Room 1046: A Kansas City Hotel Murder and One of True Crime’s Unsolved Mysteries

[00:00:00] Kyle Risi: Adam. A young man checked into the President's hotel in Kansas City.

He specifically requested an internal room overlooking the courtyard

If this man Was trying to stay under the radar, he was failing miserably because Staff reported seeing strange notes, weird phone calls, and unidentified voices coming from behind closed doors.

Eventually, Adam, this guest would be found dead under the most bizarre circumstances

But here's the kicker, with all the witnesses and all the clues, the sightings, the theories, the strange letters we have never fully gotten to the bottom of what happened in Room 1046

[00:01:10] Kyle Risi: Welcome to the Compendium, an Assembly of fascinating things, a weekly variety podcast that gives you just enough information to stand your ground at any social gathering.

[00:01:20] Adam Cox: We explore stories from the darker corners of true crime, their hidden gems of history, and the jaw dropping deeds of extraordinary people.

[00:01:27] Kyle Risi: I'm Kyle Reese, the ringmaster for this week's episode.

[00:01:30] Adam Cox: And I'm Adam Cox, the head of finance for this week.

[00:01:33] Kyle Risi: Hey, hang on. Isn't that Sue's job?

[00:01:36] Adam Cox: Uh, she,

[00:01:36] Kyle Risi: oh, she's hr.

[00:01:37] Adam Cox: Uh, yes, she's hr. And do you know what? I've got a bone to pick with you, Kyle. Why? Because some of the costs of this circus are skyrocketing.

I know. And we need to cut back. I've noticed we've put an order in for two bathtubs of Vaseline. What's that for Kyle? It's

[00:01:53] Kyle Risi: PDDP.

[00:01:57] Adam Cox: That's baby oil. Uh, a desk full of Cheez-Its Kyle.

[00:02:00] Kyle Risi: Yep.

[00:02:01] Adam Cox: Who could that be for?

[00:02:02] Kyle Risi: For someone who likes Cheez-Its the monkeys.

We can't afford like fresh fruit and vegetables, so just like a stack of Cheez-Its,

[00:02:09] Adam Cox: yeah. Do you know what, there's gonna be, some changes around here?

[00:02:13] Kyle Risi: We are adjusting the salary and compensation packages on some of the roles, like when you go onto the website.

Some of them come with money. One's $42,000 a year plus a mystery, bonus envelope. Mm-hmm.

[00:02:26] Adam Cox: Like vouchers or coupons.

[00:02:28] Kyle Risi: Yeah. We've got the chief ticket stamp authenticity inspector. Just 20 bucks a year. Yeah. Plus internal glory. So yeah. We've also got another one for, the head of pound diploma.

All you get for your salary is, front row chaos.

[00:02:43] Adam Cox: That's not gonna pay the bills?

[00:02:44] Kyle Risi: No, it is because we are not having to dish out the money anymore.

[00:02:47] Adam Cox: No, that's not gonna pay their bills.

[00:02:49] Kyle Risi: No. Oh, who cares about them?

[00:02:51] Adam Cox: Wow.

[00:02:52] Kyle Risi: This is a capital estate.

[00:02:54] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[00:02:54] Kyle Risi: Guys, if you are new to the show and you wanna support us, then the absolute best way to support the compendium and enjoy exclusive perks is of course join us over a Patreon because signing up is free and you will get access to next week's episode a whole seven days before anyone else.

[00:03:09] Adam Cox: And for as little as $5 a month, you can become a fellow freak of the show, which will unlock our entire back catalog, including all of our classic episodes,

[00:03:18] Kyle Risi: All the archive stuff, the vault episodes, the ones that we lock away. '

[00:03:22] Adam Cox: cause we don't want you hearing.

[00:03:25] Kyle Risi: But Adam, of course, as we say every week, the real reason to sign up as a certified freak or a big top tier member is that you get exclusive access to our one of a kind compendium key chain. People call it the crotch Dangler. Why is that, Adam?

[00:03:42] Adam Cox: Because we like for our listeners to dangle it near their crotch.

[00:03:46] Kyle Risi: Mm, yeah.

[00:03:47] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[00:03:47] Kyle Risi: So sick.

[00:03:49] Adam Cox: And lastly, guys, please follow us on your favorite podcast app and leave us a review. Your support helps others find us and keeps these amazing stories coming.

[00:03:59] Kyle Risi: Adam, that is enough. Of the housekeeping for this week, because today on the compendium, we are diving into an assembly of shadowy motives, missing truths, and a death wrapped so tightly in odd detail, it almost feels deliberate.

[00:04:16] Adam Cox: Okay. It feels like we've got a, A murder mystery.

[00:04:19] Kyle Risi: Yes, we have. It is the murder mystery, Adam. In 1935, a young man using a false name checked into the President's hotel in Kansas City. He specifically requested an inward facing room, perhaps for a quieter stay, or perhaps to ensure he wouldn't be seen from the streets or the surrounding buildings.

[00:04:42] Adam Cox: Okay.

[00:04:42] Kyle Risi: And if this man was trying to stay under the radar, he was failing miserably because to everyone at the hotel, he stood out from his distinct features to his lack of personal items that he was carrying with him.

[00:04:57] Adam Cox: And his high vis.

[00:04:58] Kyle Risi: He was wearing a high vis, yes, that's gonna help you stand out, but his behavior was also something that didn't really go unnoticed because staff reported seeing strange notes, weird phone calls, and strange unidentified voices coming from behind closed doors.

Eventually, Adam, this guest would be found dead under the most bizarre circumstances that makes the story feel like it is ripped straight out of an atmospheric film noir movie.

But here's the kicker, more than 90 years later, with all the witnesses and all the clues, the sightings, the theories, the strange letters following this man's death.

We have never fully gotten to the bottom of what happened in Room 1046 back in January, 1935.

[00:05:49] Adam Cox: Wow.

[00:05:50] Kyle Risi: Like many unsolved mysteries, it can be deeply unsatisfying, Adam, as we know, we don't do many of them.

[00:05:56] Adam Cox: Great. So we're gonna spend an hour of you talking about all the details for us to get nowhere.

[00:06:02] Kyle Risi: No, I think I've got a pretty solid idea of what happened.

[00:06:05] Adam Cox: Okay.

[00:06:05] Kyle Risi: But unlike so many unsolved mysteries this one hits differently because there are actually a lot of clues in the story. But what is missing is the way that they actually all fit together to give us a clear picture of what happened.

It makes this story feel just like it is on the tip of your tongue.

In a moment of clarity, like it feels like you'll almost crack it, which is exactly why the story has probably captivated so many people for almost a hundred years.

And so Adam, today on the compendium, I'm gonna tell you about the incredible unsolved mystery of the body in Room 1046.

[00:06:42] Adam Cox: Oh, so another body in a room story.

[00:06:44] Kyle Risi: I mean it, I know it says body, but it's really the murder in 1046. So it's different to the body in 3 36 or three four.

[00:06:52] Adam Cox: 348.

[00:06:53] Kyle Risi: 348. Are you

[00:06:53] Adam Cox: the story that I did, but it wasn't Well, it was manslaughter to be fair.

[00:06:57] Kyle Risi: Yes. And I mean that was bizarre the way

[00:07:00] Adam Cox: that went down.

[00:07:01] Kyle Risi: Yeah, that went down. But this is different.

[00:07:03] Adam Cox: Yeah, that one we solved. You know what? My story had a beginning, middle, and end.

[00:07:07] Kyle Risi: This one's just gonna begining. And the middle.

[00:07:10] Adam Cox: Great.

[00:07:10] Kyle Risi: No end.

[00:07:12] Adam Cox: Alright. Try and topic it. Come on.

[00:07:13] Kyle Risi: As I always do. At this part of the intro.

[00:07:16] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:07:17] Kyle Risi: Have you heard this story before, Adam?

[00:07:19] Adam Cox: I'm pretty sure you can gather. No, I haven't.

[00:07:22] Kyle Risi: Great.

So Adam, our story starts on the afternoon of the 2nd of January, 1935 when a man checks in to the President Hotel in Kansas City, in Missouri.

By all accounts, this man is well dressed. He's wearing a suit and an overcoat. He's described as being maybe in his mid twenties with dark slicked back hair, and notably a large scar in his head, like with a sizable patch of hair missing .

It's not like it was a fresh wound. This is like from a childhood kind of instant that's happened. but he also had something that they call cauliflower ear, which is like a permanent deformity, like rugby players and wrestlers get So was from my repeated trauma.

[00:08:00] Adam Cox: Yeah. So was he a sportsman in that sense?

[00:08:03] Kyle Risi: Possibly. We don't know, but it is a detail that didn't go unnoticed by the hotel staff. Now, when the man checked in, he signed under the name of  Roland T. Owen and his identification suggested he was from Los Angeles.

Roland paid the rate for a single night accommodation, and when all that was done, the on shift bellhop, a guy called Randolph Prosp. He's asked to show Roland to his room, and as we're making the way to Roland's room on the 10th floor, specifically Room 1046 , the pair of them make small talk with Roland, telling Randolph that he was previously staying at the Mulbar Hotel directly across the street.

But the rates unfortunately, were too expensive. And so he decided to check into the president.

And there was a reason why the President's hotel was cheaper, because Adam wasn't the classiest of hotels. Like, it wasn't unusual to kind of see sex workers visiting clients, which was so commonplace that the staff just turn a blind eye.

[00:09:02] Adam Cox: Do you know what I'm getting?

[00:09:03] Kyle Risi: Mm.

[00:09:03] Adam Cox: I'm getting. I'm trying to remember how to pronounce it now. Cecil Hotel vibes a little bit. It sounds like they were built similar sort of times. Mm-hmm. Um, 'Cause the Cecil, it was it was built during the depression and it was about these people that were coming and going into the city.

It was supposed to be this really upmarket area, but ended up turning into skid row.

Right. But there's a lot of drifters or people passing through. They'd have like prostitutes come out the hotel. Mm-hmm. People ended up living there. So it had this weird reputation and Yeah. A lot of people I remember would check in, but with aliases and stuff like that.

[00:09:35] Kyle Risi: Sure. 'cause they're like on, maybe on the run or hiding on the law or something.

[00:09:38] Adam Cox: That's right.

[00:09:39] Kyle Risi: So you're getting the vibe that maybe. Roland is in a similar situation,

[00:09:42] Adam Cox: I'm guessing. So just by the fact that you got prostitutes coming, there feels perhaps a bit rundown. This is probably a place you lay low or you don't wanna get found essentially.

[00:09:51] Kyle Risi: But remember he was staying at, a slightly better hotel just across the street.

So he didn't like deliberate go, I need to stay under the radar and immediately came to this hotel. Oh, okay. He was staying in just a slightly more expensive hotel, but you know, the cash, you know, doesn't have the cash.

[00:10:03] Adam Cox: Fine. I see.

[00:10:04] Kyle Risi: So eventually Randolph shows Roland to Room 1046 on the 10th floor. Roland specifically asked for an internal room overlooking the courtyard rather than the street, which I think is a very interesting detail.

It either suggests that Roland wanted acquired a room perhaps away from the buzz of the traffic of the street or Adam. He did not want to be seen.

