The Kerrville Times from Kerrville, Texas • Page 10

10 Tuesdav. November 7. 1989 Kerrville Daily Times State Tough ally joins grieving parents' quest Investigator puts additional heat on suspect EDITOR'S NOTE: No one could prove Bobby Templin a killer, but as Christmas 1976 approached, Texas Panhandle farmer Norbert Schlegel and his wife Jaye Nell knew Templin had been unfaithful to their daughter Rhonda. In this installment of "Prairie Justice," the Schlegels find an ally in a stern investigator, who comes to share their suspicions about Rhonda's mysterious death. By MIKE COCHRAN The Associated Press ROTAN It was no secret that the grieving parents of Rhonda Templin refused to believe their daughter died of a careless accident.

Prairie Justice A flawed extension cord, a $10,000 life insurance policy payable to their son-in-law Bobby and Bobby's recently discovered philandering pointed to something darker. Even as Norbert Schlegel and his wife battled the official skepticism of West Texas law enforcement, their persistence was beginning to reap unexpected dividends. A potentially volatile revelation came on a tip from Susie Martin, the neighbor who last saw Rhonda alive on April 11, 1976. Mrs. Martin telephoned the Schlegels at their home in Shamrock to say her husband learned from a co-worker named Hubert Kiker that Kiker's wife had sold Bobby a radio only days before Rhonda's death.

A lifelong resident of Roby, the county seat, Wanda Kiker was sales clerk at Roby Hardware. From the outset, the Schlegels were puzzled by the radio, which apparently had toppled into the bathtub and fatally shocked their daughter. They knew Rhonda rarely listened to anything but her stereo, which could be heard throughout the house. They informed Texas Ranger Dee Vickers and local investigator Ken Crow of Susie Martin's call. Crow, who worked for District Attorney Frank Ginzel, dutifully interviewed Wanda Kiker.

Mrs. Kiker told Crow it was probably about 1 p.m. on the Thursday before Rhonda's death when a man fitting Bobby's age and description entered the store and said he wanted to buy a radio for his wife. "He told me she liked music," Mrs. Kiker said.

"Carried it around all over the house with her." He looked at two small radios, both battery and electrically powered, and removed the backs and examined the cords. He bought one for $35 or so and paid cash. Mrs. Kiker said the man told her he was a lab technician in nearby Rotan, and as he started to leave, she commented on the "nice" sports car he was driving. On the following Sunday, when she heard how Rhonda died, she remembered telling her husband, "Oh, I hope that wasn't the radio I sold." Actually, no one could say for certain.

The bathtub radio and its fatally flawed extension cord had disappeared by the time Susie Martin called the Schlegels by long distance. Even so, it was remarkable that the Schlegels even learned of the Kiker account, demonstrating again that little goes unnoticed for very long in a small Texas town. The chances of that occurring in big cities like Dallas or Houston would be slim to none. At about this same time, the Schlegels arranged a visit with Dr. Jarrett Williams, the Abilene pathologist who had performed the autopsy on Rhonda's body.

Begrudgingly, Frank Ginzel sent Crow along to si in on the interview. It was a pivotal trip. Crow asked to see the autopsy photographs, and he almost immediately spotted the "mirror image" burns under Rhonda's right arm. He wondered how they got there. He was unaware of the bare-wire extension cord Jaye Nell Schlegel found in the vanity.

But he sensed at once that Rhonda had not died as a result of the radio toppling into the bathtub. "It was the bare wire under the arm where the juice entered the body," he said later. "When I saw that, there was no way I could figure out how this was an accident." He soon persuaded Ginzel to authorize him to officially investigate the death of Rhonda Templin. As tough and unyielding as a mcs- quite tree, and with dark, piercing eyes, L. Crow was something of a legend in his corner of yfest Texas.

