when Russell and Henrietta owned the cafe in Rushmore, it was known to be a lively business — if not somewhat hellish. Henrietta would arrive at work each morning with a smile. Many times, however, according to former cafe employee Betty Rosenberg, both Henrietta and Russell would get into terrible arguments. It was the reason Rosenberg turned in her resignation not long after the cafe opened its doors.
One early morning, after she had left some fresh sweet rolls on the cafe counter, Henrietta vanished. That same morning, just down the street from the cafe, Nicholson had not shown up for work at the auto repair shop.
Both of them were missing, and nobody knew why.
ADVERTISEMENT
Three days later, the FBI reported finding Nicholson’s 1954 Ford pickup truck in Sioux Falls, South Dakota — 53 miles west of Rushmore.
Nicholson, who was also married, had three children with a fourth on the way at the time he vanished. His wife, Marlys Fenske, filed for a divorce by abandonment in 1979, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Little else is known about Nicholson other than his apparent career as a mechanic.
Nicholson’s truck was abandoned with $5,000 in cash and an empty briefcase still inside. The vehicle had recently been converted from gas to propane, presumably to travel a farther distance, the FBI stated at the time.
Sixty years later, though, the case remains unsolved. Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Nobles County Sheriff’s Office have declined to comment on the case.
Some family members, including Henrietta and Russell’s three children, simply assumed she was having an affair with Nicholson. However, relatives of Henrietta don’t believe the story adds up.
“My folks could not understand or really believe that she would leave her kids behind,” said Gordon Vogt. “She would have taken them with her if she was going somewhere. They found it hard to believe she would be seeing someone.”
On several occasions, Henrietta attempted to get her children away from the fearsome arguments at home. Shirley Heidebrink, one of Henrietta’s surviving siblings, said she was one of the first people Henrietta would call when they were having issues, because she wanted Heidebrink to take their kids.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We got there, she and the kids were in the house, and Russell was in the garage (...) I just thought maybe they got into a big fight. We talked for a while, she calmed down and didn’t want us to take the kids anymore,” Heidebrink said. “She reassured us (Russell) would cool off, too.”
All of Henrietta’s surviving relatives seem to be in agreement that she put her children before everything else.
“A weird thing that stood out to me was the fact that every single person we’ve spoken to said there’s no way (Henrietta) would have just left her kids and family,” said Mitch Vogt, Henrietta’s great-nephew. Both Mitch and his wife, Ashley Vogt, set out on the trail of finding Mitch’s great-aunt late last year. The couple was watching an episode of “Dateline” when they began to discuss Henrietta’s disappearance.
Just as they began their investigation, Mitch and Ashley Vogt were contacted by a distant relative of Russell's. Their familial connection was established when Russell married his second wife.
The relative, who asked to remain anonymous, claimed that until the day she died in 2015, Thorson-DeVries was adamant Russell had “buried (Henrietta) on that farm.”
They couldn't have known what the end result would be.
“I remember they were having some marital issues,” Gordon Vogt shared. “There were times before she disappeared where (Henrietta) would come over to our folks’ house for visiting, and after she left that day, Mom and Dad would talk about the bruises that she had. It didn’t seem normal to them.”
Gordon Vogt also recalled a time when he was sleeping in the room above the kitchen when he was awoken by voices down below. It was Henrietta and Russell, and they were talking with Henrietta’s parents, George Sr. and Anna Vogt.
ADVERTISEMENT
Gordon overheard Henrietta say she wanted to move in with her parents, along with her children, because of the marital issues she was having with Russell.
The back and forth continued for some time until Henrietta’s parents agreed she and Russell needed to go home to settle their issues.
“My mom and dad’s philosophy was that they felt everyone needed to solve their own issues,” Gordon Vogt shared. “They couldn’t have known what the end result would be. Spousal counseling at the time wasn’t very well known, either.”
After Henrietta vanished, Gordon Vogt said his parents were heartbroken. “After she disappeared, they always said, you know, ‘We should’ve kept her — we should’ve kept her and the kids.’ They just didn’t realize at the time.”
“Spousal and physical abuse, those are my words. Those I never heard from anybody,” Gordon Vogt said. “That’s the impression I got from that night. That’s what I assumed when they talked about the bruises.”
George Vogt Sr. had apparently contacted the FBI on multiple occasions in the 1960s, as it appeared to the family that local law enforcement “wasn’t doing much of anything.”
Contacting the FBI now, however, Mitch Vogt said he only received the same boilerplate response: “We cannot confirm nor deny that information.”
ADVERTISEMENT
With no body ever found, there was no murder, and with no murder, there’s no death certificate. As Henrietta has not been legally declared dead, it is difficult for the family to get answers.
“You would think her information would be on file somewhere,” said Mitch Vogt. “But nobody had a record of that. We had to dig up her birth certificate just to prove she even existed.”
Gordon Vogt speculated that perhaps Nicholson and Henrietta struck up a friendly conversation one day, and that he knew she wanted to get out of there, though he also says it is still difficult to understand why Nicholson would abandon his own family as well.
“It was so bizarre, as I think about it over the years,” Gordon Vogt said.
Gordon Vogt’s parents attempted to remain in contact with the three DeVries children, however, one day when he and his mother were visiting, one of the children said they “never want to see (the Vogts) again” and that the Vogts were keeping their mother away from them.
They took it at face value, and that's that.
That was the last time George and Anna Vogt saw their grandchildren, according to Gordon.
Later on, the Vogts were able to reconnect with Dale DeVries, but as for most of the surviving DeVries family, the rift that was formed between them and the Vogts was irreparable.
ADVERTISEMENT
“(Russell) told (their children) that (Henrietta) was a floozy and ran off,” Mitch Vogt said. “They took it for face value, and that’s that. The family has estranged themselves. I don’t think any of us have heard from them since 1964.”
While Mitch and Ashley Vogt haven’t been successful with their attempts to get information from law enforcement, they aren’t ready to give up the search for what happened to Henrietta DeVries. If anyone has information about Henrietta — or George Nicholson — they may reach out to the Vogts at FindHenrietta1964@gmail.com .
The Trust Project
