The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 3

THE SALINA JOURNAL WATER PROJECT Great Plains MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1998 A3 Murders of 2 men remain a mystery a year later Nothing seemed unusual the day they disappeared; their bodies were found a month later By The Associated Press WICHITA It's been just over a year since Billy Graves and Chad Rausch disappeared, and authorities say they aren't much closer to finding out who killed them. The two Wichita men, known to dabble in drugs, were last seen Nov. 9,1997. Their bodies were discovered a month later in a shallow pit along a little-used road in Sumner County, south of Wichita. Each had been shot multiple times.

Investigators think there is a good chance the deaths were drug-related. And like many crimes involved something illegal, investigators say the drug connection may be why clues to Graves' and Rausch's slayings have been so hard to come by. But just because their deaths may be drug related, that doesn't mean their lives weren't important to their families, friends and the community, said Sumner County Sheriffs detective Frances Stevenson. "These people's children have been taken from them, no matter what the circumstances," she said. And that is why Stevenson and her partner, Jeff Hawkins, have spent the past year trying to track down clues to explain why the two young men were killed and why their bodies ended up near an old windmill two miles south of the Sumner-Sedgwick county line.

But more than 250 interviews and dozens of dead-end leads later, the people, motives and events behind the shootings of Graves, 24, and Rausch, 22, remain unknown. The Sumner County attorney conducted an inquisition in which four people were questioned, but the answers did not lead to any arrests. Even the drug motive is not an absolute, Hawkins said. "There is a lot people don't want to tell us," he said. "We have had a lot of problems with rumors.

We have had a lot of flat lies told to us." Hawkins and Stevenson have traveled fre- quently to Wichita to talk to people and look for clues. They got help reconstructing the victims' lives from investigators in Wichita and Sedgwick county and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. "Both of these guys had a lot of friends," Hawkins said. "Both of them were in the drug business. There is no secret about that." And that has complicated the case, particularly with Rausch.

"Some of his acquaintances have been less than truthful with us," Hawkins said. "There are some people who were supposed to be his friends who could help us out." Friends and family described Rausch, a waiter at a Wichita restaurant, as likable, funny and a regular on the city's nightclub circuit. "He was a great guy," said Miranda Risley of El Dorado, who described Rausch as her best friend. "I could tell him anything." Graves was well-known among local music fans as the lead singer and lyricist for the Wichita band Chrome Star Hustlers. His fiancee, Lavern McCaslin, has said he and Rausch left her home the day they disappeared.

They were heading for Rausch's home and nothing seeming out of the ordinary, she said. Law enforcement officials said they have talked to witnesses who saw the two men together later that afternoon. But after a year of work, Hawkins still can't say why Rausch and Graves ended up in a grassy pit beneath an antique windmill. The area was once a popular place for teenagers to hang out, but it hadn't seen much traffic in recent years, Hawkins said. "Why this place? Why here?" Hawkins asked.

"Did they come out here on their own or were they forced here?" Those are questions they fear they may never learn the answers to. Hawkins said investigators have developed several possible scenarios on what may led to the killings, but they need concrete, accurate information to make any arrests. BRIEFLY Four people shot in hunting-related mishaps CLAY CENTER Two hunting-related accidents injured four people Saturday in Clay County, Sheriff Gary Caldwell said. About 3 p.m., three people were -hurt when hunters stopped at a house to get permission to hunt. ii- Esslinger, 39, rural Clay and Bruce Esslinger, 37, Overland Park, got out of their pickup to talk to farmer Robert Sanneman, 78.

Meanwhile, a friend of the Esslinger's in the pickup laid his shotgun down in the back of the extended cab and it fired through the side of the vehicle, striking the Esslingers and Sanneman. All three men were treated at Clay County Medical Center. The second accident happened about 5:20 p.m. Two people were target shooting and one, Hoyt Hartner, 27, Clay Center, was shot when the other man laid his shotgun down on a wheelbarrow while he reloaded the target thrower, Caldwell said. Hartner, standing about 20 feet away, was shot in the chest, Caldwell said.

