The Creepy Murder in 1046

There are few happy stories within the true crime universe and, to say the least, the creepy murder in room 1046 is far from a happy story. Riddled with the holes of inconclusive findings, plus an overall sense of some questionable circumstances, this unsolved true crime story is divulged in a myriad of darkness. Over the course of three days, a dimly lit hotel room experienced a multitude of strange occurrences, all of which led the death of one guest by the name of Roland T. Owen.

Although the investigation into his fatal tragedy was extremely swift, as indeterminate leads mixed in with the even creepier truths, there was no room left for the possibility of a closed case by its finality. Every piece of evidence diluted the next, making each new discovery even creepier than the latter, until nothing but a string of questions flooded over the answers. To this day, these very same questions are all but remains, besides the body of a man no soul seemed to have ever met or known before.

Whoever this Roland T. Owen was, and whatever he was doing in room 1046, remains a mystery. But the unresolved pieces of information still permeating his graveyard relay a tale of their own. A myriad of different tales, all of which end with anything but happiness. Let's uncover Roland T. Owen's secrets and dig into this creepy murder in 1046 before the case grows even colder.

The Creepy Murder in 1046: Checking In

On the second of January, 1935, at the Hotel President in Kansas City, Missouri, a man by the name of Roland T. Owen was reported to have bought a room at 1:20 PM.

Witnesses, such as bellhop Randolph Propst, considered Owen to be in his 20s or 30s. The hotel employee also noticed that he had no other luggage than a comb, brush and toothpaste.

This mysterious patron, who had brown hair, cauliflower ear and a scar on his head, also told the desk clerks that he was from Los Angeles. However, later into the investigation, LA authorities could not find anyone in their records by that name.

The strange and eeriness of this whole ordeal began quite early on. Mary Soptic, one of the maids, was continuously in Owen's presence. What she saw in 1046 would surely have creeped anyone out . . .

Creepy Murder in 1046: Clues in the Dark

When the maid first walked in, the man calling himself Roland T. Owen was sitting in the dim light with the window shades closed. He allowed her to clean the room, but asked that she leave the door unlocked for a friend was coming "very soon."

Mary Soptic would later tell authorities: "He always wanted to kinda keep in the dark." Other staff members relayed similar information, calling into question the real reason for Owen's stay at the hotel.

At 4 PM that same day, Soptic returned with fresh towels. Owen was laying on the bed wearing a full suit. Only one lamp cast any illumination into the room, which allowed her to see a note on the bedside bureau.

The note read: "Don, I will be back in fifteen minutes. Wait."

What was Roland T. Owen up to? And why was he sitting propped up on the bed completely dressed in a dark room? More importantly, who is this mysterious Don?

Eerily reminiscent of something from the Shining, Owen's stay was definitely not one of vacation or leisure.

Creepy Murder in 1046: The Following Day . . .

On January 3rd, Soptic arrived to clean the room at 10:30 AM. Although the door was locked from the outside, which for some reason was common at this hotel, the maid assumed Owen had secured the room before leaving that morning.

However, Roland T. Owen was still laying on the bed fully dressed with the lights turned off when she had entered, meaning someone else locked him inside. While cleaning his room, Soptic hears the mysterious patron on the phone, saying:

"No, Don, I don't want to eat. I am not hungry. I just had breakfast." He would repeat the latter statement a second time, "No. I'm not hungry."

Creepy Murder in 1046: Things Get Weirder

If this unsolved story isn't freaky enough, it only escalates the deeper it unfolds. Mary Soptic returned to the room around 4 PM on January 3rd, once again, to a door that was locked from the outside.

From within the threshold she could hear two male voices and, after she knocked, a gruff male tone asked: "Who is it?" After explaining that she had fresh towels, the creepy voice responded: "We don't need any."

Was that voice the sound of Don? Were there others in the room? What was he doing there? Though the questions continue to percolate, the answers divert into nothingness. And it only gets stranger from here.

Later that night, while a party took place down the hall in 1055, a guest staying in 1048 claimed to have heard loud voices and cursing from the opposite room.

Voices, she would later tell authorities, belonging to a male and a female.

Creepy Murder in 1046: Please, Hang Up the Phone . . .

At 7 AM that following morning, a hotel operator noticed that Owen's phone had been off the hook for a long while without being in use. Bellboy Propst was sent to check on the issue.

