“Good morning Sir, how can I assist you?”, the receptionist of President hotel, Kansas asked looking at this well dressed young man. But he looked suspicious, he had no suitcase with him. The only thing he carried in the pocket of his suit was a toothbrush and paste. I am Roland T Owen, and I need a room in the top floor. He was led to Room number 1046.
On January 3, when the hotel maid, Mary Soptnik was assigned to clean the room 1046. She knocked on the door. Roland opened. As she went inside she felt nervous. The room was so dark…Owen had covered all the windows. The only light in the room was a tiny beam of light from his table lamp. Mary went out finishing all her cleaning in a hurry and took the bedsheet with her. While Mary was going out, Roland said, “I am waiting for someone, can your please leave the door open?”. Mary did so.
After four hours when Mary came back with a new bedsheet, the door was still open. As she went inside, she saw Owen lying on his bed. She also spotted a small letter near to him. The letter said;
“Don, I will be back in 15 minutes”
As Owen was sleeping, Mary kept the sheets near his bed and went back.
On the next day, 4th of January, when Mary went near room no 1046, it was locked. Mary thought Owen had gone somewhere outside. She opened the door with the master key she had in her hand. And when she finally went in, she saw the darkroom, with its walls and floor lightened up only with flickering table lamp. As she looked close, someone was sitting by the table. It was Owen. Mary was shocked, but she continued to clean the room. Suddenly the phone started ringing. Owen picked the phone up, and said;
“Hey Don, I don’t want anything to eat. I am not hungry, I just had my breakfast”
After hanging up, Owen turned to Mary, asked her how long she had been working here, about the President Hotel and her family. After a small conversation, while Mary was leaving the room, she had so many questions in her mind. How was Owen inside the room? Who locked him up? though many questions came, she ignored them all. After a few hours again when Mary came near the room, she heard two people talking loudly. Mary knocked on the door and said “Your new sheets are here”. And a voice came from the room, “ There is enough sheets for us in the room”. Though confused, Mary left.
And on 5th Of January, the flat’s Telephone operator called the staff and said, “The receiver of phone in 1046 is away from the phone, mention the resident to arrange it.” The staff went near the room 1046, only to find a “Do not Disturb” board. But even after waiting for a few hours the staff decided to open the room with the master key, he went in and kept the receiver properly. And left. After almost two hours, another call from the telephone operator came, it was the same issue again.
This time another attendant went inside. He was shocked to see blood spilt all over the room. He found Owen bathed in blood at the corner of the room. Owen was rushed to the hospital but was not saved. He had deep cuts on his chest and his arms and legs were heavily wounded.
As the first step towards a detailed investigation, the Police searched for Roland T Owens and his history. But this name was never written on any government records. So, who is the person who died? They could never find. Police then started questioning the staffs. And one of them said, “This guy has once told me that all the other Hotels around are expensive”.
Owen’s photo was taken to the nearby hotels, and one of them identified him as ‘Egwin K Scott’. And claimed that he stayed there for a few days. This made the case even more complicated.
As the forensic team came into Room 1046, they could collect only four fingerprints and a hairpin. They also couldn't find the suit which he was wearing while he entered the hotel, not even the toothbrush or paste.
When Police enquired other rooms, a lady said she heard three people talking in the room last night. And says, one of them was a woman. But the police couldn’t find who they were. At last, the officers resorted to post Owen’s photo in the newspaper, hoping someone would reach out.
A person called Robert Linn contacted the police, on January 2nd, Owen entered into my car thinking it was a taxi. And he was wearing only undergarments. And he also had small cuts on his hands. As many people came sharing their incidents with Owen, Police couldn't make any ends meet.
After one or two months. Officials decided to bury Owen’s body. On that day, the main officer’s phone rang.
“Owen’s body must be respected and his funeral should be in a decent way. I can bear all the expense for that”
But the Police couldn’t find who that was.
On the next day a flower bouquet came, with the tag saying
“Love forever, Lucely ”
The police couldn’t find Lucely. After a year a woman named Ogletree came saying he was her son. My son went missing three years back and his name is Artemus Ogletree.
This is one of the strangest cases in the history. Not even a single event was believable nor connected. Even after 85 years, this case lays as a shadow over Kansas Police Station. Who was he actually? Why did he do all this? Was this a murder?
Recently in 2012, when the relatives of a deceased person were arranging his suitcases. They found a lot of paper cuttings and clippings about Owen. Now who was this deceased person? Is he Don?
No answer…..silence it is…
Love,
Dona
Roland Owens/ Egwin Scott/Artemus Ogletree
Newspaper clippings of that time.