[00:10:25] Adam Cox: That's what I said.

[00:10:28] Kyle Risi: So after Randolph shows him into his room, he notices that the only belongings that Roland had with him was a hairbrush, a comb, and some toothpaste, which he removes from his overcoats and then places above the sink in the bathroom.

Which is an odd detail, isn't it? Like he's clearly been staying at another hotel. So it's not like this is a one night thing. He's been staying out for quite some time, right?

[00:10:51] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:10:51] Kyle Risi: And yet the only belongings he has with him is a comb and a toothbrush.

[00:10:57] Adam Cox: And a

[00:10:57] Kyle Risi: hairbrush. A hairbrush.

[00:10:58] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[00:10:58] Kyle Risi: Where's his pants?

He's clearly been staying out for more than, one day.

Right?

[00:11:01] Adam Cox: I mean, it's good that he's thinking about dental hygiene.

[00:11:04] Kyle Risi: Mm-hmm.

[00:11:04] Adam Cox: And his hair.

[00:11:05] Kyle Risi: But also my biggest concern for him is his underpants.

[00:11:09] Adam Cox: Just turn 'em inside out. You get two days wear.

[00:11:11] Kyle Risi: Yeah, that's true. Can you turn them in any other way? I guess you can turn them inside out and turn them the wrong way round. So you're wearing them with a button in the front.

[00:11:20] Adam Cox: I mean, that's one way. Don't think that's better. You can turn them upside down.

[00:11:25] Kyle Risi: So the thing is, when Roland is done unpacking, okay, he's three items. It takes me like five seconds.

He then leaves a room with Randolph immediately, who then locks the door and then hands the key to Roland. Mm-hmm. the two of them walk back downstairs and Roland leaves the hotel.

So he's checked in, he's gone to his room, he's put down his toothbrush, his comb, and now he's left straight away.

[00:11:46] Adam Cox: He's un he's unpacked and he's

[00:11:48] Kyle Risi: got So where's it going?

[00:11:49] Adam Cox: Mm.

[00:11:49] Kyle Risi: Straight away. Not even like getting settled in.

[00:11:52] Adam Cox: If he was a Taurus, then you think okay, he's going straight out to explore. Yeah. But if he's already been in this area the night before, I dunno.

[00:11:59] Kyle Risi: And he's not dressed like a Taurus 'cause he's dressed in a suit in an overcoat. So that just seems a bit strange to me.

[00:12:04] Adam Cox: Like a flasher overcoat?

[00:12:05] Kyle Risi: No, just a stylish overcoat. Okay. Like a thing. 1930s film noir.

[00:12:09] Adam Cox: Okay.

[00:12:09] Kyle Risi: That kind of overco.

Anyway, Adam, later that same day, a maid named Mary Tic was going about her cleaning route when she arrived at Room 1046. Again, another strange detail because it means that Roland is technically in a dirty room as well. Like if she's going around cleaning the rooms, he's already checked in, he's put his belongings down and now she's coming around

[00:12:31] Adam Cox: like he's checked in early and he doesn't care about the state of the room

[00:12:34] Kyle Risi: possibly.

Yeah. Mary doesn't realize that a new guest has checked in and so when she enters, she is taken aback. To see Roland in the room, sitting on the bed. In total darkness. The curtains are drawn and the only light is coming from a small lamp.

Mary, of course, she apologizes profusely and Roland is like, it's fine. It's fine. You can come in, you can clean.

And so she does all while he's watching her. Isn't that creepy?

[00:13:00] Adam Cox: A little bit, yeah.

[00:13:01] Kyle Risi: Like I would just be fumbling completely. I would've completely forgotten how to clean. I'd be putting like the remote in the mini fridge, I'd be putting the pillows back in the cupboard.

It'd be like, oh my God, this guy's watching me. It's like when someone watches you type and like just like magic, you just completely forget how to do it.

[00:13:14] Adam Cox: And when you're watching 'em, you go have you never used a keyboard before?

[00:13:18] Kyle Risi: Yeah, exactly. But it is also weird that Roland seems to be so comfortable watching her. Right. I hate being in the room when Lois is cleaning and it's only because I know she's doing it wrong.

[00:13:30] Adam Cox: Gosh, that's our cleaner who's listening.

[00:13:34] Kyle Risi: Yeah. She's our biggest fan.

[00:13:35] Adam Cox: But the thing is, like most cleaners in a hotel surely would come back later, right?

Oh, are you going out? Or I'll come back in half an hour.

[00:13:41] Kyle Risi: Mm-hmm.

[00:13:42] Adam Cox: Don't tend to clean while you're in the room.

[00:13:44] Kyle Risi: Yeah. There's just such a strange detail. But also remember Roland is sitting in almost total darkness, so she doesn't really wanna also intrude by suggesting that she opens the curtains, and so she's trying her best to clean in the limited light that she has.

Mary says though, that she gets the impression that Roland was anxious, either afraid or worried about something, like it's the middle of the day and he's just sitting in a dark room. So like I would get how she might think that, but also maybe he might come across a bit agitated as well.

[00:14:12] Adam Cox: Yeah, it's unusual behavior, right?

[00:14:15] Kyle Risi: So after a few minutes of cleaning, Roland then tells Mary that he needs to change. Mary's like, mm, okay. Um, I'm, I'm not sure should I leave or whatever in her indecision. Roland then immediately turns off the light, plunges them both in total darkness and she's basically just standing there awkwardly facing the wall.

While Roland apparently changes his clothes,

[00:14:39] Adam Cox: apparently changes his clothes.

[00:14:40] Kyle Risi: Yes, because when he then turns the lights back on, he's still dressed in all the same clothes that he had on just a couple minutes ago. Now I remember he also didn't arrive with anything. So what was he changing into again?

Maybe he was turning his pants inside out and the wrong way round.

[00:14:58] Adam Cox: So what, yeah, what was he doing then?

[00:15:00] Kyle Risi: It is bizarre. Was someone else in the room with him and he was like trying to get them out? I don't know. It's very bizarre.

[00:15:05] Adam Cox: I would've, if I was a cleaner, I'd be like, do you know what, I'm coming back.

[00:15:08] Kyle Risi: Yeah. It is bizarre. Right. So following this, Roland then puts on his coat, and then just as he's about to leave, he asked Mary if she could leave the room unlocked because he's expecting someone any minute, which again, weird. Why is he leaving?

[00:15:24] Adam Cox: Yeah. You wouldn't just let someone into your room? Yeah. I don't understand.

[00:15:28] Kyle Risi: It's so strange.

[00:15:29] Adam Cox: And like hotels are usually quite fussy about like people that aren't a guest, right? Mm-hmm. But then I guess if they're letting prostitutes in,

[00:15:35] Kyle Risi: yeah,

[00:15:36] Adam Cox: then maybe they don't care.

[00:15:37] Kyle Risi: So it's strange already, isn't it?

[00:15:39] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[00:15:39] Kyle Risi: So Mary finishes up, she restocks the amenities, like the soap and the shampoo. She takes the dirty tiles to be laundered. She doesn't replace the tiles because the shipment of clean tiles won't arrive till later that day.

So she will be back.

And so that's what happens later that day. At around 4:00 PM Mary is heading back along her cleaning room to deliver fresh tiles to all the rooms when she arrives back at Room 1046 again, Roland is in there laying on the bed, fully dressed again in complete darkness.

It's difficult for her to see, but with a light that's spilling in from the hallway, she's able to make out a note that has been left on the table saying, Don, I will be back in 15 minutes. Wait.

So was this the guy that he was potentially waiting for?

[00:16:21] Adam Cox: Yeah. And he's, why is he laying in the dark still?

[00:16:23] Kyle Risi: Yeah, I dunno. He is like in the curtains are drawn. It is the middle of the day. It's 4:00 PM He's been there pretty much all day.

[00:16:29] Adam Cox: And just in his hotel room?

[00:16:30] Kyle Risi: Yes.

[00:16:31] Adam Cox: Weird.

And also, I don't think Mary's being that efficient. She's already been to the room. Mm-hmm. And then she's going back the same day.

[00:16:38] Kyle Risi: But it's to deliver the clean tiles because they don't actually clean the towels at the hotel.

They get sent to a laundry service.

[00:16:44] Adam Cox: Ah.

[00:16:44] Kyle Risi: And then they get delivered later on, and then she goes and delivers the fresh tiles.

[00:16:48] Adam Cox: I see. That still seems like

[00:16:50] Kyle Risi: it is. I mean, if they had their own laundry service, they would mitigate this.

So Adam, the following morning, Mary is back again. She arrives at Room 1046. Around 10:30 AM

[00:17:01] Adam Cox: I'd be dreading cleaning that room at this point.

[00:17:03] Kyle Risi: I know exactly. And that's the thing. This time the door is locked, which is a good sign. It means that Roland is not in the room and that she will be able to clean without Roland watching her, essentially.

And the rooms are strange here. In that they can't be locked from the inside. So they can only be locked on the outside, which suggests that Roland is not in the room

so Mary pulls out her MasterKey and she lets herself in. But to her surprise, Roland is in there again sitting on the bed, oh God, in the dark.

And so she's a little bit taken aback. she's like, oh no. Is he gonna do that creepy changing thing again? But Adam, what this means is that somebody locked him in that room, clearly consensually, because when Mary opens the door, it's not like he's desperate to leave, right?

The room can only be locked from the outside.

[00:17:52] Adam Cox: That's weird that you can't lock the room from the inside night. It is a strange, at nighttime, you wanna do that, right? Someone could just like wander in. Your room.

[00:17:59] Kyle Risi: Yeah, that is true. That's another thing as well, but I guess this is just maybe the thing that they did or this particular hotel where you can only lock from the outside, but the fact that she's gone to go clean, she's tried the door, it's locked.

She's great, he's not in there. Let me use my key. Goes in, he's in there. Someone is locked him in there. Was it this Don guy?

[00:18:17] Adam Cox: Okay, so what does he do when Mary walks in?

[00:18:20] Kyle Risi: Okay. Anyway, Mary apologizes saying she didn't think that anyone's in there justified. Roland says It's fine, and he insists that she's okay to staying clean, and so she gets to work while she's cleaning.

The phone rings and Roland answers it, and Mary overhears Roland speaking to a man saying, no, Don, I don't want to eat. I'm not hungry. I've just had breakfast. Now there's a moment of silence while the voice, of course, on the other end replies to which Roland says, no, I'm not hungry.

But then Mary hear a voice of a woman cutting in

adam, she's screaming and she's saying, no, Don put the pistol down, and then she starts crying hysterically.

Roland then tries her best to calm her down, saying, Louise, please just stop crying. He calms her down for a couple seconds and he hangs up a few moments later.

So Adam, it is very awkward for Mary in this moment.

[00:19:14] Adam Cox: Yeah, I'd be like, is everything okay? Like, Do you want me to go?

[00:19:18] Kyle Risi: Yeah. Weird, right?

[00:19:20] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:19:20] Kyle Risi: So following this, Mary tries her best to break the tension with some polite, small talk. Eventually she finishes cleaning, she says goodbye. She collects up the dirty tiles, and off she goes.

[00:19:30] Adam Cox: I would be like, when is this guy gonna check out? Yeah,

[00:19:33] Kyle Risi: exactly. Adam, later that day. Mary's back.