He'was taken to the hospital and released Sunday. "I can't say either accident was Careless, but you can't excuse the fact of someone even getting into a truck with a shell in a chamber," Caldwell said. Tips sought in solving window shootings Salina police are asking for the public's help in solving the case of the shattered car windows. The nights of Nov. 6 and Nov.

7, windows of 11 vehicles were shat- tefed by a BB or pellet gun. The vehicles were parked along La Shelle Lane, Shalimar Drive, Ray Avenue, Edward Street, Quincy Street, Kensington Road and Nottingham Drive. i Total damage is estimated at $1,250. "Anyone with information about the crime can call Crimestoppers, 825-TIPS. Callers aren't required to give their names and could be eligible for rewards of up to $1,000.

Woman charged with hiding jail escapee OLATHE An Overland Park woman was charged with letting pne of six men who escaped from ithe Wyandotte County Jail last weekend hide in her house for two'days. The charge was filed Saturday against Doreen Park, 44, who was released on $10,000 bond. Park is accused of harboring £arsey Littlewood, 21, one of six maximum security prisoners who fjed the jail in Kansas City, late on Nov. 7. Rooks county schools receive gifts of books Three Rooks County High Schools were surprised with book donations Friday.

In addition to a scheduled recruiting trip from the University of Kansas, Palco, Plainville and Stockton High Schools each received a dozen books mostly textbooks from KU professors. While the schools were anticipating the visit with admissions representatives, they didn't expect the donations. 1' "It was a nice surprise," said Rita Carswell, Plainville High School guidance counselor. "They will be put in the library immediately." Don Steeples, professor of applied geophysics, organized the donations. From Staff and Wire Reports OLD SLAYING The Associated Press Daniel Crocker, who confessed to a 1979 murder, sits with his attorneys in a Johnson County courtroom last month.

Cost of confession Man's admission of 1979 murder could cost him his family By The Associated Press HANTILLY, Va. The story has been cast as an inspirational one: Killer turned Christian dad follows God's will and, with the support of his wife and church, confesses to a murder that never would have been solved. But now that Daniel Crocker is locked away in Kansas for at least a decade, the story doesn't seem quite so inspirational anymore to his wife, Nicolette. A half a continent away in northern Virginia, she is grappling with the idea of raising her children alone and with the fact that her husband didn't tell her the whole story about the crime she thought she had known about for years. Crocker, 38, left his wife and two children in September to travel back to Kansas and admit to killing Tracy Fresquez, 19, in October 1979.

He faces a prison term of 20 to 60 years when he is sentenced in January. Crocker told police he was living in a Lenexa, apartment complex and taking drugs in 1979. He met Fresquez at a party, and she "This was everything I'd asked him. And he just chose to block things out" Nicolette Crocker wife of confessed killer spurned his advances. Later that night, he let himself in to her apartment, got into bed with her and tried to have sex with her.

When she tried to scream, he smothered her with a pillow. The crime was never solved. During the intervening decades, Crocker quit drugs, became a Christian, married Nicolette, had two children and moved to Virginia. The couple attended church regularly and home-schooled their children. In an interview with The Washington Post, Nicolette said her husband told her before they married that he had killed a woman.

But, she said, he changed many of the details, telling her he had accidentally suffocated Fresquez when she realized he was in her bed and that police concluded she died of an overdose. After Crocker turned himself in, Nicolette's mother-in-law sent her a packet of local news clippings. "That's what blows my mind," Nicolette said. "This was everything I'd asked him. And he just chose to block things out." It was September of this year when Crocker's Christian conscience and his wife's urging drove him to confess.

Nicolette, 36, said Daniel sometimes broke promises in their marriage to find a new job, to help the kids with homework, to take care of things around the house. She suspected Daniel's failures had something to do with his guilt over the killing. But he never brought it up, and when sbe did, he brushed her aside or sometimes looked angry. Nicolette began to feel it was her duty to overcome her fears and bring up the secret. She searched out the right Biblical verses.