Upon arrival, Propst found the door with a 'do not disturb' sign attached to the knob, yet he still knocked and heard a strange voice say, "Come in. Turn on the lights."

Propst, finding that the door was locked and assuming Owen was drunk, irritably told the patron to put the phone back on the cradle. He no sooner left, feeling quite awkward.

Who wouldn't?

Creepy Murder in 1046: . . . Hang Up the Phone!

About an hour later, at 8:30 in the morning, another bellhop was sent to 1046 when the operator once again noticed the phone still off the hook.

The second bellhop, Harold Pike, allowed himself into the room with a passkey and found Owens in bed, naked, with darkened sheets under his body. The nightstand was kicked over by the bedside, where the phone laid on the floor.

Assuming Owen was drunk, Pike simply put the phone back on the receiver and left the room without so much as a wake up tap.

What were the 'darkened sheets' about? And why didn't Pike check up on the guest at all? Wouldn't all of these signs have pointed to a struggle of some kind? Despite these ranging questions, it seems, the phone was off the hook for good.

Creepy Murder in 1046: Line's Dead

From 10:30 to 10:45 AM, Propst was called back to check on the room, because the phone was out of the cradle once again.

The following series of events make up the brutal strangeness that is so well-prescribed to this event. What Propst experienced would probably change his life forever.

The bellboy stumbled upon a horrifying sight, later telling police: "when I entered the room this man was within two feet of the door on his knees and elbows, holding his head in his hands."

He went on to explain, "I looked around and saw blood on the walls, on the bed, and in the bathroom. This frightened me and I immediately left the room and went downstairs."

Though the staff at the Hotel President didn't appear too worried about their valued guest, it would seem neither would many of the people attached to the entire case, simply because of its utter creepiness and string of unanswerable discoveries.

Creepy Murder in 1046: "Nobody"

Remarkably, having been tied up by the neck, wrists and ankles, Owen was still alive despite a host of fatal injuries, including a fractured skull, several stab wounds to the chest, and a punctured lung.

When asked by authorities who else was in the room that night, Owen had responded with, "Nobody," claiming to have hit the back of his head after falling against the bathtub.

He no sooner descended into unconsciousness and was hastily driven to the hospital. The doctor examined the myriad of wounds as having been sustained six to seven hours prior to his discovery.

The mystery man claiming to be Roland T. Owen died the following night of January 5th. But his story was far, far from over.

What happened in 1046? Was it the mysterious Don who killed our Roland T. Owen? Or, was there another person involved? A lover, perhaps?

Creepy Murder in 1046: An Investigation Begins, and Ends

The creepy murder in 1046 was riddled with holes, mainly because the investigators found no murder weapon, or any of Roland's belongings in the room.

Suicide was immediately ruled out, due to the discovery of four female fingerprints on the telephone receiver, in addition to the amount of wounds inflicted upon the victim's body. A search for the mysterious character named Don, for which only but a voice and a note had given evidence to, resulted with zero leads.

Owen's body was moved to Melody MgGilley Funeral Home for viewing. While many people sought out his mysterious corpse, because of the uncanniness attached to the story, none turned up any progressive leads.

From the moment of discovery, the investigation into Roland T. Owen's death was highly inconclusive — not to mention extremely shady. The creepy murder in 1046 remained in this dark void of silence for quite some time, with not a single friend or relative turning up to claim his body.

Creepy Murder in 1046: A Proper — Not Pauper — Burial

Exactly two months after registering under a fake name at the President Hotel, Owen was to be buried in a potter's field, as according to the Kansas City Journal Post.

A mysterious phone call was made to the funeral home soon after this news was published. The voice on the other end of the line stated that he/she would send funds so that Owen could receive a proper burial.

Who was this person? Was it Don, or the unidentified female who had left her fingerprints on the phone in 1046? Could it have gone even deeper than what investigators initially reasoned?

Sure enough, on March 23rd of 1935, a wad money concealed in some newspapers was delivered to the funeral home, along with a bouquet of flowers. The accompanying note read: "Love Forever — Louise."

And, just like that, one more name was added to an already growing list of mysterious characters. Or should I say suspects?