A former Sweetwater cop, he grew up in Rotan, joined the district attorney's office in 1972 and knew most everyone by name in the three-county 32nd Judicial District Colleagues described him as a crack investigator with the instincts of a paperback sleuth, an image enhanced by his drooping and graying moustache. AP Laseiphoto DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S INVESTIGATOR KEN CROW Schlegels pin down their daughter's killer Courtroom lawyers were forever urging him to speak up, claiming he's too soft spoken to be heard. "Listen harder," he would drawl. He was not easily intimidated. With two daughters of his own, Crow was sympathetic with the Schlegels from the start He looked into the evidence, information and rumors they had collected over the past eight months, and he talked with dozens of people who knew Bobby and Rhonda.

He was impressed by what he found. For the first time since Rhonda's death, someone besides the Schlegels now believed Bobby Templin was a killer. In February, Ken Crow sent word that he wanted to question Bobby, and a meeting was arranged through Norman Arnett, a local attorney representing Bobby. Arnett was totally convinced of his client's innocence and had no objections. Right off, Bobby vigorously denied his extramarital affair with Melanie.

"If it's true, tell him," Arnett said. "Just because you were having an affair doesn't make you guilty of murder." But Bobby persisted in his lie, even when Crow showed him documented proof of the Holiday Inn rendezvous with Melanie on April Fool's Day. Bobby also denied buying the radio in Roby three days before Rhonda's death and dismissed the $10,000 accidental death policy as a joint plan his wife had arranged through the bank. He said he did not know how the radio and extension cord got into the bathroom, that it was not there when he left to buy gas. And he had no idea what had happened to the missing radio and cord.

Unhappy with the interview, Crow suggested Bobby submit to a polygraph examination. Arnett was not opposed, so firm was his belief in Bobby's innocence. But the lawyer sent him first to an independent operator in Dallas. Presumably the results were suspect, because the district attorney's office refused to accept them. That same month, Bobby took another lie detector test administered by a Department of Public Safety expert in Midland.

It was "inconclusive." Poring over the charts later, Crow decided something was amiss. Bobby's reaction pattern was abnormal and puzzling, even those answers unrelated to Rhonda's death. "It's like he's dead," Crow explained, concluding later that Bobby, with his medical knowledge, must Have taken some kind of drug before the test He wanted another polygraph test Before it could be worked out, the Schlegels renewed their request for grand jury action. They were armed now with Wanda Kiker's story and the photographs showing the burns on Rhonda's body. "We thought we had it made this time," Norbert said.

Ken Crow likewise believed Rhonda's death was homicide but he doubted that a grand jury, much less a jury, would agree. "We don't have enough," he said. The Schlegels, their frustration level at a record high, persisted, and in April 1977 Norbert presented his evidence to grand jurors. They were impressed but voiced reservations. They decided to call Bobby and Melanie to appear before their next session.

At that point the case took a sinister turn. A man telephoned the Schlegels in Shamrock with a death threat. He told Norbert his home along the busy interstate would be extremely vulnerable to intruders, adding: "You'd better drop this thing with Bobby Templin or they'll be another grave up on the hill." He refused to identify himself. About this time, Crow persuaded Bobby through lawyer Arnett to submit to another polygraph test, preceded by a urinalysis to detect the use of any drugs. According to the DPS examiner, the second test indicated Bobby was deceptive in answering all questions about Rhonda's death.

His sharpest reaction involved the radio he purportedly bought in Roby. "He must have felt like that was such a strong piece of evidence against him that he really reacted," Crow speculated. The D.A.'s investigator was now convinced more than ever -of Bobby's guilt but knew his latest information was useless. The results of polygraph tests are inadmissible under Texas law and even the mere mention of them in court can trigger a mistrial. As he pondered his next move, the Schlegels received another threatening phone call, and this time the caller identified himself.

It was Bobby's older brother Jim. Norbert switched on a tape recorder. There's a man that made a phone call to you a short time ago," Jim Templin began. "He's got instructions that if the grand jury takes any action detrimental to Bobby or if you proceed to pursue this thing any further past Thursday, those instructions will be carried you are charging Bobby with is pretty damn serious." "What he did was serious," Norbert replied. "That's yet to be proved." "That's what the process of law is all about Jim." "I know what the process of law is and I also know what harassment is, and that's something you've been doing a lot I don't like any- DENTURES GENERAL DENTISTRY WITH GENTLE TOUCH SPECIAL: PARTIAL OR FULL DENTURE $295 OFFER EXPIRES Most repairs are done within two-hours 24-HOUR SERVICE ROBERT L.