Daniel finally agreed. But then came the night when Daniel had to tell the couple's children, 9-ycar-old Isaac and Analiese, that he was going away. "I'll never forget it," said Nicolette. "Isaac's eyes came out of his head. Then he jumped up and said, 'No! No! Daddy, don't do it.

Don't turn yourself Analiese sat whimpering quietly. Isaac began screaming: "What will 1 do for a daddy?" Now Nicolette has to make some choices. She could wait the 10 years minimum for Daniel's release, but that would mean giving up her dream of being home with her children. And, she said, who knows who Daniel will be by then? She has another option: She could marry a family friend, Ron Burke, 61, who has said he has feelings for her. She hopes that in a year's time, God will either tell her to wait for her husband or set her free.

"I know that when the word conies 1 will have tremendous peace." PLANE CRASH Pilot dies in crash in field i Engineer's plane was towing sailplane when! it lost power, crashed By The Associated Press WICHITA An aircraft engineer and flying enthusiast was killed when his small plane lost power and crashed shortly after taking off from a rural field with a sailplane in tow. Rex Hamilton of Wichita died Saturday morning after his na 182 crashed into a grove trees in a field behind Morning Star Aviation in northeast Wichi- ta. The sailplane pilot was able to land safely. Morning Star Aviation, owned by Wichita attorney Frank McMaster, is home to the Wichita Soaring Society sailplane club. It offers one of the few remaining grass strip airfields in the Wichita area and is popular with ultra- light pilots.

Signs at the pointed to some kind of mechanical failure in the Cessna, said Steve Ewing, who made the 911 call after the crash. The two aircraft were not more than 150 feet off the ground when the engine on the Cessna cut out. "They followed emergency procedure just the way taught," Ewing said. "They released the tether, and the glider banked to the right while the tow plane banked left." The sailplane's pilot, Dave Truesdell of Wichita, was able to maneuver the glider between the trees and land. But the wing of the Cessna struck the ground and the plane cartwheeled, striking at least one tree before coming to rest in a small grove.

Hamilton was flown to Wesley Medical Center where he died shortly after arrival. Hamilton had worked at Cessna Aircraft since the 1960s. He was an FAA executive engineer and was instrumental in getting new aircraft certified. Among his latest projects was getting the Citation 10 certified through the Joint Airworthiness Authority, the European equivalent of the FAA in the United States. "He was a power pilot and a glider pilot and one of the best at both," said Ralph Rismiller, an FAA test pilot and friend of Hamilton's.

Hamilton loved aviation and all kinds of airplanes, Rismiller said. He was a member of the Wichita Radio Control Club and served as president of the Soaring Society, and he was instrument-rated as both a private and commercial pilot. Hamilton had towed thousands oi' sailplanes in the years he was associated with the Wichita Soaring Society, friends said. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. KANSAS MEAT INSPECTION State must beef up its meat-inspection program By The Associated Press TOPEKA Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Allie Devine says the state will have to devote more money and staff to the department in order to bring its meat inspection program into compliance with federal standards.

Two months ago, federal inspectors blast- ed the state's enforcement of meat-safety regulations after finding significant sanitary problems at several meat processing plants in Kansas. There are about 130 meat processing plants in Kansas. Some of the plants inspected by the USDA had beef or swine carcasses contaminated with fecal matter among other "major and serious deficiencies," according to a letter from federal regulators. USDA inspectors will conduct a follow-up review in Kansas this week. The inspectors have said the federal government may take over the inspection program if improvements haven't been made.

Devine said she is confident most of the im- mediate problems have been corrected but that more funding is necessary to persuade the USDA that Kansas is doing a good job. Devine has requested $241,000 to hire six new inspectors. Currently, there are 40 inspectors. The meat-inspection program costs $2.4 million annually. SUGGESTIONS? CALL BEN WEARING, DEPUTY EDITOR, AT (785) 823-6363 OR 1-800-827-6363 OR E-MAIL AT.