Fred
and Edwina Rogers had been brutally slaughtered in the sanctity of their own home. That much was known by the good citizens of Houston
in late June 1965. There was also the
matter of the Rogers’ absent son Charles, the truth of which was unclear.
Forensic
accountants Hugh and Martha Gardenier have constructed a convincing
scenario of how Charles made his escape and managed to live a fairly prosperous
life on the run for twenty years afterward.
The story is improbable, but it fits the evidence. Tellingly, Charles would never have been able
to pull it off had it not been for the aid and abetment of his closest business
associates and his one true love.
Once
they had discovered Charles was nowhere to be found after the discovery of Fred
and Edwina’s dismembered bodies, the Houston Police at first thought Charles
would escape by plane. It stood to
reason. His description was sent to
local general aviation airports and the registration number of his aircraft. They also did not discount an escape by sea,
and officers scoured the Port of Houston to find out if Charles had maybe
shipped out on an outbound vessel.
Actually,
he made a run for the border. On the
open road. It was an audacious move for such
a low-profile guy. But it was a move he
would not have chosen under better circumstances. Escaping by car was Plan B.
Charles
had spent nearly a week at 1815 Driscoll Street after the murders, dismembering
his father’s and mother’s bodies, meticulously cleaning up the crime scene so
as to prevent the police from obtaining conclusive proof of his guilt, and
venturing out only in the dead of night to dispose of Fred’s and Edwina’s
internal organs and other physical evidence.
He kept the lights off at night.
If there were any callers, he did not answer the door. He answered the telephone but once, expecting
someone else on the other end.
That
call should have come from Anthony Pitts as the next step in Charles’ escape
plan. It was one of Edwina’s
acquaintances from Stanley Home Products instead. The clock was running out on Charles
Rogers.
If
Pitts couldn’t be counted on, there was one person Charles could still turn to. He lifted the receiver and phoned his
girlfriend, the woman identified as Jean by the Gardeniers. Soon after the short exchange with Edwina’s
friend, he called Jean at her office. Jean
had left Shell a while back and now worked across town at Fluor Corporation. (Fluor is a petroleum exploration firm with a
sideline as a logistics contractor for the military. Think of it as Halliburton’s kid
brother.) Jean agreed to meet Charles later in the day.
Time
was short. Charles knew that having
added to the suspicions of Edwina’s small circle of acquaintances, family and
then the police would soon converge on the Rogers house. Charles had already tidied up, save for some blood
in his bedroom where he had first beaten then shot his mother. He also left a bloodstained keyhole saw used
in the dismemberment, together with a few cryptic clues left around the house to
puzzle and taunt the cops.
Charles
slipped out a window in the back, leaving it open. In the garage there was Charles’ only
vehicle, a lovingly preserved Harley-Davidson he seldom rode. The Gardeniers write that Charles may have
taken some insurance with him when he rode away. Fred Rogers had kept detailed records over
his many years as a bookie. The Houston
Police, like many police departments in that era, struggled with a reputation
for corruption. Fred was arrested on
occasion, with no real consequences. It’s
not much of an inferential leap to conclude Fred had considerable dirt on
numerous prominent Houstonians. Police
never found any trace of Fred’s journals after his murder, though they must
have suspected their existence and would have liked to have gotten their hands
on them.
Charles
may have taken other useful papers with him that June morning. Years after leaving Shell, he was still resentful
of his treatment there. Apparently Jean, before she herself left the company, had funneled closely held,
financially valuable geological data to Charles. But Charles needed ready cash. Now.
Given
what happened next, it’s clear he either had it to begin with or somehow got it
within hours. The Gardeniers reference,
then dismiss, a rumor circulating at the time that Charles had maybe taken the
money from the safe at a private club for geologists he’s said to have
frequented. If there had been a theft, it
was never reported.
It’s
most likely Charles had accumulated the money ahead of time. He owned a number of rental properties in his
own name, which was probably his largest single source of income. Like his parents, Charles was known to skirt
the law now and then. Maybe he had owned
additional properties under aliases. If
these were residences in poorer neighborhoods, the rents were probably paid in
cash which Charles carefully husbanded. If
it sounds unlikely that having that much cash wouldn’t have been noticed, we
have to keep in mind how much banking has changed since 1965.
The
economy half a century ago was much more cash based than it is now. There was no online banking, no ATMs, no
depositing the few paper checks we do receive via smartphone. Such electronic money transfers as there were
took place between banks and large corporations.
So
that left good old American greenbacks for the most part. If you needed cash, you’d have to go to a
brick and mortar bank during banking hours and either cash a check made out to
you or make a withdrawal from your own account.
Or, you could write a check for over the amount of purchase at a store
and pocket the difference. If you needed
cash after business hours, you were out of luck until tomorrow. It wouldn’t do to be caught short if you were
in a desperate fix.
But
Charles had resources, and he had someone close who would help. It was time to give Houston the slip.
To
be continued…
©
2019 The Unassuming Scholar
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