Cold case: 1046 murder room

It has been more than 80 years since this unsolved case was headless. No matter who the murderer is, the police can't even determine the identity of the victim in the room.

The whole story begins on a cold afternoon on June 2nd, 1935+65438. A well-proportioned male guest in high-grade black leather coat was received at the front desk of a hotel called "President Hotel" in downtown Kansas. He is about twenty-five years old, with an obvious scar from the scalp to the upper right corner of his forehead, and his left ear is congested and swollen. All kinds of physical characteristics seem to be telling, and no matter his occupation or hobby, it seems to be related to body fighting.

The guest asked the front desk to provide him with a quiet room away from the road. He provided his identity and address. According to the registration information, his name is Owen T. Nolan, from Los Angeles.

According to Owen's request, the receptionist checked room 1046 for Owen, which is a quiet and pleasant superior suite located on the tenth floor of the hotel, not facing the street. The waiter Randolph is responsible for guiding Owen to the designated room. During the short time when they took the elevator to the tenth floor, Owen complained to Randolph, "I used to stay at the Mukbala Hotel, but they said it would cost five dollars a night, so I decided to check out immediately."

Randolph, the tour guide, noticed from the beginning that Owen's clothes were decent, but his hands were empty and there was no similar luggage. After entering room 1046, he saw Owen take out his toothbrush, towel and toothpaste and put them on the shelf in the bathroom. Owen seems to be a neat freak, Randolph thought, and the guide left the room.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Mary Soddy, the cleaner in charge of the tenth floor of the hotel, came to the door of room 1046. At this point, she never imagined that she would be shrouded in fear for the next three days because of this room.

Mary knocked on the door politely and asked, "I'm here to clean the room." May I come in, please? "

After getting Owen's permission, Mary found that the door was unlocked and went straight into the room. I saw that the light in the room was dim, the curtains on both sides of the French window were completely put down, and only a bedside lamp that would gather light was on. Owen sat motionless at his desk, like a figure. Mary couldn't even recognize him in the dim light.

When Mary finished cleaning and was ready to go out, Owen said in a worried tone, "I'll go out later, but don't lock the door, because I have a friend coming later." (Remarks: In the early 20th century, American doors generally had two locks, one of which was an internal lock; The other is the external lock. As the name implies, the internal lock is a human lock inside the door and the external lock is a human lock outside the door. If the external lock is locked, the people inside the door can't get out, and so can the internal lock unless there is a master key. )

Two hours later, at five o'clock in the afternoon, it was the hotel's routine delivery of towels. Mary came to room 1046 again with a brand-new towel. Before entering the room, she habitually knocked at the door to ask questions. After several times, there was still no response in the room. Mary thinks Owen hasn't come back from going out. She took out the master key for employees. When the spoon slipped into the door lock, there was an accident, and the door was unlocked (both the inner lock and the outer lock were unlocked).

Mary noticed that the room was darker than it was two hours ago. The bedside lamp that has been on all the time has been turned off, and the only light source in the room is the sunset light that sneaked in through the gap between the two curtains. By this light, Mary was surprised to find a humanoid shadow lying on the bed, with round white eyes staring straight at the ceiling, as if trapped in some unmanned state.

Is that Owen? Mary guessed that Mary guessed because she didn't see Owen's face at all when we first met two hours ago.

In the process of cleaning, by the light of the corridor outside the door, Mary caught a glimpse of a post-it note on the table, which scrawled: "Dunn, I'll be back in fifteen minutes, wait for me." What happened to the man lying there just now? Mary couldn't help thinking, but Mary didn't intend to think about it at all, because she felt that the identity of that person just now, whether Owen or Dunn, was a freak in her heart. These two guys like to hide themselves in the dark.

The next morning10: 30 (65438+10.3), according to the hotel's routine, Mary needs to clean all the rooms on the tenth floor before noon 12. When she came to room 1046, she found the door locked from the outside. That weirdo finally went out, Mary thought happily.

When Mary took out the master key and opened the door, she found that the room was still dark, the curtains were tightly drawn and the bedside lamp was not turned on. She was horrified to find a man in a neat black coat sitting on the bed with his back against the wall. Mary recognized Owen at a glance after the first two slightly horrible experiences of entering the house.

Someone locked this monster in the door! ? At this time, Mary was scared to the ground. She looked at Owen in horror, and Owen looked at her calmly. Mary still can't see Owen's face clearly, only a row of white teeth can be clearly seen. Mary thinks this smile is strange.