[00:19:36] Adam Cox: Oh God,

[00:19:37] Kyle Risi: it's 4:00 PM She's obviously delivering fresh tiles to all the different rooms. Again, she gets to Room 1046, just as she's about to knock. She distinctly hears the voices of two men talking on the other side.

She then knocks, and instead of hearing Roland's voice, a much deeper voice asks, who's there?

She says, i'm here with fresh towels. To which the deeper voice says we don't need any. Which of course is a lie because Mary herself had taken the dirty tiles from the room earlier that day.

[00:20:05] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:20:06] Kyle Risi: So the question is, Adam, who did this voice belong to? Was this Don perhaps,

[00:20:11] Adam Cox: or putting on a voice?

[00:20:13] Kyle Risi: She definitely heard two voices.

[00:20:14] Adam Cox: Oh, so the man that was on the phone? Yeah. And I guess. Roland doesn't say anything, so she can't make out if Roland's actually in there. She just knows a man of a deep voice.

[00:20:23] Kyle Risi: Yeah. That he was the voice that responded when she asked, when she said it was for tiles, and he said they didn't need any, but she definitely heard two people's voices. So she heard Roland's voice and then she's also heard this deeper man's voice.

[00:20:34] Adam Cox: Okay.

[00:20:35] Kyle Risi: So it is bizarre. There's some bizarre stuff coming here, but also you need towels.

It's a complete travesty. Yeah. How's he gonna cope?

[00:20:40] Adam Cox: Just gonna drip dry.

[00:20:41] Kyle Risi: Yeah. 'cause the tile, there's no towels in there as well. So he's gonna wake up the next morning, want a shower. He's go, oh, there's no towels.

[00:20:49] Adam Cox: Well, yeah, this is the biggest mystery of them all. It

[00:20:53] Kyle Risi: is. How's

[00:20:54] Adam Cox: it gonna try himself?

[00:20:55] Kyle Risi: But Adam, that is not the end of the Strange Voices because later that day at around 6:00 PM a woman called Jean Owen, no relation to Roland Owen, she checks into the hotel.

She has spent the day shopping in Kansas City and was planning on staying with a boyfriend, but he wasn't feeling very well.

So rather than driving all the way back home, she decides to check into the present hotel for the night.

She checks into room 10 48 and later that night, she says she hears the voices of what sounded like two men and a woman arguing.

There were swearing, there were shoutings, clearly heated. It was an emotional. Argument that was going on,

[00:21:33] Adam Cox: and at this point, I guess we're assuming it's Roland and the two people, Don and the lady on the phone

[00:21:38] Kyle Risi: could be Louise, right? This, this Louise woman.

Now this is corroborated by the hotel elevators operator on shift at night. This is a guy called Charles Blocker. He says he started his shift around about midnight and the hotel was fairly busy until roundabout. 1:30 AM

[00:21:56] Adam Cox: mm-hmm.

[00:21:57] Kyle Risi: He says for him, he put the noise down to a known party that was taking place in room 1055. So for him if he had heard any arguing he assumed it was from the party that was happening.

[00:22:08] Adam Cox: Oh, okay.

[00:22:09] Kyle Risi: The point is that either way there is a lot of activity happening on the 10th floor that evening, which may be important to what happens next,

[00:22:17] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:22:18] Kyle Risi: Charles also says that. He saw a sex worker doing the rounds that evening at the hotel. She was basically visiting multiple guests and asked to be taken to multiple different floors.

So she's a busy girl,

[00:22:29] Adam Cox: Yeah. Like why work the streets when you can work a hotel?

[00:22:32] Kyle Risi: Exactly. At one point in particular, she asks to be taken to the 10th floor and then asks to be pointed to room 1026.

[00:22:41] Adam Cox: Okay.

[00:22:42] Kyle Risi: Half an hour later, the woman buzzes for Charles again to come and collect her, and on their way down to the lobby, she tells him that the client that she was actually looking for wasn't actually in his room, and so she had spent that 30 minutes just waiting around for him.

[00:22:56] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:22:57] Kyle Risi: Again, this is important because she might have seen something when we find out what's happened next, but then about an hour later, Adam, at 3:00 AM the sex worker comes back into the hotel. This time she's with a different guy and they asked to be taken to the ninth floor.

Now at 4:15 AM charles is called back up to the ninth floor, and again, it's the sex worker. She requests to be taken back down to the lobby and then she leaves for the evening.

Now, 15 minutes later, Charles gets another call back up to the ninth floor. This time it was the man that came in with the sex worker.

He tells Charles that he couldn't sleep and that he wanted to go for a walk. And so. The point is it was very busy in the early evening from midnight to 3:00 PM but after that, the only people that are really around is the sex worker and this man, and they've both left.

[00:23:51] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:23:52] Kyle Risi: Now, Charles blocker may have ended his shift, but he didn't see the actual man come back

[00:23:57] Adam Cox: so just saw the man and woman both leave separately.

[00:24:00] Kyle Risi: Yes. At a very crucial period of time between three and four.

[00:24:04] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:24:04] Kyle Risi: Those are the only people that were seen coming in the hotel.

Remember if you're coming into the hotel and you're going up via the elevator, you have to go through this elevator operator. Right. So he's pretty much gonna see anyone that's coming in.

[00:24:15] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[00:24:15] Kyle Risi: So, Adam, that's the setup because the following morning at 7:00 AM Della Ferguson, the hotel switchboard operator, is about to start her shift. She's preparing to make her daily wake up calls. And one of those requests is to Room 1046 Roland's room.

[00:24:33] Adam Cox: What's involved with preparing?

[00:24:35] Kyle Risi: oh. There's a lot of preparing that goes into that.

[00:24:37] Adam Cox: Well, like some vocal exercises.

[00:24:38] Kyle Risi: Yeah. She's like, um, okay, here we go. Good morning. No, no, no. Two, four more. Hello too. No, no, no. Too

[00:24:48] Adam Cox: happy.

[00:24:48] Kyle Risi: Yeah, too happy. Hi. Uh,

[00:24:51] Adam Cox: oh God. Definitely not.

[00:24:53] Kyle Risi: I say that was the one that nails it.

[00:24:55] Adam Cox: Yeah. But someone's just waking up and you, that's the voice you hear.

[00:24:59] Kyle Risi: But I get, it's probably like the 1930s. So back then it's the switch ball operators. They like pulling out wires and the plugin connection. So she's probably making sure all the wires are like not tangled up and things like that.

[00:25:08] Adam Cox: Sure.

[00:25:09] Kyle Risi: But it's nice to imagine that her prep is more involved than that, basically.

[00:25:12] Adam Cox: Yeah, this could be the first voice that they hear that day, so she wants to make sure

[00:25:16] Kyle Risi: it's a big responsibility.

[00:25:17] Adam Cox: Yeah, it's good morning Mr. Smith. Will we ready for you downstairs. Now

[00:25:22] Kyle Risi: breakfast is ready.

Do you think she's got like one of those like grip strengtheners? Because obviously she's pulling out all these wires and she's come on, warm up, pump up my wrists. Like I'm ready.

[00:25:31] Adam Cox: Which she like, she cracks her fingers like, right, it's gonna be a good day. And she's just like really fast plugging things in and out.

[00:25:38] Kyle Risi: Yeah, that's it. Very

[00:25:39] Adam Cox: efficient.

[00:25:39] Kyle Risi: Very efficient. This is a big responsibility.

So she proceeds to call room ten forty six and she notices that the indicator light is on, which suggests that the phone is off the hook. And also she can't tell that there's any broadcast happening. So it's definitely off the hook. 'cause normally she could plug in and she'll be able to kind of hear if anyone was talking. That's not the case.

[00:25:57] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:25:57] Kyle Risi: So she asks, Randolph the bellboy to go up to the room. When he gets there, he sees, uh, do not disturb, sign on the door. Randolph doesn't know how to proceed in this moment, but he also knows that Roland, he needs to be waking up as requested, basically.

[00:26:12] Adam Cox: Yeah. It's like, ah, do I knock, do I not?

[00:26:14] Kyle Risi: Yeah, it's a dilemma. like, this man must be woken up. So Randolph decides in the end that he's got a knock on the door, and a second later he hears a voice saying, come in, but the door is locked and it can only be opened from the outside. Remember that? Yeah. So again. Roland has been locked in this room.

[00:26:32] Adam Cox: What has he done?

[00:26:33] Kyle Risi: It's so bizarre. The other issue is that Randolph doesn't actually have his master key. So he's like, I can't, it's locked. He knocks a bit more, which obviously isn't gonna magically unlock the door.

And then he says to the door, just put the phone back on the receiver and he leaves.

[00:26:46] Adam Cox: Is that why he says to through the door?

[00:26:48] Kyle Risi: Yeah.

[00:26:48] Adam Cox: Okay.

[00:26:48] Kyle Risi: Yeah,

he's like, then need still wake up call initially ran off. He just thinks that Roland is drunk. He tells a switch ball operator, maybe just give it another hour. And so at 8:30 AM switch ball tries again and again, Adam, the phone is off the hook.

[00:27:03] Adam Cox: But isn't that still not a weird thing? Like the door is locked, Yeah, how's this guy gonna get out if he needs to?

Almost, there's a fire,

[00:27:08] Kyle Risi: and I don't understand why no one's mentioned that. They've made such a big detail of the fact that these rooms can only be locked from the outside. Why is someone going, why is it locked in this room? How's it gonna get out?

[00:27:17] Adam Cox: Yeah. No one seems bothered about

[00:27:19] Kyle Risi: that. Yeah, no one does.

[00:27:20] Adam Cox: It's a clear flaw in the system.

[00:27:22] Kyle Risi: Maybe I've got it wrong, but that's what it says.

So this time Della sends a different bail up to check. This guy is named Harold Pike. When Harold gets there, he uses his master key to let himself in, and when he opens the door, he finds Roland laying naked on the bed.

The room is dark, just as obviously it always is, but with the light that's spilling in from the hallway, he's able to make out a bunch of dark spots on the bedding.

So rather than disturbing Roland though, har goes over to the telephone, he sees it's been knocked onto the floor. He picks it up, he places the receiver back on the unit, and then he leaves the room, right?

[00:27:59] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:28:00] Kyle Risi: Like he needs a wake up call. Why don't you just wake him up in that moment?

[00:28:03] Adam Cox: I know, but if he's naked, like where do you look?

[00:28:05] Kyle Risi: Yeah, it's, that's men. It's fine. It's fine. But no, Harold is like, this must be done properly by switchboard. They put so much effort into preparing. They don't wanna mess with that. There

[00:28:15] Adam Cox: is a process. We don't mess with the process.

[00:28:17] Kyle Risi: Exactly.

So downstairs, Harold tells Della that Roland is still passed out and that he's placed the phone back onto the receiver and to try again later.

[00:28:26] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:28:27] Kyle Risi: Eventually, Adam at 10:30 AM switchboard is like, finally, this is it. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna place this wake up call. She makes a call. And again, Adam. The phone is off the hook,

[00:28:39] Adam Cox: so he keeps knocking it off.

[00:28:40] Kyle Risi: Yeah, this guy just keeps fucking knocking the phone off the hook,

[00:28:44] Adam Cox: right?