Creepy Murder in 1046: Dead Don't Rest

Skip a year into the future when, in 1936, Ruby Ogletree comes across an American Weekly magazine by way of a friend. In it, she reads about the creepy murder in 1046, and immediately identified her son: 17-year-old Artemus Ogletree.

Though the late Artemus/Owen did not know how to type, according to his mother, she had received a string of letters from him in the spring of 1935, all of which were eerily sent after his death and voiced "slangy and unfamiliar."

Later that year, more evidence surfaced pointing out that this young teen, now identified as Ogletree, had stayed in another Kansas City hotel, the St. Regis, with an unknown man.

Could this person have been Don? What was Ogletree's purpose for being at the Hotel President in the first place, or even the St. Regis for that matter? Like I said, so many questions, little in the form of answers.

Creepy Murder in 1046: More Twists, Even Less Resolution

Dr. John Horner writes an account of the creepy murder in 1046 around the early 2000s, published through the Kansas City library.

An obscure phone call to Dr. Horner revealed that a box of newspaper clippings concerning Ogletree's case was found among a deceased elderly man's belongings.

Another valuable piece of evidence, which was referenced in the accompanying articles, was also found in that same box. However, the caller did not say what it was, nor would reveal the owner's identity.

The entire ordeal, and case, was once more dropped off into oblivion.

Whoever that mystery caller was, and whatever secrets he/she was hiding, remains buried in the dark.

Creepy Murder in 1046: So...What...Happened?

The following theories give light to the unbearable strangeness still glued to the creepy murder of 1046 . . .

The first theory is plain and simple: the unknown and mysterious man named Don acted alone in murdering Ogletree.

Don could very well have been the gruff voice that Soptic heard in 1046 on January 3rd, plus, he could have been the unknown guest accompanying Ogletree at the St. Regis hotel. Who knows, maybe he was even the mystery caller who had dialed up the funeral home?

The more interesting question is why? Revenge? Love? Or maybe it was a little bit of both...

Still, the police could never find this so-called Don, leaving this first theory floating in the air, open for more answers.

Creepy Murder in 1046: Seeds of Passion

Theory two, however, sheds a little more light on the case.

Elevator operator Charles Blocher, who worked the night of the creepy murder in 1046, claimed to have seen a "commercial woman" (which just means she was well-dressed) in search of room 1026.

Blocher recounted that she was 135 pounds, five feet six inches, had dark hair, and wore a black coat. She was accompanied by a man of the same height who was from the ninth floor.

Let's not forget that authorities found several female fingerprints on the phone in 1046, plus the opposing hotel guest in 1048 had heard both female and male voices in an argument on the night before his discovery.

Could she have mistaken the room for 1046? Could the accompanying man have been the mysterious Don? Is she the Louise who had sent the love letter to the funeral home? All these questions still remain unresolved, drifting in a fog of uncertainty that no searchlight can ever brighten.

Creepy Murder in 1046: More Anonymous Phone Calls

A third and final theory stipulates that Ogletree may have been murdered in lieu of revenge, or a punishment of some kind.

An article published in the Newcastle Sun proposed a different sequence of events, in which an anonymous woman called the funeral home stating, "Roland Owen will not be buried in a pauper's grave. Arrangements have been made for his funeral."

When asked what happened to Ogletree and how she knew this information, the mystery woman had denounced any involvement, stating before hanging up the phone: "Never mind. I know what I'm talking about...He got into a jam."

The funeral home received another strange phone call from an unknown man demanding the following: "Don't bury Owen in a pauper's grave...I want you to bury him in Memorial Park Cemetery. Then he will be near my sister."

Before hanging up the phone, this voice eerily said: "Cheaters usually get what's coming to them."

Creepy Murder in 1046: Laid to Rest

With little to say in the form of evidence, answers, or any revelations on the shadowy people involved under the surface, the creepy murder in 1046 remains a staple in the unsolved mystery universe.

Was Ogletree a prisoner to his mistakes? Was he killed out of passion, revenge, or was it an accident? A statement? Did he cheat on his fiancé? Or did he piss off the wrong people?

No matter the answer, this case stays closed to the dark, and whatever may have happened inside room 1046 likewise remains buried with Ogletree.

No amount of digging will ever reveal the truth behind that all-too mysterious door frame, and the creepy murder of 1046 continues to baffle historians, authorities, and mystery writers alike.