The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 8

THE SALINA JOURNAL GREAT PLAINS SUNDAY, APRIL 27, 1997 A3 Mystery still surrounds two Salina cases Adam's family holds out hope she is alive 4 years after her disappearance By SHARON MONTAGUE ne Salina Journal At the time, Mary Swendson didn't think it too terribly odd when her daughter, Kathryn Adam, called to say she'd be coming home the first weekend of May with some items she'd borrowed. But after Adam disappeared April 29,1993, the phone call took on more significance for Swendson of Atchison. Although law enforcement officials believe Adam probably was killed, no body has been found. And Swendson, thinking back to that phone call, clings to the hope that the oldest of her two daughters is alive. "I have no reason to believe anything different," Swendson said.

"I just don't have that feeling in my heart and in my gut." Swendson believes Kathryn might have been injured that day and gone away, by herself or with someone else. But police say the circumstances of the disappearance, four years ago Tuesday, lead to the conclusion of foul play. Blood and a muddy van Adam, who was separated from her husband, lived in a one-bedroom apartment on Iron'Avenue with her 16-year-old daughter. She worked for L'eggs Hosiery, distributing the company's wares to retail stores in the region. Every day, she'd get in her white van with the L'eggs logo and drive to a storage facility at Centennial and Magnolia streets, where she'd load the merchandise.

The morning of April 29,1993, she was photographed by surveillance cameras as she left the Kwik Shop, 1727 W. Crawford, just after 4:30 a.m, after filling the van with gas. She never made her deliveries. The next morning, her daughter reported her missing. Retracing Adam's steps, police found the door of the storage unit open and a large amount of blood later determined to be Adam's blood on the pavement outside, said Lanny Grosland, Kansas Bureau of Investigation special agent in charge of the Wichita region.

Adam's missing van, muddied from being driven on dirt roads, was found that everting in the parking lot of Russell's Restaurant, 649 Westport. And despite searches on the ground and from the air, Adam has never been located. Grosland said Adam could yet be found alive, but it's very unlikely. "Officially, we're carrying the case as a missing person," Grosland said. "But in situations like this, we're really working it like, and considering it, a murder." Certain of murder In the days after Adam's disappearance, detectives with the Salina Police Department and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation talked with Adam's estranged husband, her daughter, everyone who knew her or had contact with her.

They appealed people to call if they'd seen the van, if they'd heard anything, if they knew anything. Because of the blood they'd found and the circumstances surrounding the disappearance, they were certain Adam had been murdered. But absent a body, and absent evidence against the person they considered a suspect, no charges were filed. "It's not impossible to charge someone with murder and not have a body," Grosland said, "but, depending on the evidence available, it's more difficult." Lt. Mike Sweeney of the Salina Police Department said officers entered information about Adam in the National Crime Information Computer, and every time an unidentified female You cm imp Anyone with information about the Kathryn Adam disappearance, the Gina Cyphers murder or any other crime can notify investigators by calling: The Salina Police Department, 826-7210.

Crimestoppers, 825-TIPS, or 825-8477. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation, (800) KSCRIME, or (800) 572-7463. body is found, the department is notified. Officers then check further to see if the body could be that of Adam. The last such incidence was earlier this month, when a body was found in Marion County.

Officials still are working to identify the body, Grosland said, but they're certain it is not Adam. Now, the Adam file is among the more than 50 unsolved homicide or missing person cases in Grosland's 22- county region. The files are reviewed at least twice a year, and agents try to find some clue they might have missed before. Recently, agents developed a one-page briefing summary of the Adam case. "It's still an open investigation," Grosland said.

The family's open wound To Swendson and her family, it's still an open wound. At the beginning; Adam's mother didn't know what to think. Blood was found. A scalp was found after spring and summer flooding, but it was determined it didn't belong to Adam. "A lot went through my mind," Swendson said.

"You think everything in the world." But as she wondered and worried and pondered, Swendson kept coming back to the unexplainable feeling in her gut. She returned, over and over in her mind, to that telephone conversation, to her daughter saying she was coming home to return her grandfather's guitar and some music books. "She'd had them for quite a while," Swendson said. "I knew where they were. Why would she all of a sudden decide to bring them back?" Music was something the two shared.

Swendson taught guitar lessons, and Adam would sit in, learning with the students. She read music well and played the piano. "We'd sit down and bang the heck out of it," Swendson said. "We were loud, if nothing else." Perhaps, Swendson said, Adam was bringing the items back because she planned to leave, although the fact that she left behind her daughter is puzzling. Perhaps something happened at the storage facility that hastened her departure, so she didn't have time to tell her mother goodbye.

Swendson has puzzled over it every day during the past four years. Wanting to hear her voice "I think about her all the time, but not like it was in the beginning," Swendson said. Anything fixing a dish Adam didn't like, playing the piano can trigger the thoughts. When the phone rings and no one answers her hello, Swendson wonders if it's Adam, just wanting to hear her voice. While authorities tell her they think Adam is dead, Swendson said she continues to hold out hope that one day Adam will be at the other end of that phone or will somehow contact her family.