Why?

[00:28:45] Kyle Risi: I dunno.

[00:28:46] Adam Cox: Oh,

[00:28:47] Kyle Risi: I dunno. That's the end of the story.

[00:28:50] Adam Cox: And that is the end of the body. 10 40.

[00:28:52] Kyle Risi: That is the mystery.

So this time, Mary, the cleaner, right? She decides to go check on him, she knocks on the door, there's no answer.

She uses her master key to unlock it. And inside Adam, she now finds Roland naked and slumped over the bathtub and he is covered head to toe in blood. Amazingly, the first thing that Mary does is place the phone back on the hook.

[00:29:16] Adam Cox: You're expecting a wake up call, sir.

[00:29:19] Kyle Risi: They're obsessed with this phone.

She then turns on the light and she gets the sense of just how mad things are in this room. There is literally blood all over the walls, all over the bedding.

It's all over the bathroom. On top of that. Adam Roland is in an extremely bad way. And so immediately Mary runs downstairs for help. Just use the phone. They're so obsessed with the phone. Why don't they just use the phone?

[00:29:44] Adam Cox: Because she knows the more the wake up call is gonna come through. She doesn't want the phone to be engaged.

[00:29:48] Kyle Risi: I just don't understand why the phone is such a big thing in the story anyway, so yes.

[00:29:54] Adam Cox: Questions. One, when the guy came in

[00:29:57] Kyle Risi: mm-hmm.

[00:29:57] Adam Cox: Before and put the phone back on, he then locked the door behind him.

[00:30:01] Kyle Risi: Yeah.

[00:30:02] Adam Cox: Again, really weird.

[00:30:03] Kyle Risi: It's so strange.

[00:30:04] Adam Cox: And so Mary's gone in and she's unlocked, she's seen all this blood. Do we know if it's stab wounds, if it's just been beating up, is it a gunshot at this point? What, how, what's the injury?

[00:30:12] Kyle Risi: I'm gonna tell you because. Mary runs, she calls the hotel assistant manager.

By the time they get back to the room, they can now barely budge the door open because Roland is now blocking access. Right. He's collapsed in front of the door. He's clearly trying to get out.

[00:30:27] Adam Cox: Is he trying to get out or is he trying to stop people getting in?

[00:30:29] Kyle Risi: I think he's trying to get out.

They have to essentially force their way through.

When they are in, they help roll into his feet and they perch him on the edge of the bathtub. Like I said, he's in a bad way. He has a cord wrap around his ankles and his neck. So someone's basically tried to strangle him.

[00:30:44] Adam Cox: Geez,

[00:30:45] Kyle Risi: at first they can't see where all the blood is coming from, but either way, the scene suggests that they have to call the cops, and they also probably need a doctor.

And so they call the the hotel's Onca doctor. This is a guy called Harold Flanders.

When he gets there, he inspects Roland and he sees that he has a major skull fracture, but also all the blood was because Roland had been stabbed twice in the chest, one of which had punctured his lung.

And so he was struggling to breathe.

[00:31:12] Adam Cox: Geez.

[00:31:13] Kyle Risi: When the cops ask Roland who did this to him, Roland's response, amazingly is nobody. He says he slipped and hit his head on the tub.

[00:31:23] Adam Cox: Okay.

[00:31:25] Kyle Risi: So unlike this story, unless the tub retaliated and stabbed him twice in the chest and

[00:31:30] Adam Cox: stabbed and put a rope around his neck and tied him up.

[00:31:32] Kyle Risi: Yeah. How dare you.

[00:31:34] Adam Cox: And smashed his head in.

[00:31:35] Kyle Risi: Yeah.

So a few minutes after this, Adam Roland, he loses consciousness. He has rushed to hospital and Adam, shortly before midnight that night, Roland is dead.

[00:31:45] Adam Cox: I mean, it didn't look like his chances were good.

[00:31:47] Kyle Risi: No.

And so with him, when the mystery of what happened or who. Did this to him.

[00:31:54] Adam Cox: Well, it's gotta be the man of the deep voice. It's

[00:31:56] Kyle Risi: gotta be right. Like it's clear this Don guy may have been involved also. Who's Louise?

[00:32:02] Adam Cox: Yeah. And hang on. Is Louise the sex worker? And is Don the man that went to room or floor nine?

[00:32:09] Kyle Risi: Those are the only people that we saw moving around at the time that we think that he may have been murdered.

But also who's locking him in this room, but also Adam, it seems to be consensual like this, him being locked in this room. Otherwise, when the cleaner came in, he would've tried to make a run for it. I feel

[00:32:26] Adam Cox: Well so far my thought process is he's got into some serious trouble and I'm wondering if he's doing this to keep. Someone else safe. Do you know what I mean?

[00:32:36] Kyle Risi: Ooh, interesting.

[00:32:37] Adam Cox: Like whether it's Louise on the phone or something like that, he's clearly voluntary waiting around, waiting for some kind of punishment or whatever it is in order to protect someone

[00:32:47] Kyle Risi: It is such a conundrum, isn't it?

[00:32:48] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:32:49] Kyle Risi: Adam, so let's start looking at some of the clues, right?

[00:32:52] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:32:52] Kyle Risi: Following Roland's death, Dr. Flanders, the on-call doctor assist in carrying out an autopsy on the body revelation, they determined that yes, Roland died from multiple stab wounds to the chest.

[00:33:02] Adam Cox: Well done doctor.

[00:33:03] Kyle Risi: Yeah.

Dr. Flanders also decides that he wants to examine Room 1046. He estimates that based on how much the bloodstains are dried, that Roland had been attacked between four and 5:00 AM that morning.

[00:33:16] Adam Cox: Okay.

[00:33:17] Kyle Risi: So it is a very narrow window of time and we know that according to Charles blocker, the hotel was very quiet with only the sex worker and the mysterious guest from floor nine being seen. Right. Did they see something or were they involved directly?

I'm not sure if they were involved, but they may have definitely seen something.

[00:33:37] Adam Cox: Yeah. I feel like they have to be right.

[00:33:40] Kyle Risi: Specifically the sex worker. 'cause remember she waited on floor 10 for 30 minutes for a client to show, but he never did.

So did she perhaps see something or hear something, an argument? This is a violent death that it's gone through, right?

[00:33:53] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:33:54] Kyle Risi: I doubt it would've been something that would've been done in silence. This isn't a real life silent movie. Do you know what I mean?

[00:34:00] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[00:34:01] Kyle Risi: There's no noise like you would've had screaming

[00:34:03] Adam Cox: or something. There've been a commotion in that room unless Roland was taking this punishment. But yeah, you would've thought he would've fought back, right?

[00:34:10] Kyle Risi: Yes. Now, gene Owen, remember she was staying as a guest on that same floor she did hear a woman and men screaming and shouting. But Charles Blocker put that down to potentially be in the party. So we can't know if those two things are connected

[00:34:23] Adam Cox: yeah.

[00:34:23] Kyle Risi: But the person that can potentially triangulate that is the sex worker who was waiting around on that floor.

[00:34:29] Adam Cox: Yeah. She would've perhaps seen something because she was walking around

[00:34:32] Kyle Risi: unless she was involved.

[00:34:33] Adam Cox: So it sounds like, ' cause Mary had heard the man Don and Louise over the phone. I'm getting the sense that they were in another room in the hotel.

[00:34:41] Kyle Risi: Mm-hmm. Interesting.

[00:34:43] Adam Cox: Maybe they were on the floor nine, or maybe they're in 10 55, this party, whatever. There was some, they were somewhere else in the hotel because there was that note saying about being to Don, being back in 15 minutes.

[00:34:54] Kyle Risi: Please wait.

[00:34:54] Adam Cox: Please wait. So that's someone that's nearby. It's not like it's. Someone off the street that's coming in. I reckon that was someone staying in the hotel.

[00:35:02] Kyle Risi: That is so interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Because why would you leave, right?

[00:35:06] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:35:06] Kyle Risi: Because you wouldn't want someone who was coming off the street coming in and like not being received at the door. But if it was the case that he was an existing guest it could also explain why someone keeps to lock him in the room.

[00:35:17] Adam Cox: Yeah. Because they're close by, right?

Mm-hmm.

[00:35:19] Kyle Risi: I think you might be right there, right? Because if it was someone off the street that had done this

[00:35:23] Adam Cox: mm-hmm.

[00:35:24] Kyle Risi: They couldn't have exited the hotel. Without being seen by Charles blocker unless there was a back stairs somewhere.

[00:35:30] Adam Cox: And they're saying that this case isn't solved. I should have been there.

[00:35:34] Kyle Risi: Maybe. But again, if the sex worker and the mysterious guests were involved, were the characters that they were assuming potentially the perfect cover to get out of the Hotel without going down the back stairs?

[00:35:45] Adam Cox: Mm, that's true.

[00:35:46] Kyle Risi: Interesting. Anyway, Adam detectives, they set about searching the room.

The thing that stands out the most is the lack of any personal items. Roland remember checked in with basically just the clothes on his back, right?

[00:35:58] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:35:58] Kyle Risi: When he was found, he was completely naked and his clothes were missing,

[00:36:02] Adam Cox: why take his clothes?

[00:36:03] Kyle Risi: Mm-hmm. The only items they find in the room were a safety pin, a single hairpin, which likely belonged to a woman, or perhaps left by a previous guest.

[00:36:12] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:36:12] Kyle Risi: An uns smoke cigarette and a bottle of diluted sulfuric acid, which sounds strange to us day, but when I looked into it, I gathered it was quite a common kind of ingredient in like cleaning products and stuff like that.

[00:36:24] Adam Cox: Okay.

[00:36:24] Kyle Risi: They also discover that the hotel's complimentary shampoos and soaps that Mary would've stocked up the day before, obviously minus the towels. We're missing.

[00:36:34] Adam Cox: Well, that's what people do, right? Whether you're killing someone or not, you're gonna take the complimentary shampoos.

[00:36:38] Kyle Risi: I don't think so, unless it was Ross Keller who did this.

[00:36:43] Adam Cox: As a kid, I would always take the complimentary shampoos

[00:36:46] Kyle Risi: when you check out, not after you commit the murder or a robbery.

[00:36:49] Adam Cox: Well, you might be checking out at that point.

[00:36:52] Kyle Risi: I quickly grabbed these as well.

[00:36:53] Adam Cox: Yeah. Like I do, you know what, I'm a bit, sure. I'll just take these. But

[00:36:56] Kyle Risi: it's strange, right?

[00:36:57] Adam Cox: Yeah.

Ronald's not gonna need them.

[00:36:59] Kyle Risi: Oh God, that, that's so cool. So the cops that do dust for fingerprints and on the phone they find a set of prints that do not match Rolands or any of the staff members that are handled the phone.

But they do find a set of prints that are small enough that the cops conclude must have belonged to a woman.

[00:37:16] Adam Cox: So she was there. This woman.

[00:37:19] Kyle Risi: So next, the cops contact the LAPD since his ID suggested that he was from la, right?

[00:37:24] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:37:25] Kyle Risi: But the LAPD say that there was no record of anyone under that name living in the city. And so he was using a fake id, which to me suggests some degree of prolonged organization.