Owen asked Mary in a friendly tone, "Is it hard to work here?"

Mary is still sitting on the ground, not responding. She couldn't stand up at once because of panic, but Owen didn't intend to help her. Instead, he asked, "Is it easy to work here to make money?"

Mary wanted to respond, but she couldn't think of anything to say. I should get out of here. All she can think about is.

However, her duty is that she must bite the bullet and clean up room 1046 before going out.

At this time, a ringing telephone bell rang, and Owen's position made it very convenient for him to answer the phone. The phone rang less than twice, and Owen had picked up the phone and started chatting.

The fear began to fade, and Mary began to clean the room trembling, during which she heard Owen's intermittent chat-

"No, Dunn, I have already had breakfast. I'm not hungry now. " Owen said.

After a short silence, Owen added, "No, I'm not hungry now."

After cleaning the room, Mary left the room in a hurry.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, Mary came to room 1046 for the fourth time with a brand-new towel. Before Mary came here, she specially distributed all the rooms around 1046. Before knocking at the door, she heard two men's voices talking in the room 1046, which made Mary feel at ease.

When Mary knocked at the door, a rude man asked, "Who is it?"

"I am a hotel cleaner. I brought you a new towel instead of the old one. " Mary explained.

"We don't need it." The response is still that rude voice.

"Sir, please don't embarrass me. According to the hotel regulations, we must replace the old towels used the day before. " Mary explained softly.

"No, your colleague just came to help us change towels." The rude voice became more and more impatient.

Mary didn't insist, she left. Obviously, she knew that the man was lying, because there would only be one exclusive cleaner on each floor of the hotel.

That night, a female guest in room 1048 called the front desk customer service to complain about a violent quarrel between men and women in a room on the tenth floor. However, that night, a carnival party was being held in room 1055. After the case, the female guest's confession can only be used as a vague clue for reference only. )

The next morning, at 7: 30am on October 4th, 65438/kloc-0, Tony Stark, the telephone connection manager of the hotel, noticed that the telephone in room 1046 had been out of service for some time, and there was no call record. This means that the guests in the room may rush into other things without hanging up the receiver when they hang up the phone, which often happens in hotels at that time. So Stark dialed Mary's walkie-talkie and let her have a look.

Mary showed great reluctance. She told Stark all the strange things she had encountered in 1046, but Stark comforted her in a relaxed tone: "Listen to me, Mary. This shows that you don't know enough people. You have to understand that there are all kinds of birds in the Woods, and you should not discriminate against those rare species that exist in society. "

Finally, Mary gave in. When she came to the door of room 1046, she was pleasantly surprised to find a nameplate saying "Do not disturb" hanging on the door lock. Now, she can leave this damn room aboveboard.

Mary reported the current situation to Stark, but Stark didn't answer. Stark kept waiting in the wiring room for ten minutes. He looked up and caught a glimpse of the red light flashing in room 1046. He realized that if this situation continued, it would only cost the company more telephone bills. Stark contacted Mary again: "Listen, Mary, I ask you in the name of the company. You can open the door and hang up now."

"However, the nameplate still hasn't been taken off," said Mary aggrieved.

"Ignore the damn nameplate. For god's sake, get in there quickly. If you speak for one minute, the company will pay 3 cents. This is money, big sister! "

Mary knocked on the door reluctantly. Different from last time, Mary only knocked twice, and a male voice outside the door said, "Come in."

Mary turned the door handle directly, only to find that the door was locked from the inside. She didn't intend to open the door with a master key, so she said, "Hello, sir, the door is locked. I need your help to unlock it."

There is no answer in it.

Mary knew that even if she kept knocking at the door, it would only be in vain, so before she left, she said heavily to the people in the door, "Sir, your receiver is not hung up properly." Please hang up the receiver! "

There was no response to her voice in the room.

Mary reported this to Stark, but ten minutes later, Stark dialed Mary's radio again. "Mary, the phone in room 1046 is still on the line," said the operator.

Mary, who was originally nervous, felt an anger instead of her emotions. She hurried to the door of 1046 and took out the master key. The room is as dark as before. She saw Owen lying naked on the bed, with a large shadow on the white sheet pressed by his body, and the telephone receiver fell to the ground.

He was drunk and vomited, Mary thought, but she wasn't going to ask Owen. She went straight to the bedside table, hung the receiver on the phone again, left in a hurry and locked the door from the outside.

At 0: 30 in the morning 10, the red light in Stark Discovery 1046 in the wiring room turned on again.