BECK, D.M.D. 826-5487 McCullough Medical Center 4118 McCullough Suite 17 San Antonio, Texas one calling my brother and telling him they are going to put him in the electric chair. You got that?" "Jim, it really won't do you any good to keep threatening Bobby's brother ignored that advice, and when the grand jury reconvened he showed up to threaten she Schlegels in person. It was not a smart move, since Crow and other investigators were present and overheard the tirade. Later, after charges were filed, Jim Templin pleaded guilty to making the threats and received a probated sentence.

Meanwhile, the grand jury that day listened with mixed emotions to additional testimony regarding Rhonda's death. "We think Bobby did it, but can you convict on the evidence?" a panel member asked Crow. "In my opinion, we cannot," he replied. Moreover, Frank Ginzel, the district attorney, remained as skeptical as ever and in fact told the grand jurors he might not prosecute the case even if they indicted Bobby for murder. "If I can't see it, I can't sell it," he repeated.

In the end, Crow urged the panel to take no action, to render neither an indictment nor a "no bill," and he and the Schlegels would continue their joint investigative effort. The jurors agreed. "When you think you 've got it all put together," sighed Norbert, "and they still don't do But if he and Jaye Nell were disappointed and discouraged, they were no less determined to press on. And now they at least had Crow's interest to look beyond the reign of his boss, Frank Ginzel. He suspected that once Ginzel was gone this could be a prosecutable case.

After months passed with no tangible results, Norbert and Jaye Nell took a new tack: they turned to the attorney general's office in Austin for help. Although no assistance was forthcoming, they did get an intriguing bit of advice. By filing a wrongful death suit against Bobby, the Schlegels could compel witnesses to answer their questions under oath. What's more, sworn depositions in such a civil action would preserve testimony for use by prosecutors in any future criminal trial. With new enthusiasm and at no small expense, the Schlegels hired a lawyer named Lowell Lasley and he filed suit against their estranged and surly son-in-law in the Texas Big Bend town of Alpine in April 1978.

On Aug. 10,28 months after their daughter's death, they sat down with their lawyer at a neutral site in the South Plains city of Lubbock and confronted Bobby for the first time under oath. And for the first time, Bobby admitted his earlier affair and current marriage to Melanie. He also provided details of a sexual fling in Shamrock. Bobby recounted his activities on the day Rhonda died and repeated many of the answers and denials he made to Ken Crow in early 1977.

The session provided no bombshells and little of substance that the Schlegels did not already know through other sources. But the deposition did pin Bobby down on a sworn version of what occurred before, during and after the time Rhonda was fatally shocked. The Schlegels knew prosecutors would find it handy when and if Bobby ever stood trial for murder. Next: Prairie Justice IV, "Circumstantial Evidence." BRING THESE COUPONS WITH YOU LUNCHEON MINI MEAL GORDO'S SMALL CHICKEN FRIED STEAK Toppod with Country Gnvy Served with 1 Vegetable From GORDO'S GARDEN Roll or Combread Tea or Coffee Included Good Only 11AM-4PM No Substltutlons-ALL IN PARTY Rag- $3.99 Valid 11-3-89 thru 11-9-89 SEAFOOD PLATTER SHRIMP, FISH, CRAB Served with 2 vegetables From GORDO'S GARDEN Roll or Combread Sorvod All Day Long 7 AM-9 PM No Substitutions-All In Party 14-QJia thni 11 'Reg. $6.73 Valid 11-3-89 thru 11-9-89 LUNCHEON MINI MEAL LIVER ONIONS Served with 1 Vegetable From GORDO'S GARDEN Roll or Combread Tea or Coffee Included Good Only 11AM-4PM No Substitutions-All In Party 1 Oft TUti 'Reg.

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