Who Killed Roland T. Owen in Room 1046?
Roland T. Owen…. or is he?
On January 2nd, 1935 a man walks into the President Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. He’s traveling light, dressed well with a black coat, and is polite to the staff. They don’t notice anything truly off about him.
They would later describe him as a husky tall man in his twenties or early thirties. He had brown hair, a large scar above his left ear, and a cauliflower ear believing he may have been a boxer or wrestler.
At the front desk, the man introduces himself as Roland T. Owen, he requests a single room on the upper floors, specifically an interior room. The bellhop Randolph Propst takes him to room 1046 where Propst notices Owen only brought a brush, comb, and toothpaste.
Propst politely leaves Owen alone in his room closing the door behind him. The next time these two men are in Room 1046 together, Propst will be walking in on a barely alive Owen tied up two feet from the door having been stabbed repeatedly in the chest, suffering from a fractured skull, and a punctured lung with the walls and ceiling covered in his blood.
PART 1 - The Final Days of Roland T. Owen
“The past is an unsolved mystery and the truth is a moving target.”
Edna Buchanan
The events leading up to the death of Roland T. Owen are just as mysterious as what happened to him. In the first few hours of being in the President Hotel, many employees took notice of his strange behavior.
A hotel maid, Mary Soptic, entered his room several hours after he first checked in, she noticed Owen was nervous or anxious and was just sitting in the dark room with the curtains closed, the only light source was from a dim lamp on the desk.
Still, he was kind to her and requested she leave the door unlocked on her way out as he was expecting company. Hours later, Mary returned to the room with fresh towels finding the room in the exact same arrangement but this time Owen was lying in bed fully clothed, staring at the ceiling. Before she left the room, Mary noticed a note on the desk that read: “Don, I will be back in fifteen minutes. Wait.”
January 3rd
The following morning on January 3rd, Mary was making her rounds cleaning the rooms when she came to room 1046. When she tried to enter she found the room was locked from the outside. Using her key she entered finding Owen quietly sitting facing the dark wall not saying a word. While she cleaned, the phone rang and Owen finally spoke, he said “No Don, I don’t want to eat. I am not hungry. I just had breakfast.” After a slight pause, he repeated, “No. I am not hungry.”
After he hung up the phone, Mary claims Owen was much more talkative and inquired about the hotel and her job. He was, again, kind to her and she eventually finished cleaning, took all the towels, and left Owen alone in the room.
Several hours later she attempted to return with fresh towels. She knocked on the door but was greeted by a voice of a different man asking what she wanted. When she announced she had towels for the room the voice responded back telling her “We don’t need any.”
Despite knowing the room had no towels left, as she had taken them all earlier in the day, Mary moved on not wanting to intrude on the conversation the voice and Owen were having.
That night the hotel was alive with sounds and music, a party was going on in room 1055 and a woman in room 1048 reportedly claimed she heard loud voices of both male and female cursing and shouting. She could not confirm whether they were definitely coming from room 1046 or the party.
January 4th
The following morning at around 7 am the hotel operator, Della Ferguson, noticed the phone for Room 1046 was off the hook and not in use. She requested the Bellhop Randolph Propst to investigate. When Propst arrived outside of Owen's room, he saw a “do not disturb” sign on the door and elected to knock first.
Propst heard a faint voice respond “Come in.” but when he attempted the door was locked from the inside. Propst knocked again and the voice replied, “Turn on the lights.” Unsure if Owens was drunk or half-asleep, Propst announced through the door to put the phone back on the hook and left, after which he left.
Around an hour and a half later, at approximately 8:30 am, Ferguson noticed the phone was still off the hook and requested a different bellhop, Harold Pike, to go to room 1046. Pike went to the room and found the door to still be locked but Pike had brought along a key with him just in case.
Using only the light from the hallway Pike could see a man, presumably, Owen laying on the bed, around him were darkened sheets. He assumed Owen was drunk and had soiled himself in his sleep. Pike quickly picked up the phone stand from the ground, placed it back on the desk, and put the phone on the hook. He locked the door and left the room.
The Discovery
Two hours later, the head operator, Betty Cole, saw the phone was off the hook again and sent Randolph Propst to the room. Propst knocked loudly several times and when there was no answer he used a key to enter room 1046.
In front of him was Roland T. Owen, naked on all fours on the ground holding his head to his hands. Propst could see blood on Owen’s head and immediately turned on the lights. The sight frightened Propst, the light had revealed blood splattered all along the walls, bathroom, and bed. Propst ran out of the room, finding his manager, M.S. Weaver, and told him what he had seen.
“Nobody”
Shortly after police arrived along with Doctor Flanders, who began attempting to treat Owen. Owen had been tied with a cord around his neck, wrists, and ankles. He had been stabbed multiple times in the chest, one stab wound punctured his lung.