"What's wrong with him!" Mary's complaint came on the radio.

"Do you want me to arrange a male colleague to help?" Stark asked.

"No, he is just drunk. I'm still on the tenth floor. I'll go now. " Mary said.

This time, Mary was shocked when she opened the door. In the light of the corridor, she saw Owen bending down and sitting weakly in a corner, holding his head in his hand. His bare skin was covered with blood and numerous knife wounds, and his arms, neck and thighs were bruised.

Mary quickly turned on the lights in all the rooms. She found that the white sheets were soaked with blood, which extended from the bed to the bathroom, and the ceiling opposite the big bed was covered with condensed blood beads.

She dialed the telephone.

Fifteen minutes later, the federal police came to room 1046. Seeing Owen dying, police captain Solondi immediately asked the identity of the attacker. Then Owen's answer surprised the captain.

"I accidentally fell into the bathtub myself." Owen replied weakly.

Owen in the ambulance died before he could get to the hospital because of his injuries.

Of course, the police knew that Owen was lying, because the autopsy report showed that Owen had been abused inhumanely before his death; His skull was hit by a blunt instrument no less than 20 times, resulting in seven fractures of the skull, while several knife marks on his shoulders and buttocks were not fatal injuries (these parts were covered with nerve sensing areas, and there were no veins or arteries. If these parts were injured, the injured person would feel great pain, which often lasted for a long time without being fatal), and the fatal knife wounds were located in every knife mark on his thigh and waist, leading to arterial bleeding.

The useful evidence that the police can collect at the scene is Owen himself, who has become a cold corpse. There are two cups filled with water but not drinking in the room. Owen's leather clothes or even underwear were not found at the scene, and the washing products he carried with him disappeared without a trace. The only two things that can be collected in the room are an unlit Marlboro cigarette and a bottle of diluted sulfuric acid. However, both of these evidences are useless.

Follow-up investigation by the police:

The fingerprint team found five sets of fingerprints belonging to different women on the phone, one of which belonged to Mary. The attribution of the other four sets of fingerprints is still unknown, and the clues provided by these fingerprints are limited, because these fingerprints may have been left by several former residents in room 1046, although Mary insists that every time she cleans the room, she will carefully scrub everything in the room with disinfectant.

Fu Longzhi, the elevator operator of the hotel, confessed to the police on the evening of October 3rd, 65438: At about eleven o'clock that night, a fashionable and slim lady was received downstairs. Seeing that she was in a bad mood, Fu Longzhi asked herself what she could do to help her. However, the lady replied, "I had an appointment with a male friend in room 1042, but I knocked on his door several times and didn't respond to me." Damn it!

The police concluded that the room the lady was going to was actually 1046, but she remembered the wrong number and touched the wrong door because 1042 was empty that night. The police tried to contact the lady, but according to the description of the hotel elevator operator, it was impossible to find her. After all, in those days (early 20th century), there was no surveillance video. So this clue has also become a waste line.

The police tried to investigate Owen's identity and informed his family to claim the body, but unexpectedly found that Owen was not in the population file of Los Angeles, which meant that "Owen" was only the name of one of the men.

According to Randolph, the head of the hotel, Owen stayed at the Mukbala Hotel, four blocks away from the President Hotel. The police soon came to the hotel to investigate, but they were told by Mukbala Hotel: "We have never lived here with a guest named Owen T Nolan."

When the police were disappointed, Mukbala Hotel recognized the photos of the people brought by the police.

"This man, I know, because he was in a bad mood at the time and was going crazy." The front desk clerk at Mukbala Hotel said.

"Are you sure you don't have the wrong person?" Asked the policeman.

"I'm sure this man's name is not Owen T. Nolan, but this man, Eugene K. Scott." Staff of Mukherbala Hotel.

In the end, the police also found that Owen had stayed in J Hotel and several other high-end hotels two blocks away from Mukbala Hotel last month. He often checks out after staying for a week, and gives a different name every time he checks in. Among them, the bartender of Rui J Hotel confessed: "I know this person. Although he doesn't often stay in this hotel, he likes to come to this bar to drink. Obviously, he not only loves wine, but also loves to associate with different women. He never goes to a bar alone, but always plays with a girl who is different from last time. "

"Do you know him well?" Asked the policeman.

"Not familiar with, only know his appearance, a playboy. I don't even know his name. " The bartender at J Hotel replied.