Do you know what I mean? Like this isn't like, oh, I'm trying to protect someone. This is last minute something bad's happened. He's clearly been prepared enough to arrange a fake ID long enough in advance for him to have got one printed. Right.

[00:37:49] Adam Cox: Oh, interesting. Yeah. It's not like spare of the moment.

He's just given a fake name.

[00:37:53] Kyle Risi: Yeah,

[00:37:53] Adam Cox: he's actually got fake id.

[00:37:55] Kyle Risi: Yes.

[00:37:55] Adam Cox: Yeah, this is what I mean. It's something shady about this hotel.

[00:37:58] Kyle Risi: So bizarre. And so of course the cops are at a loss. They decide to then turn to the press to see if the public might know anything.

They run a story on the front page of both the city's major newspapers.

About this strange, elusive, unidentified man who was murdered under mysterious circumstances in Room 1046 and Adam. Within days, a bunch of people contact the cops. Now, most of these people, they are people who are missing their own family members and are keen to see if maybe Roland is potentially them.

Mm-hmm. So the cops decide because of the influx of people that wanna come and rule out whether or not Roland is their family member, they decide to take Roland's body to a local funeral home so people can go and see if they can identify him.

But out of all the inquiries nobody is able to provide a solid idea on him over the next few days. The story is then picked up by more and more publications, and eventually it's become this national news story Again. It attracts a ton of interest, but again, still from all of that, there's no solid leads that come from any of it.

No one is really able to identify him.

[00:39:02] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:39:03] Kyle Risi: While this is happening though, the cops think that they may have stumbled upon a potential clue when a bloody towel is found at the hotel.

But Adam, after testing it and speaking to some of the cleaning staff, it turns out that it was a towel that they used to clean up the room after the cops are finish examining it.

So they're like, this is, it came from the same room, you buffoons.

[00:39:25] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[00:39:25] Kyle Risi: But it's like there's so many of these different things that are kind of. Sending them off on these different goose chases, essentially, when it turns out it's just a tile that the cleaner had used

next. The cops decide to pay a visit to the hotel across the road where Roland said that he was staying the night before. But again, Adam, they have no record of Roland ever checking in.

Staff. Do however say they remember a man matching his description, especially remembering the cauliflower ear and also the big patch of missing hair on his head.

[00:39:53] Adam Cox: So I was gonna say that's quite a, yeah, a telltale sign. And also with that kind of scar and injury, maybe he is involved in some kind of gang. A lot of violence?

[00:40:03] Kyle Risi: I don't know. I wouldn't say that looked like a fighting scar. When I was looking at his autopsy photographs, it does look like. He was either born like that. Mm-hmm. Could like a birthmark, he's just born without a patch of hair or that it was clearly a, a childhood trauma thing. Right. Doesn't look like it was a result of a fight.

Didn't look like a nasty scar. But then the cauliflower ear that would suggest that he's a fight. Or is a gag named a boxer

[00:40:26] Adam Cox: or

[00:40:26] Kyle Risi: something? Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

So there's no record of Roland checking into the hotel. But like I said, the staff, they do remember the scar and the cauliflower ear. But the person that checked in with that description wasn't a Roland T. Owen, it was a Eugene K. Scott. And also he gave an ID suggesting that he was from LA again, he's got two different IDs again suggesting. That this is something a little more organized.

[00:40:52] Adam Cox: Yeah. To have two fake IDs.

[00:40:55] Kyle Risi: Mm-hmm.

[00:40:55] Adam Cox: That's very bizarre.

[00:40:57] Kyle Risi: Yeah. But even at this hotel, he also requests an internal room as well, which is a detail I find very interesting. Did Roland have a sense that he might be targeted, but also it tells us who might be targeting him as well? 'cause remember at the second hotel, the president hotel, he was saying on the 10th floor, nobody would've seen him through the window unless he was worried about someone tracking him from an opposing building, which gives you very much CIA sniper vibes.

Right. I

[00:41:24] Adam Cox: was just thinking, is this a spy or something like that connected? Because I was thinking of that woman, what's her name?

[00:41:30] Kyle Risi: Oh, Jennifer Fairgate.

[00:41:31] Adam Cox: Yeah, a little bit like that. Just that he's clearly, he gets in some fights. He's got two IDs. Maybe he stayed in one hotel to kind of lure someone and then he goes to the other hotel to then spy on someone. 'Cause he's always in the dark.

[00:41:45] Kyle Risi: Mm-hmm.

[00:41:46] Adam Cox: Maybe he's watching through his curtain what's going on,

[00:41:48] Kyle Risi: but he's in an internal room facing the courtyard so he wouldn't be doing the spying.

[00:41:51] Adam Cox: That's true.

[00:41:52] Kyle Risi: It's so bizarre. But you are right, we are definitely getting CIA agent vibes here, potentially.

[00:41:57] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm

[00:41:58] Kyle Risi: Again, the cops, they run this new name, Eugene K. Scott with the LAPD and again, there's just no record of that name.

So with all this interest in the story, Adam, people are still coming to see Roland's body at this funeral home.

One of those people, and this bit baffles me so hard, is a guy called Ernest Johnson who thinks that maybe Roland might be his cousin Harvey.

[00:42:21] Adam Cox: Okay.

[00:42:22] Kyle Risi: But when he brings his sister to view the body the second time, she says, Ernest, our cousin died like five years ago.

[00:42:32] Adam Cox: Then why the hell does she go in the first? But it's, I know.

[00:42:35] Kyle Risi: I'm like, what? He's like, what? Harvey's dead. Who got his condo in Boca?

[00:42:43] Adam Cox: That's

[00:42:43] Kyle Risi: so, so weird. What is happening with the story?

[00:42:46] Adam Cox: That's like just maybe he's always got these weird conspiracy theories, or goes from wild tangent. She's just entertaining it.

It's like, look, told you he's dead.

[00:42:55] Kyle Risi: So funny. It's so funny. Another potential lead comes from the viewings is from a wrestler promoter who thinks that Roland's picture in the paper looked familiar and thinks it might be a guy called Cecil Werner.

According to the promoter, Cecil had contacted him a month earlier hoping that he could get booked on some, some matches, right?

[00:43:14] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:43:15] Kyle Risi: I mean, the Cauliflower Inn, that kind of big patch in his head that potentially could be

[00:43:19] Adam Cox: that he's a fighter Yeah.

[00:43:20] Kyle Risi: Of some

[00:43:20] Adam Cox: kind. Yeah.

[00:43:21] Kyle Risi: He says that he ends up referring Cecil to another promoter, but when that promoter goes to see the body, he does not recognize the face at all.

And that is the interesting thing about the story. So often a clue or a lead, it'll look promising, but then immediately just ends up in a dead end.

[00:43:39] Adam Cox: How well are people gonna be able to recognize him? Just because. How well do they know him? Like this, promoter,

[00:43:45] Kyle Risi: but the scar on his head. That's always on view. It's so distinctive. Mm-hmm. If you catch it, you might miss the cauliflower ear, but still, when you see it, right?

[00:43:53] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:43:54] Kyle Risi: It's bizarre.

[00:43:55] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[00:43:55] Kyle Risi: Adam. So after a few weeks, the story has started to dwindle in the press. No new leads have come in, and so the cops start moving on to other cases.

It very much starts to look like this is going to be just another cold case. Of course, the funeral home still keeps Roland's body in the freezer hoping that someone will come forward and claim him.

But after a couple months of this in early March. The funeral home announces that they will be burying Roland's body in a porous grave since nobody has physically come to claim him.

But just as they're making preparations, they receive a phone call from a man saying, do not bury him in a porous grave.

I will send you the money for a proper funeral. And they request that Roland be buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in Kansas City.

So Adam, very interesting that at the 11th hour someone comes forward, especially when it comes to placing him to rest, which makes me wonder if this tells us something about the people in the know.

Like the fact that he is not to be buried in the porous grave to me. From this call seems very urgent. Like it makes me wonder if they are maybe devout Catholics. With that, I also then get a very mob survived feel. Do you know what I mean?

[00:45:07] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[00:45:07] Kyle Risi: Like the mob, they are brutal, but they also have a big respect for the virgin marriage, and baby Jesus.

[00:45:13] Adam Cox: Yeah. And these people have come forward knowing they must know something about him, right? Is it anonymous donation

[00:45:21] Kyle Risi: yeah, we don't know who this guy is.

[00:45:23] Adam Cox: Fine. So I'm just thinking like they've waited for all these people in the news to identify him now that they've got, do something with his body, someone's

[00:45:30] Kyle Risi: that's gonna to come forward. So someone,

[00:45:31] Adam Cox: yes, they know him, right? Mm-hmm. They must know him.

[00:45:33] Kyle Risi: Sure. So the mysterious caller is still on the phone to the funeral home.

And depending on which source you read, the next bit is a bit conflicting. But the reason he gives for wanting Roland buried in this particular cemetery is so that he could be buried closer to his sister.

In other accounts, it's so that he could be buried closer to the caller sister. Either way, he needs to be buried close to someone's sister.

[00:45:56] Adam Cox: Yes.

[00:45:57] Kyle Risi: So based on the call that Mary overhears, could this guy be Don and is the sister Louise, the woman's voice, Mary heard saying No, Don put the pistol down.

[00:46:10] Adam Cox: I'm so confused. Like, why, who's doing this? Why who just come forward? This person?

[00:46:15] Kyle Risi: Yeah. So weird.

I think the caller must have known or have had something to do with Roland's death. Otherwise, I think they would've come forward a lot sooner.

[00:46:24] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:46:25] Kyle Risi: Rather than waiting for the 11th hour, the fact that there's urgency to contact the funeral home only comes after it's decided that he would be buried in a porous grave. I think tells us something about who they are.

And I'm getting very much Catholic mobster vibes here.

[00:46:39] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:46:40] Kyle Risi: So Adam still on the phone with this mysterious caller. The funeral home say that they will have to let the cops know that he called to, which the caller basically says, do what you need to do. I don't care. He then tells the funeral home that Roland was killed because he was having an affair while he was already engaged to someone else.

Saying that he, along with a woman, met Roland at the hotel and said, cheaters usually get what's coming to them. And then the caller hung up the phone.

[00:47:13] Adam Cox: So are we thinking then. I'm trying to work this out. Don is the brother of either the woman he's

[00:47:23] Kyle Risi: having an affair with or

[00:47:24] Adam Cox: he's having an affair,

[00:47:25] Kyle Risi: or the girlfriend.

[00:47:26] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[00:47:27] Kyle Risi: Yeah. Possibly. Is Louise and Don, brother and sister.

[00:47:30] Adam Cox: Mm.

[00:47:30] Kyle Risi: And is this why she maybe said, put the pistol down, Don.

[00:47:33] Adam Cox: Yeah. As if you don't hurt him, you know it's not Yeah. That kind of thing. Yeah. He's bleeding for Ro Roland's life, or She is.

[00:47:39] Kyle Risi: And again, could it be mobster vibes that you're getting deeply Catholic who have gone after like, like, he's a cheetah. We've gotta do something about it. He's cheated on my sister. They killed him. Yeah. But then of course, being mobsters or Catholic or whatever, they still wanna make sure that he gets laid to rest correctly.