On the right side of his head, he had been struck multiple times, leaving his skull fractured. There was also evidence of bruising around Owen’s neck indicating he had been strangled. The detectives later described the injuries Owen had endured as torture. Amazingly Owen was still alive but barely conscious.
Doctor Flanders asked Owen who had done this to him, Owen’s only response was, “Nobody.” When Flanders asked how the injuries happened Owen’s said he fell against the bathtub. Before he could ask any more questions, Owen slipped into a coma.
Investigation
While Owen was rushed to the hospital police began their investigation. The room was virtually empty. Hotel items like soap, shampoo, and towels were all missing. Even stranger, all of Owen’s clothes were gone. No coat, shirt, pants, socks, or even shoes. Everything was gone.
The only thing in the room were two empty water glasses, an unlit cigarette, a hairpin, a safety pin, and a bottle of diluted sulfuric acid. One of the empty water glasses laid in the sink with a broken piece of glass missing and the other had four fingerprints possibly belonging to a woman.
With no leads, the detectives began questioning the other guests and staff of the hotel. They then checked the register at the front desk and saw Roland T. Owen had put his hometown as Los Angeles. The detectives reached out to the Los Angeles police who found no record of a Roland T. Owen.
The detectives were beginning to wonder if the man in the hospital truly was named Roland T. Owen. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be able to ask him as the man who called himself Roland T. Owen died from his injuries a little after midnight.
PART 2 - The Investigation into the Mystery Man
“Very few of us, are what we seem.”
Agatha Christie from her short story “The Man in the Mist”
The murder was closely followed by the newspapers in the area and when it was revealed the police weren’t certain the man was actually named Roland T. Owen, many residents began trying to identify him by sending in pictures of their own missing relatives and calling in with questions.
Owen’s body was taken to the Melody-McGilley funeral home where several dozen people came to try to identify him. The police followed several leads but none truly panned out, instead, they introduced more questions than answers.
Sightings
One man, Robert Lane, believed he gave Owen a ride to a taxi on the night of January 3rd at around 10 pm. He claimed Owen flagged him down believing he was a taxi but apologized when he realized he wasn’t. Lane, seeing Owen was without a coat and had a deep scratch on his arm, offered to take him to a taxi.
While driving, Lane didn’t ask his name or any other information but noticed he was bleeding from his arm and possibly from another injury. Lane brought him to a taxi and never saw Owen again.
The detectives eventually dismissed this lead after the hotel staff denied seeing Owen return to the hotel that night with any injuries or bleeding prior to finding him on January 4th. Doctor Flanders also placed the injuries of Owen’s body having occurred around 4 or 5 am based on the hardening of the blood on Owen’s body and in the room.
Eugene K. Scott
One lead did allow the detectives to establish Owen was seen with two unidentified women in different liquor stores between January 2 and 3rd but nothing more came of this. The detectives then followed up on the small talk Owen had with Randolph Propst and Mary Soptic. Owen had told both he stayed in the Hotel Muehlebach the previous night but left when they tried to increase the price.
When detectives checked the register in Hotel Muehlebach they found no Roland T. Owen but the front desk stated a man who looked like Owen did stay in the hotel the night in question and had listed his home as Los Angeles except the name used was Eugene K. Scott.
Another lead led the detectives to another name used by Owen, Cecil Werner. Owen had attempted to be signed for some wrestling matches using that name.
Funeral of Roland T. Owen
By March the leads went cold, detectives had no idea who Owen truly was, and no one could identify having seen a man named Don talking to or being around Owen while at the hotel. An announcement was made in the papers, the man who claimed to be Roland T. Owen would be buried in a paupers grave.
That same day the Melody-McGilley funeral home received an anonymous phone call asking for Owen not to be buried yet. They promised to send money to cover the cost of a proper funeral.
Three weeks later on March 23rd, the funeral home received a specially delivered envelope containing cash, enough to pay for the funeral and burial in Memorial Park Cemetery. The funeral home also received a floral tribute for Owen with a card reading, “Love for ever - Louise.” Besides that name, the sender and caller remained anonymous and no one besides detectives attended the funeral.
The trail went cold once again.
Ruby Ogletree
Almost two years after the murder, police in Kansas City received correspondence from a woman named Ruby Ogletree. A friend of hers saw the picture of Roland T. Owen in a magazine describing the mysterious murder and she immediately thought they looked familiar.
When Ruby Ogletree saw the picture she feared the worst. After speaking with Kansas City police and identifying the scars and other features, Roland T. Owen’s true identity was confirmed. His real name was Artemus Ogletree, the son of Ruby Ogletree. He was only 17 years old.
Despite now knowing who Roland T. Owen really was, it brought more questions to light. Ruby Ogletree stated Artemus left home in 1934 to travel the country and on occasion would receive handwritten letters from him but in 1935 she began receiving typed letters.