The police have few clues, and the speed of solving crimes is seriously lagging behind. Owen has the habit of using pseudonyms. The police are not even sure whether this anonymous person is an American citizen. His body has been in the government morgue for two months, but no one has claimed it. Finally, the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States issued an announcement through Post magazine: "The victims of the Presidential Hotel 1046 will be buried in Hoover Cemetery on March 3rd" (note: Hoover Cemetery is synonymous with slum cemetery).

On March 3rd 1935, the case seemed to usher in a breakthrough. The owner of the funeral home responsible for arranging Owen's funeral received a phone call from a mysterious person that day. The general contents of the telephone call are as follows:

"Owen's body, you don't rush to bury. Let alone bury him in a shabby cemetery. " The voice on the phone said, "He deserves a more decent funeral."

"But the government can only put him in Hoover Cemetery," said the funeral home owner.

"Money is not a problem. I will bear all the expenses here. Please be sure to give him a decent funeral. " The voice on the phone said and hung up.

The owner of the funeral home immediately contacted the police.

"Can you tell whether it is a male voice or a female voice on the phone?" The policeman asked afterwards.

"Is a deep voice, with a crisp female accent. In a word, I can't tell whether the other person is a man or a woman. "The funeral home owner said.

On March 23, the funeral home received an anonymous envelope filled with US dollars, which was enough for Owen to be buried in a senior cemetery. Soon after, Owen was buried in the Memorial Park Cemetery in Kansas City.

On the day of burial, several groups of people who heard the news laid flowers at Owen's tombstone to mourn him. Afterwards, a pink mourning letter with a red rose caught the attention of the police. The contents of this letter are as follows:

"Love you forever."

Louie

Unfortunately, neither the public nor the police noticed who put the letter.

Confirmation of the identity of the deceased:

A year and a half later, in the summer of 1936, a woman named Ruby Outlett from Alabama called the police and said that a friend of hers had read a news report about Owen through a magazine and immediately contacted Ms. Ruby. Ms. Outlett said that the man in the news was not Owen, but his long-lost son Atnis Outlett, who left his hometown of Birmingham on 1934 when he was only seventeen.

Ms Ruby stated that during March and May of 1935, she received letters from her son from Sanfeng, which were sent from new york, Boston and Memphis respectively.

At that time, Ruby always doubted the authenticity of these three letters, because they were all printed on typewriters, and she knew that her son couldn't use typewriters at all. And most importantly, the description in the letter is fundamentally different from his son's usual tone of voice. According to the content of the third letter, Artnice Outlett will go to Egypt to work before the winter of 1935.

Moreover, the police noticed that Ms Ruby had missed one place, that is, Owen had died within the time when these three letters were sent.

The police did not confirm the woman's statement.

The case began to stagnate here. Three years later, the police decided to end the investigation of the case.

A headless unsolved case full of dust;

However, 76 years later, this long-forgotten case has once again become the focus of media reports, and a clue that may be a case-solving case appeared in front of the world at 200 1 almost a century later.

The son of the editor of the magazine that first reported the murder of 1046 received a mysterious phone call from a foreign country in the summer of 2006. There was a young female voice on the phone, which declared, "I noticed a locked box full of 1046 when I was sorting out the things left in the basement by an old relative who had died." I found that this object was mentioned in the report of that year, but unfortunately, your father and the police seem to have ignored this object. "

"What is it?" The editor's son asked.

Just like that sudden phone call, the other party didn't respond and then hung up.

Since then, until today in 2020, there has been no new progress in the case.

We might as well make a bold assumption:

1, Owen is obviously an old hand in love. There are different women around him every day, but Owen is also running away from something. Let's assume that Dunn is a man, and it is this man who chased Owen all the way, causing Owen to change hotels frequently. Donne's identity is the husband or boyfriend of the woman who was taken away by Owen.

Owen is bisexual and Donne is his same-sex partner. Donne can't stand Owen's frequent dealings with women of all colors, and jealousy makes him kill people.

Owen died of suicide because he suffered from schizophrenia. Donne doesn't exist. He is just an imaginary personality of Owen. Schizophrenia patients can even change their original voice sometimes.

4. The cleaner Mary is Dunn, or Mary is the murderer. As a witness, she has complete charges. What happened in the case mainly came from Mary's confession. The real identity of Mary, the cleaner, may be Louis.

1046 There is a reason why the curtains in room have been closed for a long time, because there are four women hiding behind the curtains.

However, it seems that only Owen, who deliberately concealed it, can know what happened in rooms1935 65438+10.3 to 65438+/0.4.