[00:47:54] Adam Cox: Yes. And so Roland has been hiding out knowing that this guy is after him,

[00:47:59] Kyle Risi: but then he's letting him in. He's left a note saying, come in, I'll be 15 minutes.

[00:48:05] Adam Cox: Yeah, that bit. I don't get

[00:48:07] Kyle Risi: Adam.

So this makes me wonder if the woman and this guy were the sex worker and the mysterious guests from floor nine, but also what you said, could they have been staying in the hotel? Hence why they were able to come and go and also not be seen by Charles Blocker or anyone in the hotel leaving the hotel because they were going back to their own room, with the exception of the sex worker. Who we know left.

[00:48:28] Adam Cox: And do we definitely know that she was a sex worker or was she pretending to be a sex worker?

[00:48:32] Kyle Risi: Exactly, exactly.

[00:48:34] Adam Cox: Who else was she sexing that night?

[00:48:36] Kyle Risi: Exactly. So bizarre.

So initially, Adam, the cops think that this call is just a hoax, but a few weeks later, as promised, the funeral home, receive an anonymous letter with $25 inside, which is the equivalent of $600 today to cover Roland's funeral expenses,

[00:48:54] Adam Cox: $600 for a funeral expense.

[00:48:57] Kyle Risi: Amazing. It is like a wedding, right? Oh, deaths and weddings. They charged through the roof back then just before they realize the opportunity.

[00:49:03] Adam Cox: Oh, okay. Yeah. I say that seems like it steal compared to how much it costs to carry someone now.

[00:49:09] Kyle Risi: Yeah, forget this. I don't think that this is only a guilt-ridden Catholic doing the bare minimum to ensure that Roland's body is put to rest in accordance to like the Catholic faith.

I honestly think that there is a deeper personal element to Roland two because Adam, as well as the $25, two other envelopes, each containing $5 each is sent to a local florist for an arrangement of 13 American beauty roses to go on Roland's grave.

If they were just looking to put him to rest because they were guilty Catholics, that would be enough. But the fact that they're topping it off with some beautiful roses that cost like $10 worth of roses, right?

Says to me that there's a more personal element there and that little detail. I think tells us something about the connection that whoever did this to him has to this Roland guy.

[00:50:01] Adam Cox: So could be like a brother-in-law or something like that. Yeah. Or was part of a family.

[00:50:05] Kyle Risi: Get this with the flower money was a handwritten note. Clearly written with the writer's left hand. That's said love forever. Louise

[00:50:15] Adam Cox: and Don. Oh. Oh no. Okay. Sorry.

[00:50:22] Kyle Risi: No, just Louise.

[00:50:24] Adam Cox: Oh, hang on. So maybe, but the ma, there was a mysterious man caller, right? That was donated the money.

[00:50:29] Kyle Risi: Yes.

[00:50:30] Adam Cox: But then maybe Louise is the one that's paid for the flowers.

[00:50:33] Kyle Risi: Yeah. Possibly. And the notes. So do I think that possibly she could be the fiance or the mistress?

[00:50:39] Adam Cox: Yeah. Who?

[00:50:41] Kyle Risi: So the question is, who the fuck is Louise? I think she might be the fiance and the caller was the brother Don.

[00:50:46] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:50:47] Kyle Risi: I think there is a gangster Catholic element at play here too, but at the same time, Louise could also be the woman that he was having an affair with. So it's all very bizarre.

Anyway, Adam, shortly after this, the funeral home, they hold the funeral. There is nobody in attendance other than the minister and the detectives, some of whom acted as Paul bearers after the funeral. Some of the detectives, they staked out at the cemetery, posing as grave digs in the hope that whoever this person was or even sent the flowers clearly with this emotional kind of connection, might come and visit. Mm-hmm.

But Adam, nobody ever did. So it's strange, isn't it, that like they went out their way to getting these beautiful flowers. Clearly there's a connection there, and yet they didn't come to visit.

Or maybe they possibly understood that the cops might be staking out and just waited until the cops went.

[00:51:38] Adam Cox: Yeah. They might need to lay low, or maybe they are still angry at Roland, but they've just, they've done this part.

[00:51:44] Kyle Risi: Yeah.

[00:51:44] Adam Cox: They don't need to go and pay their respects or anything.

[00:51:47] Kyle Risi: So, Adam, following this, the story kind of goes away. Occasionally the newspapers will resurrect it with posts. Like, remember that strange man who was murdered in like Room 1046? Yeah. I'm like, what's, what's up with that?

[00:51:58] Adam Cox: Yeah. And like it's cleaner kept walking in on him.

[00:52:01] Kyle Risi: Yeah. I don't think that was, in fact, she got changed in front of him and she had to like just stare at a wall in the dark. Creepy. What's up with that?

[00:52:10] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[00:52:11] Kyle Risi: Adam, one of those articles is seen by a woman called Ruby Ogletree from Alabama. She notices that Roland looks suspiciously like a sun. Artemis Ogletree in particular, it's the scar in his head, which she says was a result of a grease fire when he was a kid.

It's unmistakable, right? Because it's so large and it's in his hair. It's like a big patch of missing hair, right? So if you see a picture of that, you're gonna go, mm, not many people have that.

[00:52:37] Adam Cox: So she knows her son is missing, or she hasn't seen her son in a while. She, it sounds like she's not quite sure Tim, but thinks of Tim.

[00:52:44] Kyle Risi: Adam. She's confused because according to the article, the man died back in January and she's received the occasional letter from him saying that he was fine.

[00:52:53] Adam Cox: Oh,

[00:52:55] Kyle Risi: so Ruby contacts the Kansas State Police and they compare her description of his son to Roland's autopsy photos. And it turns out that the man killed in Room 1046 was not  Roland T. Owen s, his name was Artemis Ogletree.

[00:53:09] Adam Cox: It was him then.

[00:53:10] Kyle Risi: Yeah. And he wasn't in his mid twenties as they suspected Adam.

He was 17 years old.

[00:53:17] Adam Cox: Oh my God. So really young then.

[00:53:19] Kyle Risi: Yeah.

[00:53:20] Adam Cox: And so he's been away working or whatever, writing to his mom. But is it Don that's kind of cover or someone's covering up his death by showing, by writing to his mother, essentially?

[00:53:31] Kyle Risi: Who knows?

That's the interesting thing. Like Ruby said, that she has since heard from Artemis via letter on three separate occasions since he supposedly died.

The first was soon after the murder, and it was postmarked from Chicago. She does say that she found the letter very unusual because it had been typed up and she knew that Artemis didn't know how to type.

[00:53:51] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:53:51] Kyle Risi: She settled on the idea that maybe someone might have typed it for him, but the other thing that stood out was that it didn't really sound like him. It used a lot of slang, and language that she'd never really heard him use before.

The second and third letters were received five months after Osama's death in May. Both of these were handwritten, so not typed, and the first said that he was going to Europe, which was a massive surprise to her, right?

[00:54:15] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:54:16] Kyle Risi: The third letter came a few days later, sent by special delivery saying that his ship was sailing that day from New York, and both letters were postmarked from New York.

[00:54:25] Adam Cox: Okay?

[00:54:27] Kyle Risi: So it's bizarre, right? So he is getting these letters. The second one is handwritten. I couldn't find whether or not she felt the handwriting matched his handwriting, but the important bit was, she's received these letters. Months after he supposedly died.

Now Adam, the same month, Ruby says she also receives a phone call from a man in Memphis, Tennessee, who claimed that Artemis had saved his life in a fight, but Artemis was unable to call her because he had gone to Cairo.

So it's very strange detail. He met this guy in a fight. He then gave him his mother's number immediately after, and then months later he called her.

Like, it's bizarre. It's not the kind of thing that you do if you rescue someone from a fight, right?

[00:55:04] Adam Cox: Yeah. So the guy who's calling was rescued by Roland? Yeah. Or Artemis, sorry.

[00:55:09] Kyle Risi: Yes.

[00:55:10] Adam Cox: So therefore, yeah, that doesn't make sense.

[00:55:12] Kyle Risi: It doesn't, it feels like a coverup, doesn't it? Yeah. The man told her that Artemis had met a rich woman. They had gotten married and reassured her that he was safe and well. But he also tells her not to expect any more correspondence from him since Artemis lost one of his thumbs in the same fight that he saved him from. And so he was unable to write anymore.

[00:55:33] Adam Cox: I mean, there are other ways.

[00:55:34] Kyle Risi: Yeah. Like he's just got married to a new wife.

[00:55:36] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[00:55:37] Kyle Risi: Can't she write the letter?

[00:55:38] Adam Cox: Yeah, that's it. Can't ever speak to you again mom.

[00:55:40] Kyle Risi: And this Adam was the last time that she heard from Artemis or whoever was pretending to be him.

[00:55:45] Adam Cox: How did she accept that news? It goes oh, okay. Alright. Okay, fine.

[00:55:49] Kyle Risi: Thanks for calling. Yeah. Bye. Either way. This sounds like a very sloppy attempt at a coverup, doesn't it?

[00:55:54] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:55:55] Kyle Risi: sloppy in that it feels so elaborate and detailed, but also nothing makes sense either.

[00:56:00] Adam Cox: And that conflicts with the letters from New York. Is it two people trying to cover up, not realizing that someone else has covered this up?

[00:56:06] Kyle Risi: Possibly. And it has to be a coverup because the cops, they look into whether or not anyone under the name of Artemis did get on border ship going to Cairo.

They even contacted the US Embassy there, and there's no record of any such passenger. And here's where it gets strange. If he did travel to Cairo, the only way that he wouldn't be on those logs is if he traveled under a fake name.

[00:56:27] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:56:27] Kyle Risi: But from what the caller and the letter said, there's no indication that Artemis was on the run or in any trouble whatsoever. And so why would he need to travel under a fake name, right?

[00:56:39] Adam Cox: Yeah.

Well, he is not gonna tell the mum that, that I'm on the run though, is he

[00:56:43] Kyle Risi: Possibly.

I do think that this was the call's attempt at covering up his murder, but it is done in a way that just doesn't make any sense to me at all. Like why feel the need to contact his mother at all? There's no need to contact his mother. It's not like she was looking for him actively. Do you know what I mean?

[00:56:58] Adam Cox: Unless there was some sort of guilt about like his mom's gonna worry,

[00:57:03] Kyle Risi: oh, that Catholic guilt again.

[00:57:05] Adam Cox: Something like that. But we don't know if it's maybe, is it the woman that's doing this?

[00:57:09] Kyle Risi: He is like, but dad, it's his mother.

[00:57:12] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[00:57:12] Kyle Risi: Think about his mother.

[00:57:13] Adam Cox: So is that why,

[00:57:15] Kyle Risi: I don't know Adam.

It is also through this correspondence with Ruby at the cops manage. To pinpoint another hotel where Artemis may have been staying. This was the St. Regis. Right now, staff remember him again through the heads scar and the cauliflower ear. But Adam get this, they also remember that he shared a room with another man.

so for me, this could be one of two things. Maybe this was Don, or maybe this was the man was not Don, and instead the person he was having the affair with.

Now, bear with me, was Don just the brother of Louise who he was cheating on?