Three letters were sent to her from someone claiming to be Artemus despite at the time already having been murdered. Ruby stated the letters were not in Artemus's usual slang and style. The last letter she received from the person pretending to be her son claimed he was leaving the US and heading to Egypt.
In 1936 before she knew of her son’s death, Ruby attempted to find him trying to get help from the US Consul in Cairo, Egypt. They were unable to confirm that Artemus had ever traveled there.
Around the same time, detectives were able to confirm Artemus stayed at another hotel in Kansas City sometime before his death and shared a room with another man, possibly Don. After this the case went cold yet again, this is where the official details end, leaving us with plenty of questions and theories.
PART 3 - The Theories
“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.”
Mark Twain
The details of the events we’ve gone over have all come from an article by historian Doctor John Arthur Horner at “The Kansas City Public Library”. Doctor Horner wrote the article based on the actual police file so the details we’ve gone over are the official details.
In researching this case I read a lot of different theories based on other details that were not in the actual police file, many of these theories are based on details written in sensationalized newspapers or magazines meaning the facts were twisted to make the stories more entertaining. Something we’ve seen fairly often in our previous articles.
Related Article: The Platte River Ship of Death, Wyoming
The Anonymous Caller
One such story claims the anonymous caller who sent the money for Artemus’ funeral stated he was doing it for his sister and quote “cheaters usually get what’s coming to them.” This has led to a popular theory that Artemus was engaged to be married and cheated on his fiancé with another woman. This then caused his fiance’s brother or a friend to kill Artemus.
The supposed statements made by the anonymous caller were first published in magazines and papers after his death sensationalizing the story, possibly jumping off the actual fact of the mailed flowers and letter from “Louise” but the caller never made those statements. Those specific statements were entirely made up in those newspapers.
Breakdown
Instead of sensationalizing let’s look at what facts we actually do have:
Artemus had been traveling through the country staying at various hotels under different names at times with another person possibly named “Don”
He traveled extremely light, with no identification on him only carrying a brush, comb, and toothpaste
He had a cauliflower ear, indicating he was a fighter or boxer, and was confirmed to be looking for wrestling matches to sign up for under the name Cecil Werner
The investigation into his room found everything had been removed. Among the other few things found was a bottle of diluted sulfuric acid and a woman’s fingerprints
A person or persons were willing to pay for his funeral and send flowers from someone named “Louise”. The flowers were sent twice due to an error when first being mailed, showing the importance to the sender.
Someone with knowledge of Artemus’s death or responsible for it sent letters to his mother in an attempt to cover their tracks
Theory
All of this leads me to theorize the murder of Artemus Ogletree was carried out by professionals, possibly the mob. Sure, it’s completely possible Artemus was involved in a relationship with a woman or a man named Don and was killed after cheating on them but all the clues we have don’t exactly fit that theory, the thing I keep coming back to is the sulfuric acid.
Many organized crime informants have testified to using sulfuric acid after killing their victims either to dissolve the body or remove fingerprints making the body difficult to identify.
If the sulfuric acid was there to help hide the identity of the victim, it doesn’t sound like it would have been a crime of passion. Is it possible the man “Don” that Artemus was meeting was a Mafia boss, usually referred to as “Dons”?
Organized Crime
But how would have Artemus gotten mixed up with organized crime? In the early 20th century organized crime became involved in fixing boxing matches. In the 1930’s gangsters like Owen Madden who owned speakeasies and nightclubs in New York City, were also boxing promoters who featured several high-profile fights in clubs. Organized Crime’s involvement only became more synonymous with professional boxing in the following decades.
I think it’s possible Artemus Ogletree was employed by the mob as a fighter and at some point lost a lot of money, Louise was someone related or close to the mob who he was involved with, and Don was Artemus’s boss who worked for the mob and traveled with him coming to know him personally.
Knowing he had cost the mob money, Artemus was worried and anxious about meeting with Don as Mary Soptic noted he appeared to be. And since they knew his real name and where his mother lived, he couldn't just run away and disappear, which would also explain why when asked who attacked him, Artemus only replied with “Nobody”.
After Artemus was murdered, Don or someone else working with the mob sent letters to Artemus’s mother to throw off suspicion. Being that Artemus worked for or with the mob, his funeral arrangements were taken care of by them, staying anonymous and paying for his funeral.
That is the best theory I could piece together with the clues we have, of course, there could be entirely different explanations for all of the facts we have. Unfortunately seeing as how the murder of Artemus Ogletree occurred 86 years ago and there haven’t been any new leads this appears to be a case that will forever remain a mystery.
But how about you? What do you think happened to Artemus Ogletree? Who really was Don and why was Artemus using so many fake names?
