On January 2, 1935 a man who called himself Roland T Owen checked into the Hotel President in Kansas City. Roland was a very strange man according to reports and his death is one that confuses people.
[HOTEL STAY]
Roland was a 20-35 year old male with brown hair, a scar on his scalp and a cauliflower ear. If you don't know what that is here you go,
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It's very common when you have injured your ear and is most common in boxers, wrestlers and mma fighters.
And before we begin here are some very important things to know
The doors in the hotel were doors that locked from the outside. You couldn't lock them if you were inside the room.
The day before he was found there was a party on the same floor
The bellboy at the time, Randolph Propst helped him to his room. Propst noticed that Owen only packed a comb, brush and toothpaste.
The maid, Mary Soptic said Owen allowed her to clean the room while he was in it but he asked that she wouldn't lock the door when she left because "a friend would be visiting him soon." She also said the shades were tightly drawn and all the lights were off aside from one dim light in the corner.
Mary stated later that "he was either worried about something or afraid."
At 4 pm the same day Soptic returned with fresh towels. When she walked in she noticed Owen laying up right in the bed, fully dressed and in the dark. The door was unlocked. She also saw a note that read "Don, I will be back in 15 minutes."
The next day Soptic returned at 10:30 am to clean the room. She noticed the door was locked. She figured Owen had left. She went inside and saw Owen sitting in the bed, just as he had the day before. This means someone locked Owen inside. While she was cleaning the room Owen answered the phone and said "No Don, I don't want to eat. I'm not hungry. I just had breakfast."
At 4 pm she returned to the room to deliver fresh towels as there were no more in the room. She heard 2 male voices. After knocking and saying why she was there a very deep voice that didn't belong to Owen said "We don't need any."
The woman staying in 1048 reported hearing both male and female voices close by, yelling and cursing at one another, but attributed it to the party that was happening in 1055.
On January 4 at 7 am the hotel operator noticed that Owens phone was off the hook and had been for a while without any use. The hotel sent Propst up to the hotel room. He knocked and heard a low voice "come in, turn on the lights." Instead he told Owen to put the phone back on the hook and left.
At 8:30 am the phone was off the hook once again. They sent another bellboy Harold Pike. Pike let himself into the room. He didn't turn on a light but used the light from the hallway instead. He saw Owen in bed, naked. He believed he was drunk. He noticed that the bedding around Owen was darker. He also noticed the phone stand kicked over, so he fixed it and left.
Between 10:30 and 10:45 am the phone was once again off the hook. They sent Propst once again, this time he enters.
He sees Owen within two feet of the door on his hands and knees with his head in his hands. He noticed blood on his head and he turned on the lights. There was huge amounts of blood on the bed, walls and bathroom.
It seemed like he had been tied up with cords around his neck, arms and legs. He appeared to have been tortured. He was hit repeatedly on his head, fracturing his skull. He had been stabbed multiple times, even puncturing his lung.
Surprisingly, Owen was still alive. The detective asked him who else had been there but Owen said no one. He told the detective he had fell against the bathtub. He was rushed to the hospital were he died shortly after midnight.
After an autopsy the concluded that the injuries happened 6 to 7 hours before being found.
They had found no weapons in his room, ruling out suicide. They also found fingerprints on the phone, believed to be from a woman.
The police tried to find "Don" but it seemed like now one knew who he was.
Owen mentioned being from Los Angeles while checking in, so the detectives tried finding records of him, but couldn't. This brought into question if Roland T Owen was his real name.
When no one claimed him he was set to be buried on a potters field, a cemetery for unknown people. Then the funeral home got a call from someone who said they would be sending money to give him a proper funeral (I will get more into this phone call later).
On March 23 money was sent, wrapped up in newspapers, to the funeral home. Flowers were also sent with a card reading "Love forever, Louise."
In 1936 Ruby Ogletree read an article about Owens case. She identified him as her son.
His real name was Artemis Ogletree. He was only 17 years old and left his home of Birmingham, Alabama in 1934.
Ruby stated she received three letters from Artemis in 1935. It was revealed that these letters came after his death. They were also typed, which struck Ruby as odd since her son didn't know how to type. In the letters there was slang and unfamiliar language according to her.
It was also revealed that weeks before staying in the Hotel President he stayed in another hotel outside of Kansas City. He stayed with another man, many believe it to have been Don.
[SUSPECTS]
[THEORY ONE]
The first theory is that Don beat Artemis to death and acted alone. Pretty simple.
[THEORY TWO]
The second theory is that Don didn't act alone and that there was a female that helped. On the phone there were prints of a female and a neighbor did hear a male and female cursing and fighting. It could have come from Artemis and an unknown female.
On the day it happened the elevator operator recalled seeing a "commercial woman" enter the building and was looking for room 1026. Some believe she had gotten confused and meant 1046. She was also seen with a man from the 9th floor, who some believed to have been Don.
The descriptions of each were rather vague and lead no where.
[THEORY THREE]
This theory might explain the motive, and ties into theory two. Some believe that he was killed for being unfaithful to his fiancée.
After it was announced via paper that he would be buried in a potters grave, a women called the paper and stated that they had a story wrong and that he would have a proper funeral. To be exact she used the phrase "paupers grave." When asked who she was and how she knew she responded with "Nevermind. I know what I'm talking about. He got into a jam."
A little after this phone call the anonymous phone call to the funeral home happened. He too said that Owen wouldn't be buried in a "paupers grave." He also said "cheaters usually get what's coming to them," and that Owen would be by his sisters grave.