We know that from the note that Mary Tic saw, right? Mm-hmm. Don, wait, I'll be back in 15 minutes, but did Artemis check into a different hotel away from his male lover so that he and Don could have a chat about the situation involving Louise?

This would explain why he had no belongings with him. Just a hairbrush and some toothpaste, because all of his actual luggage was back at the other hotel that he was sharing with this other man.

'cause it's, he wasn't checking in for one day. He had, he'd been away for a while. So where's the rest of his stuff?

[00:58:23] Adam Cox: That's true. So he's done this to get, like, to try and deal with this situation away from this other man. Because what is he dating Louise and this other man?

[00:58:32] Kyle Risi: Well, the caller said to the funeral home that he was having an affair.

[00:58:35] Adam Cox: Did he say with a woman or just an affair?

[00:58:37] Kyle Risi: He didn't.

[00:58:37] Adam Cox: He didn't. We just assumed that, didn't we?

[00:58:39] Kyle Risi: Yeah. When they did meet up at this hotel, did Louise go with Don?

Does this explain the hair pin? Does this explain the fingerprints on the phone?

But Randolph didn't see anyone come and go from the hotel at the time, or this was supposed to have happened unless the sex worker and the mysterious guest were Louise and Don.

[00:59:00] Adam Cox: Yeah. That's what I think. 'cause they left separately. They didn't leave together, didn't they? That's

[00:59:05] Kyle Risi: true.

[00:59:05] Adam Cox: It's confusing.

[00:59:07] Kyle Risi: It's so bizarre, isn't it?

But you can see how like it's the unanswered questions about the story that makes this such a captivating tale.

[00:59:15] Adam Cox: And yet it feels like there's just a layer after layer. Like is like, is this even Artemis at the end of the day? That's what we're getting from this woman. And maybe that's a whole other weird story that's just added to this

[00:59:25] Kyle Risi: Adam. I think it is Artemis. Just because it's the scar in his head is so distinct.

[00:59:30] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[00:59:30] Kyle Risi: But that's the other thing as well is that you answer one question, takes you in a completely different direction, but then you get the answer to a different set of questions that takes you in the opposite direction.

It's just so bizarre.

But at the same time, let's assume that the sex worker wasn't Louise. She was trying to find a client who never showed up and she hung around for a while, right? Mm-hmm. So she potentially could have seen something

But then at the same time, if she is Louise, is the truth that she went to Art's Room, they had an argument, she left, she then came back with Don. Then they did a number on him.

That's possible as well. It could potentially answer why this Jean Owen woman who was staying in a room nearby heard people arguing.

Mm-hmm. Clearly two men and a woman.

[01:00:10] Adam Cox: Yeah. Yeah.

[01:00:10] Kyle Risi: So following this revelation, Adam, that Roland was actually this Artemis guy. Nothing really seemed to materialize from the case. That wasn't until a couple years later, in 1937 when the NYPD, they arrest a man named Joseph Martin on a different murder charge. What they found interesting is that he often operated under the alias of Donald or Don Kelso,

which drew them to discover various run-ins that he's had at the law across the country. So he is been used in that alias, right?

[01:00:42] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[01:00:42] Kyle Risi: Now, when they looked into this, they noticed a similarity between his handwriting and the handwriting in one of the letters that Artemis mother had received. And remember two of those letters were postmarked from New York.

[01:00:54] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[01:00:55] Kyle Risi: And he was arrested in New York.

[01:00:56] Adam Cox: Ah, that, that lines up then.

[01:00:58] Kyle Risi: Possibly doesn't it? So it seems like we could potentially be getting somewhere. But the wild thing is, is that they already had this Joseph Guy for murder, he was going to jail anyway. And so they didn't feel any need to look into this connection to the murder in Room 1046.

And so Adam, as a result, no further investigation was carried out into him.

[01:01:18] Adam Cox: So aside from him having an alias as Don

[01:01:21] Kyle Risi: mm-hmm.

[01:01:22] Adam Cox: And being in New York at the same time as the letters were sent,

[01:01:25] Kyle Risi: well, no, this was two years later. Right. But as seems like he's from New York.

[01:01:29] Adam Cox: Oh, okay. So yeah, he's then that's a very loose connection.

[01:01:32] Kyle Risi: Yeah. And Don is such a gangster name as well, right?

[01:01:35] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[01:01:35] Kyle Risi: And you can't get more gangster than New York at that time. Right. And you can guarantee he's Catholic with a name like Don. So.

[01:01:43] Adam Cox: What is that just a weird coincidence?

[01:01:45] Kyle Risi: It could be the fact is we just do not know because the cops did not investigate any further.

[01:01:50] Adam Cox: Right. Shame on them.

[01:01:52] Kyle Risi: So unsatisfying, isn't it?

So while the case technically remained open, it never ever progressed any further. Like over the years, different detectives, they would review the case, but even then there weres more pressing matters like that they had to prioritize.

[01:02:09] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[01:02:09] Kyle Risi: But Adam, there is another angle to the story that may potentially fill in some of the gaps because on the night of the murder, a man named Robert Lane says that around 11:00 PM he was driving down 13th Street in Kansas, not too far from the President Hotel when he saw a man wearing just trousers and an undershirt with no kind of coat on, which would've been very noticeable considering it was January.

He says that the man had stepped out.

He hailed him to stop thinking that he was a taxi. When the man realized his a mistake, he asked Robert whether or not he could take him somewhere where he could actually get an actual taxi.

Robert agrees. The man gets in the back. Robert says that it looked like the man had been in a really bad fight to which the man in the back says, don't worry, I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch tomorrow.

[01:02:54] Adam Cox: Okay, but who is this son of a bitch? And I just said, oh, the guy that's attacked him

[01:02:58] Kyle Risi: could be, could even, this could even be Artemis himself, right?

[01:03:02] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[01:03:02] Kyle Risi: Now Robert also says that he could see in the rear view mirror that the man had a deep cut on his arm and was cutting it to kind of stop. Or catch the blood.

Eventually Robert gets to an intersection where the man gets out and then Robert just drives away.

Now here's the thing. After the news of the man's death starts to circulate, Robert is one of those people that goes to see his body at the funeral home. And just as he remembered, he saw the same scratch in his arm and the very distinct missing hair patch.

[01:03:30] Adam Cox: Oh, so he did recall the hair patch on his head?

[01:03:32] Kyle Risi: Yeah.

[01:03:32] Adam Cox: The cauliflower ear or maybe

[01:03:34] Kyle Risi: just No, no. There is debate whether or not he saw the mark on the head.

[01:03:37] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[01:03:38] Kyle Risi: But he definitely saw the same scratch on his arm. So he tells the police that he thinks that this is the same man. So this potentially tells us that maybe Artemis was beaten up outside the hotel, backing up this kind of grudge element.

[01:03:51] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[01:03:52] Kyle Risi: Did whoever he fought then come back to finish him off back at the hotel room?

[01:03:57] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[01:03:57] Kyle Risi: It's all just very odd, right? We just don't know.

[01:03:59] Adam Cox: And he was just waiting for him in order to. Get his revenge or whatever it was. Yeah. Because Mary never says that he had a cut or noticed that when she saw Roland or Artemis right

[01:04:10] Kyle Risi: Before she discovered his body.

[01:04:12] Adam Cox: Yeah. Don't know. Possibly a connection.

[01:04:15] Kyle Risi: Crazy, isn't it? Anyway, Adam, that's the maddening thing about mysteries like this, right? With every passing year, people die, memories fade, and the chances of new evidence or witnesses coming forward just becomes more and more unlikely.

So you can imagine it is a massive surprise when in the year 2003, a barbarian from the Kansas City Public Library named John Horner reaches out to the cops.

Initially, he was anonymous, only saying that he was calling from Missouri. He tells the cops that a relative of his has passed away, and that while he was clearing out his belongings, he found a box filled with old newspaper clippings from the murder of Roland T. Owen.

[01:04:55] Adam Cox: Okay.

[01:04:56] Kyle Risi: He says that inside the box of clippings was also something that was mentioned in the newspaper articles that was directly tied to the scene of the crime.

But over the phone, he refused to tell the cops what it was or who he was. Instead, he insisted that the cops come to his house where he would show them.

[01:05:14] Adam Cox: Interesting.

[01:05:16] Kyle Risi: When the cops arrived, John Horner completely changes his mind and he refuse to speak to the cops at all. Saying that he feared for his family safety.

[01:05:26] Adam Cox: What does that mean?

[01:05:27] Kyle Risi: Which is only plausible if whatever was in that box was so detrimental to his relative's reputation or memory, or. There was some kind of mobs element to it that meant that he was in danger.

[01:05:42] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[01:05:43] Kyle Risi: And so Adam, we never find out what that strange item was.

[01:05:48] Adam Cox: And so we only have his word that he had found these newspaper cuttings like we've never seen them or anything.

Yeah.

[01:05:55] Kyle Risi: Mm-hmm. The risk speculation that it could have been a comb or a toothbrush. Other people speculate that it might have been a bloody shirt. Remember like the killer took all of his clothes.

It's also possible, it may have been some sort of ID that might prove Artemis as real identity.

[01:06:09] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[01:06:10] Kyle Risi: But we just don't know. And so the case remains unsolved.

The reason why we eventually find out this librarian's name John Horner is because he eventually started a blog about the case on the Kansas City Public Library website.

And even in the blog though, he doesn't say what was in that box,

[01:06:28] Adam Cox: but he posts about the box.

[01:06:31] Kyle Risi: He posts about the case.

So he is obviously struck something in him, struck an interest in him, but he doesn't mention the box and he doesn't mention what was inside that box.

He just starts writing about the case. So it's clearly sparked something in him.

And that would make sense if like you found out like, oh, your relative was involved in some kind of big thing. Mm-hmm. He'd be like, oh, I wanna find out more.

[01:06:52] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[01:06:52] Kyle Risi: So he shared that information, but he hasn't shared the details that potentially incriminates one of his family members? Potentially. We just don't know.

[01:07:01] Adam Cox: Yeah, but I guess he feels confident enough. To post about the story.

[01:07:05] Kyle Risi: Mm-hmm.

[01:07:06] Adam Cox: But then I guess he's not accusing any killer or anything.

[01:07:08] Kyle Risi: That's right. So is it possible that maybe Donald Louise was John's family member? Maybe his uncle, his father, his mother, or his auntie.

[01:07:15] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[01:07:16] Kyle Risi: Who knows? And so Adam, the story has a very unsatisfying ending. But I do think that the story has made so much more interesting because of the questions it evokes, right? That you can almost forgive that it's unsolved in a way.

[01:07:28] Adam Cox: I can't, I'm deeply unhappy.

[01:07:31] Kyle Risi: Are you?

[01:07:31] Adam Cox: I think this is great. Oh, we're gonna get like this brick big, I dunno, reveal or breakthrough or at least this really strong inkling that it was this.

[01:07:40] Kyle Risi: Mm-hmm.

[01:07:41] Adam Cox: But no. Nothing.

[01:07:42] Kyle Risi: Oh, I don't know. For me it's how all the questions have the power to lead the story into a completely different direction. To me, like that makes it so interesting because they're like, because, yeah. 'cause it's just, you are on a mad goose chase almost.

[01:07:54] Adam Cox: This is like the Sopranos when that ended.

