Sonja McCaskie

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexFemale
Full nameSonja•McCaskie (-Schmidt-)
Used nameSonja•McCaskie
Born19 February 1939 in Elgin, Scotland (GBR)
Died5 April 1963 in Reno, Nevada (USA)
NOC Great Britain

Biography

Sonja McCaskie skied the giant slalom for Great Britain at the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Olympics. After the Olympics she remained in the United States, working as a ski instructor at the Slide Mountain ski resort near Reno, Nevada.

In the early morning hours of 5 April 1963, McCaskie was in her apartment in Reno when Thomas Lee Bean, an 18-year-old high school student broke into the apartment. He then proceeded to strangle, rape, murder, and decapitate McCaskie. The police chief on the scene noted, “It is certainly the most brutal murder I have ever seen.”

Bean was caught shortly after the crime when he tried to pawn a camera he had stolen from McCaskie’s house. He was tried, found guilty, and given the death penalty, but that was commuted in 1972 when the US Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1960 Winter Olympics Alpine Skiing (Skiing) GBR Sonja McCaskie
Giant Slalom, Women (Olympic) 40

Special Notes