u/Technicolor_Reindeer

In case you are unfamiliar with this bit of Star Wars lore, Willrow Hood was the name given to a background character in The Empire Strikes Back, seen running through Cloud City, dressed in an orange jumpsuit carrying what turned out to be a Hamilton Beach ice cream maker. He became known among fans as "Ice Cream Maker Guy," or "Ice Cream Man/Guy." The actor was uncredited. He was dubbed "Willrow Hood" by fans and given a backstory, which evolved into a cult following. People dressed up at him at conventions. His character got a mission in the Lego Star Wars video game. In 2019 The Mandalorian gave a name and purpose to the ice cream maker - a "camtomo."

Star War fans had been trying to find out the actor's identity for 43 years, with no success. In 2023, a French Youtuber called Nicolas Delage decided to investigate who played Willrow Hood. He discovered his identity using Reverse Image Search and contacted the actor's family.

So who was the man?

Egbert Sen was a Pakistani-born British musician who earned extra money by working as an extra in British-produced film and TV in the '70s and '80s. One of these minor roles was as a man in an orange jumpsuit evacuating Cloud City in a hurry in The Empire Strikes Back, carrying an ice cream maker. His two daughters also played brief background characters.

Sen died in 2019, "heartbroken he never achieved fame," unfortunately completely unaware of his fame among fans, that this his minor role attained a massive cult following, complete with a trading card, video game role, action figure, and frequent cosplay. Per his daughter, "none of our family are big Star Wars fan so knew none of this."

A 43 year mystery solved, four years too late.

https://disabilityarts.online/blog/dolly-sen/one-morning-i-woke-up-found-my-dad-has-a-star-wars-cult-following/

https://www.jedinews.com/film-music-tv/articles/egbert-sen-played-willow-hood-in-star-wars-the-empire-strikes-back/

Nicolas Delage's film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7sp9_hXYQA

Summary: On Sunday, May 8 1966, 9 year old Stevie Johnston was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death less than a quarter-mile from his home. Police originally suspected a neighborhood teenager with falsified documents committed the crime before narrowing in on a suspect with a similar MO. 

Details: 

In May of 1966, Bethesda, Maryland was a small, developing suburb Northwest of Washington D.C. featuring residential homes, a limited number of businesses, and office space among smaller farmlands in Montgomery County. It was normal for kids to bike around and play with neighboring kids after school, on the weekends, and summer break; so long as they were home in time for dinner when the street lights cut off. 

On Sunday, May 8th, Mother’s Day in 1966, all of this changed.  After the Johnston family attended Church and Sunday school, nine-year-old Stevie Johnston left his home alone towards the Kenwood golf course (located a quarter-mile away to the west of his family home) to search for golf balls. However, the third-grader at Radnor Elementary never made it back to his home on Fairglen Lane. According to Stevie’s step-brother, Rick Neumann (age 13 at the time), by nighttime police officers, firemen, and local residents had begun searching the area for Stevie assuming that he may have gotten lost or injured. 

Unfortunately, his body was found by a fireman the next morning on May 9th, only 150 feet away from where Little Falls Parkway crosses what was at the time a railroad track but is now known as the Capital Crescent Trail. His body was located less than a half-mile to the east of the Kenwood Golf Club and less than a quarter-mile to the East of his home on Fairglen road in the opposite direction of the golf course. He had been sexually assaulted and stabbed although his fingernails suggested he had fought back and scratched his attacker. 

On May 10, the story made the front page of The Washington Post, with the headline “Police Hunt Knife Slayer of 9-year-old Bethesda Boy.” The family and investigators searched for a killer until the case went cold in 1967.  It had changed the neighborhood and the Johnston family forever. “The innocence was lost that day,” Stevie’s half-brother, Sam, said in an interview.  “No longer could kids leave their house and go a mile away to go play by themselves.  Everyone was looking over their shoulder.  It was a very scary time.”

Unbeknownst to the family at the time, in 1967 when the case had gone cold, Montgomery County police detained an unidentified local man for molesting a young boy.  The man was identical to a composite sketch made in 1966 from multiple young, male, victims; who described the same attacker and M.O. The unidentified man also had the same shoe size as a footprint found at the scene of the crime and had carried a knife with the same dimensions as the one that killed Stevie as reported by other victims. However, evidence including: the attackers pubic hairs, head hairs, and a plaster footprint casing were lost by the police over the years. As a result, nobody has ever been tried or prosecuted for Stevies assault and murder. 

“Back in those days the police department didn’t have the chain of custody that they have today,” Sam said.  “They didn’t have evidence rooms for people to sign evidence in and out of custody. Consequently, the detectives kept evidence in their personal desk, lockers, trunks and homes.”

County Police have suggested that if the same case happened today, it would be solved without question. “The way evidence is packed now is a lot different from the way it was 40, 45 years ago,” said Montgomery County Police Sergeant Christopher Homrock.

Conclusion:

In 2015, Lisa Howroth, Stevie’s older sister released a book titled “Flying Shoes” which was based partially around her brothers murder and resulting flawed investigation. One suspect in the book represents the initial suspect of the case, who was later cleared—a teenage outcast who lived down the street. The teen drew suspicion upon himself by backdating a letter for unknown reasons to the then 15-year-old Howorth to make it seem like he was at his boarding school during the Mother’s day weekend when he had been at his family home in Bethesda. This had been the only suspect known to the family until Sam looked into the case on his own in 1994 when the unidentified man was identified to the family as the prime suspect. In an interview from the same time, Lisa notes that the family would like to see the police pursue the still-living (as of 2015) suspect who is a registered sex offender for crimes against children. There is no statute of limitations on a murder charge in the state of Maryland so if police and prosecutors could come up with evidence, they might be able to bring a suspect to trial.

Discussion Points:

Is there any chance of someone being convicted for this crime?

Why have police not tried this case considering the age of their prime (and what appears to be only) suspect? 

Why did Stevie’s body end up in the opposite direction of the golf course? Did Stevie ever make it to the golf course? 

Why is Stevie’s case no longer considered cold by the Maryland State Police?

Sources: 

A Novel Written From the Heart

Author Lisa Howorth (’69) blends family tragedy and fiction in debut novel – The Black and White

MD - MD - Stevie Johnston, 9, Bethesda, 8 May 1966 | Websleuths

Cold Cases