[01:07:56] Kyle Risi: Yeah. Or just blank screen.

[01:07:58] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[01:07:59] Kyle Risi: For example, like knowing who this don guy is for a song. Was he the killer? Was he the lover or were they just mates? 'Cause it could be either one of those things. Right.

It seemed like the relationship was friendly enough for him to ask him if he wanted to grab something to eat. Right. Even though he said like, no, I'm not hungry.

[01:08:12] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[01:08:13] Kyle Risi: If they were lovers, then, was this a lover spat with Louise, caught in the middle? Did Robert Lane witness that spat or the precursor to an assault that turned deadly back at the hotel?

Perhaps the lover, not Don, decided to kill him in rage. When Artemis decided that he was going back to Louise, potentially, like maybe they had the discussion in the hotel room.

He was like, yeah, I do want to be back with you again. He told his lover, his lover killed him in a rage. Like it might explain the flower note like love forever. Louise

Because I don't know if he was having an affair with another man.

[01:08:51] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[01:08:51] Kyle Risi: I understand that the anger that Louise, let's say, for example, might have, would be different if it was another woman.

[01:08:57] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[01:08:58] Kyle Risi: It would be more hurt rather than anger because she's not competing with another woman, right?

[01:09:03] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[01:09:03] Kyle Risi: And so I think that there would still be this sentiment of like, I will still love you forever. Mm-hmm. I know you can't change who you are.

Do you know what I mean?

[01:09:10] Adam Cox: I get that. Yeah. And maybe that's why she convinced whoever this guy, Roland or whatever, to give him money for a funeral or whatever.

[01:09:20] Kyle Risi: Possibly. Yeah.

[01:09:21] Adam Cox: Because that's the really odd thing out, this whole story, no one came forward could really identify who the body was, and then there's this call, like you say at the 11th hour, where they do give him a proper burial and there is flowers there. Yeah.

So there is something like Louise would've come to visit his body if something was all well and good, right?

[01:09:40] Kyle Risi: Sure. Yeah.

And that's why I think that maybe the mysterious caller paid for the funeral because he was doing his Catholic duty.

[01:09:46] Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[01:09:46] Kyle Risi: Louise sent the flowers because she still loved him and that was her token. Her way of remembering him potentially, or her way of doing something to honor him.

[01:09:54] Adam Cox: But he's only 17, like I'm guess so young. And I'm guessing she's young as well. But then he's off with potentially another man or at least another woman.

[01:10:01] Kyle Risi: Yeah.

[01:10:01] Adam Cox: It's a lot to be doing at 17.

[01:10:03] Kyle Risi: Yeah, that's true. Actually. I'm still wanking into socks.

[01:10:10] Adam Cox: That's not what I meant.

[01:10:12] Kyle Risi: but then Adam, you also have the sex worker seen on the same floor near 1046, and her male companion, possibly Don right together, did they torture him?

The phone was off the hook. They didn't find Artemis fingerprints on it, but they did find female fingerprints. Was that the sex workers? There's just so many questions in the story, which is what I think makes us such an enduring one that has lasted almost a hundred years.

[01:10:36] Adam Cox: This, I guess it's gonna last another a hundred more because

[01:10:39] Kyle Risi: we just don't know.

[01:10:40] Adam Cox: Just never gonna know unless that librarian's gonna cough up.

[01:10:42] Kyle Risi: Possibly we can only hope. But Adam, that is the story of the murder in Room 1046.

[01:10:47] Adam Cox: Wow. Like I say, Kyle, really interesting story.

[01:10:50] Kyle Risi: Completely left, unsatisfied.

[01:10:52] Adam Cox: Yep.

[01:10:52] Kyle Risi: I'm sorry. I just thought it was such a great story.

[01:10:57] Adam Cox: I hope everyone else has been listening for the last hour and a half. Feel just as enthralled as

[01:11:01] Kyle Risi: I'm, Hey, we might be able to spur some kind of sleuths to go off and do their own investigation. Let us know what did you find? What information's out there? What are we missing? What

[01:11:11] Adam Cox: did this,

[01:11:12] Kyle Risi: what's the angle?

[01:11:12] Adam Cox: What did Artemis mother do? She obviously found out that her son is dead. Did she not want the police to investigate more what's going on?

[01:11:20] Kyle Risi: This is why I'm slightly angrier John Horner, right? The librarian. Sure. But what about Ruby Ogletree? What about his mother?

Yeah, you wanna protect your own family, but they're dead. You've got Ruby Ogletree out there still wanting that closure about what happened to her son and you're denying her of that.

[01:11:35] Adam Cox: That's 70 years after the event. Like,

[01:11:38] Kyle Risi: oh, she's probably dead.

[01:11:40] Adam Cox: That's not what I meant. But also this librarian, John Horner, like 70 years ago that this happened when he came forward. So was one of his relatives still alive? Was he still involved? Do we know that he's involved in a mafia or some kind of mob?

[01:11:54] Kyle Risi: Possibly. I mean, he's from Missouri, so probably not.

[01:11:56] Adam Cox: So then what is he doing? I

[01:11:58] Kyle Risi: dunno.

[01:11:58] Adam Cox: Why is the librarian being so cryptic? Aren't they supposed to be good people

[01:12:03] Kyle Risi: like priests? Yeah. Adam, that's a story. That's my story for this week.

[01:12:10] Adam Cox: Okay.

[01:12:10] Kyle Risi: Try to do some member shout outs.

[01:12:12] Adam Cox: Yeah, let's do it.

So this is the part of the show where we remind you that the Compendium is not just a podcast. It is also for reasons that remain legally and spiritually unclear. We're a literal functioning circus and a legally regulated place of work.

Who is hiring? Of course

[01:12:28] Kyle Risi: we are. Exactly. So make sure you guys head over to the compendium podcast.com. Click the job tab where you can browse through all of our growing collection of bizarre, suspiciously specific deeply. Bureaucratic circus roles,

[01:12:43] Adam Cox: all of which sound fake, and yet somehow feel more professionally organized than most companies I've worked for.

[01:12:49] Kyle Risi: It's true. It is so true. You can pick your favorite role, apply for it, and then tell us exactly what you do in your position day to day,

[01:12:58] Adam Cox: and not in a vague middle management sort of way. Oh, no. We want proper details. What are your duties? What incidents have you had to deal with? Who's underperforming? What are your KPIs looking like? Is morale low? Has somebody been bidden by a ferret? Again,

[01:13:11] Kyle Risi: we have ferrets. Now, I forgot to tell you. Should that go on the list of things we need to cut expenses for?

[01:13:17] Adam Cox: Yeah, if they're unwanted. If they're free ferrets, that's fine,

[01:13:22] Kyle Risi: but they still need food.

Also, if you guys include a photograph on your application, you will instantly be added straight to the team members page as well, where you'll be officially. Part of the Compendium family.

And as always, every week we will pick our favorite performance review and read it out on the show, which means it is now time for this week's glorious employee spotlight.

So this week's employee of the week is Loan Alexander Loney is our confetti fallout recovery operative.

[01:13:53] Adam Cox: and what does that mean? Kyle,

[01:13:55] Kyle Risi: Adam, basically we've had sign off for someone very special to treat confetti like hazardous material around the circus because it is, right. We've had people lose eyes. Have you ever got glitter in your eye?

[01:14:06] Adam Cox: Uh,

[01:14:07] Kyle Risi: it is fucking horrible.

[01:14:08] Adam Cox: I've never had glitter in my eye.

[01:14:10] Kyle Risi: Oh yeah. And you can't get it out. Do you know what I remember I went to a party once and I think it must have been like a month later, I blew my nose and glitter came out.

It was in there. It doesn't go away.

[01:14:21] Adam Cox: Maybe you're just so gay that you sneeze. Glit. Yes.

[01:14:27] Kyle Risi: Basically part of her job is to track drift zones, run cleanup operations, and recovers escapees

[01:14:35] Adam Cox: escapees.

[01:14:36] Kyle Risi: Yeah, escapee glitter.

[01:14:37] Adam Cox: Oh, okay. Got you. I thought like people were trying to escape from clear,

[01:14:41] Kyle Risi: Part of the role is to produce a fallout map, providing the confetti remained within containment, despite all evidence on the contrary, and the fact it is in your shoes forever.

[01:14:52] Adam Cox: Yeah, I don't like that. It's like sand.

[01:14:54] Kyle Risi: Yeah, it is horrible. Anyway, do you wanna tell us how Leoni is getting on?

[01:14:59] Adam Cox: She says, I can't stand a mess, so I'll be the best confetti cleaner in the world after every opening, closing, and even on her lunch break, I'll make sure that the confetti is cleaned up every speck on the circus area, that's what we're

[01:15:11] Kyle Risi: looking for here.

Lonie.

[01:15:12] Adam Cox: She'll make sure there's no hazardous materials in the confetti. she wants missed

[01:15:15] Kyle Risi: like what needles

[01:15:16] Adam Cox: she wants. Missed a piece of lion crap mixed in with the confetti. Covered up with grandma's puri and went on with her day.

[01:15:23] Kyle Risi: Hang on. Did you say crap?

[01:15:24] Adam Cox: I said crap. Yeah.

Everyone got pink eye that day. Yeah, she gives herself a 10 out of 10. Even if I miss a spot, I blame on Kyle and then he gets in trouble and she just, yeah, she just has a good old chat with me afterwards.

[01:15:38] Kyle Risi: Oh really?

[01:15:39] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[01:15:39] Kyle Risi: I feel betrayed by that.

[01:15:40] Adam Cox: Oh,

[01:15:40] Kyle Risi: actually, who did Lonely say was her favorite host? Let me have a look. She said I was her favorite. She picked me.

[01:15:48] Adam Cox: Yeah, but she's also blaming you.

[01:15:51] Kyle Risi: Yeah. The better the devil you know.

So guys, if you wanna be featured in a future episode, head over to the Comp Companion podcast.com. Remember, click jobs, pick a role, and send us your application.

[01:16:00] Adam Cox: And we'll read the best ones out on a future episode,

[01:16:04] Kyle Risi: provided HR allow it. Of course

[01:16:06] Adam Cox: they won't, but we'll do it anyway

[01:16:08] Kyle Risi: as is tradition,

[01:16:09] Adam Cox: Right then shall we run the outro?

[01:16:11] Kyle Risi: Let's do it.

And that brings us to the end of another fascinating foray into the compendium and assembly of fascinating things. We hope you guys enjoy the ride as much as we did.

[01:16:22] Adam Cox: if today's episode has sparked your curiosity, then please do us a favor and follow us on your favorite podcast app. It truly makes a world of difference and helps more people like you discover the show

[01:16:33] Kyle Risi: and for our dedicate it freaks out there. Don't forget, the next week's episode is already waiting for you on our Patreon, and as always, it's completely free to access.

[01:16:41] Adam Cox: And if you want even more, then join our certified freaks tier to unlock the entire archive, delve into exclusive content and get a sneak peek at what's coming next.

[01:16:49] Kyle Risi: We drop new episodes every Tuesday and until then, remember. A false name can be buried, but the questions it leaves behind have a habit of outliving everyone.

We'll see you next time.

[01:17:02] Adam Cox: See ya.