When will it all end? "I guess when that feeling hits me in the gut that says it's over," she said. "Right now, I feel she's very much alive." KBI, police still expect arrest in 1995 murder of Salina mother in her trailer By SHARON MONTAGUE The Stilina Journal At times, an arrest in the Dec. 28,1995, murder of Gina Cyphers has seemed imminent, said Lanny Grosland, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation's special agent in charge of the Wichita region. But then, the evidence hasn't panned out, and another month has passed without an arrest in the slaying. "We're confident sometime that an arrest will be made in that one," he said.

But as of now, the Cyphers' file is kept with those of more than 50 unsolved cases in Grosland's 22- county region. Cyphers, 24, was CYPHERS found dead in her trailer house at 721 W. Cloud about noon after she was late picking up her 15-month-old son from a Morning Out for Moms program. Police won't discuss how she was killed, saying it's information only they and the killer know. In the weeks after the murder, several people who "might have had some connection" were questioned, said Salina police Lt.

Mike Sweeney. Fluids recovered from the trailer were sent to the KBI and a private Maryland laboratory, and tests have been completed, Sweeney said. Sweeney and Grosland would not comment on the results. "It's frustrating," Grosland said. "In a lot of these cases, you have a pretty good idea who did it, and you have a hard time proving it." What authorities need is information that will cement a case against the murderer, perhaps from someone who heard an acquaintance discussing the killing or bragging about it.

"People who have knowledge should take it to authorities," Grosland said. AMELIA EARHART Students share Earhart's story World Wide Web page lets students across nation mark birthday By, The Associated Press ATCHISON She disappeared before most of their parents were born, but children worldwide hajve interest in Amelia Earhart's spjlrit of adventure. They're wishing her a happy birthday with help from the World Wide Web and Atchison Middle School. Diane Liebsch's sixth-graders have put a project on the Internet asking other students to research the famous aviator, born in Atchison in 1897, and create greeting cards for her 100th birthday. Eartwrt hi cyberspace Visit Global SchoolNet Foundation's prpject'registry for December 1996 online at http:/www.gsn.org.

More than 1,000 children have responded, with envelopes containing poetry, artwork and well- wishes for Earhart's birthday bash in July. "They haven't had time to dig through the whole pile," Liebsch said pointing to a mound of cards and letters on her floor. "One day they couldn't fit any more in my mailbox. It's literally put our town on the map." The students keep track of the notes' origins with blue thumbtacks on a wall map. One school in New York sent 90 greetings.

So far, they have received notes with simple lists of facts about Earhart, scribbled in pencil on notebook paper, laminated books with sketches or rhymes that tell her story. Liebsch's students also have corresponded via E-mail with other students following Linda Finch on her flight around the world. Finch hopes to complete the flight around the equator that Earhart was attempting when she disappeared. Finch, a 46-year-old businesswoman from Texas, began her trip on March 17 from the same aircraft hangar in Oakland, that Earhart started from. DO YOU EVER WISH YOU COULD Discipline less and enjoy family time more? dward Christophersen, Ph.

might have some valuable tips for you. If you are the parent of young children (toddlers through first grade) plan to attend his talk "Teaching Strategies that Reduce the Need for Discipline." He advocates "time-in," and teaching children self- calming skills. Christophersen, of Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO, is a child psychologist and noted authority on many aspects of child rearing. He is the author of "Little People: Guidelines for Common Sense Child Rearing," and many other books and articles on child psychology. SalinaRegional Health Center Tuesday, April 29 7p.m.

Central High School Auditorium Christophersen plans to speak for about an hour, and then he will take questions from parents. FREE! Childcare provided by Child Abuse Prevention Services for those parents who make reservations by Friday, April 25 (Call 825-4493) APS BEING THE ONLY KANSAS OWNED CELLULAR COMPANY HAS ITS ADVANTAGES! ONE Statewide Supersystem with 113 towers (38 MORE than our competitors covering 95 counties across the state! Freedom Across Freedom Across for automatic call delivery across the state and the nation! Free Call Waiting, Free Call Forwarding, Free Call Conferencing and Free Emergency 911 Calling! Free Local Calling Scopes, allowing you to call the Kansas Cellular coverage areas of your choice without paying expensive long distance fees! Five Customer Centers, 20 Account Representatives and over 200 Authorized Agents across Kansas. Plus the only in-state cellular customer service department to better serve you. America and Nights Weekends Calling Packages for even more savings! Plus Cellular 800 Numbers, Voice Mail, Mobile To Mobile Calling and more! Motorola or NEC Phones starting at Plus, one month FREE or 300 FREE Kansas Cellular The State's Largest Cellular Telephone System Salina Customer Center Ninth At Magnolia, Across From Central Mall 913-823-6605 http://www.midusa.net/kscellular Some conditions apply "Based on recent FCC filings Kansas Cellular Customers Get $12 Tickets! BILL COSBY LIVE ON STAGE Sunday, May 4th 3pm KSUs Bramlage, Manhattan Tl Reserved Seats $19 Charge By Phone: 913-532-7606.