Deadly Hero: The High Society Murder that Created Hysteria in the Heartland by Jason Lucky Morrow
Authors: Jason Lucky Morrow
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anonymous police official dodged questions
regarding how the telephone communication between the two boys could have occurred.
Jailer A. J. Schultz denied any outgoing call had been placed, and the Born’s
maid, Josey Henderson, told police the phone only rang once that morning and it
was for her. Schultz did admit that a young man called around 1:15 p.m. and asked
to speak to Kennamer, but the jailer said he told him Kennamer wasn’t allowed
telephone calls. This was corroborated by the drugstore employees who reported
Born only used the phone for approximately twenty seconds before slamming the
receiver down.
Even if this “police official” was making
provocative statements, the physical evidence lent itself to suicide. An
autopsy revealed powder burns and bullet fragments inside the wound, which detectives
believed were consistent with suicide.
When Born left the drug store, he bumped into a
young female friend who was later interviewed by police. “He left her and told
her that he was going to jump into the river,” Maddux said later. “That was
just a few minutes before he was found shot. Apparently he meant it but changed
his mind on the method of suicide.”
In spite of all this evidence, the county
sheriff’s department firmly believed Born was murdered. Explaining his theory
that another, unknown man aided Kennamer the night Gorrell was slain, and then
later murdered Born, Sheriff Charles Price said, “we have, from the start,
worked on the theory that Born’s death may have been murder, and [we] are not
satisfied with the suicide theory.”
The sheriff’s department was self-admittedly
affected by the rumors flying around Tulsa that it was a murder. They searched
for a suspect seen fleeing Born’s car after the gunshot echoed across Detroit
Avenue, but this turned out to be the man who found Born, and he was running to
call for an ambulance.
Sheriff Price then took issue with how Born’s body
was positioned when found by the ambulance drivers. “The pistol was found in
Born’s lap,” Sheriff Price told reporters. “If the boy had shot himself, I
believe the weapon would have dropped straight down to the seat. The boy’s
hands also were cupped in a manner as to fill with blood. That doesn’t seem
right to me. The right hand should have been outside the leg.”
Also suspicious to the sheriff was the entrance
wound in the right temple which was larger than the exit wound on the left. It
should have been the other way around, he said. Normally, that would be true, answered
city detectives, but when Born pressed the barrel against his temple, the
bullet fractured the temporal and parietal plates. When the bullet exited the
left side, it punched a small hole in the driver’s-side window and kept on
going. However, Chief Deputy Evans didn’t believe it happened this way.
Instead, he put forth the theory that Born’s killer was standing outside the
car when he shot Born through the window.
But if this was true, where did the bullet go? It
wasn’t inside his head. It wasn’t inside the car, and it didn’t open the door
and then close it on its way out of Born’s Chevrolet. Evans’s theory was based
on his own assumptions and ignored the plausible answer. Nevertheless, people
believed him.
During that entire week, whispered phone calls were
made to Sheriff Price, instructing him to look at certain people, or hinting
that he should follow this lead or that clue, and it would all bring the
mystery man into the light, the World told its readers. A young girl,
nationally known for her ability to mimic birdcalls, was in the area that Sunday.
She reporting hearing a gunshot and then hearing a man running through the
bushes. Deputies investigated this report but were never able to substantiate
it. Nevertheless, it was more proof that Born was murdered, even though it
could never be verified.
When his investigation into Born’s death began to
stall, Sheriff Price became frustrated and publicly
regarding how the telephone communication between the two boys could have occurred.
Jailer A. J. Schultz denied any outgoing call had been placed, and the Born’s
maid, Josey Henderson, told police the phone only rang once that morning and it
was for her. Schultz did admit that a young man called around 1:15 p.m. and asked
to speak to Kennamer, but the jailer said he told him Kennamer wasn’t allowed
telephone calls. This was corroborated by the drugstore employees who reported
Born only used the phone for approximately twenty seconds before slamming the
receiver down.
Even if this “police official” was making
provocative statements, the physical evidence lent itself to suicide. An
autopsy revealed powder burns and bullet fragments inside the wound, which detectives
believed were consistent with suicide.
When Born left the drug store, he bumped into a
young female friend who was later interviewed by police. “He left her and told
her that he was going to jump into the river,” Maddux said later. “That was
just a few minutes before he was found shot. Apparently he meant it but changed
his mind on the method of suicide.”
In spite of all this evidence, the county
sheriff’s department firmly believed Born was murdered. Explaining his theory
that another, unknown man aided Kennamer the night Gorrell was slain, and then
later murdered Born, Sheriff Charles Price said, “we have, from the start,
worked on the theory that Born’s death may have been murder, and [we] are not
satisfied with the suicide theory.”
The sheriff’s department was self-admittedly
affected by the rumors flying around Tulsa that it was a murder. They searched
for a suspect seen fleeing Born’s car after the gunshot echoed across Detroit
Avenue, but this turned out to be the man who found Born, and he was running to
call for an ambulance.
Sheriff Price then took issue with how Born’s body
was positioned when found by the ambulance drivers. “The pistol was found in
Born’s lap,” Sheriff Price told reporters. “If the boy had shot himself, I
believe the weapon would have dropped straight down to the seat. The boy’s
hands also were cupped in a manner as to fill with blood. That doesn’t seem
right to me. The right hand should have been outside the leg.”
Also suspicious to the sheriff was the entrance
wound in the right temple which was larger than the exit wound on the left. It
should have been the other way around, he said. Normally, that would be true, answered
city detectives, but when Born pressed the barrel against his temple, the
bullet fractured the temporal and parietal plates. When the bullet exited the
left side, it punched a small hole in the driver’s-side window and kept on
going. However, Chief Deputy Evans didn’t believe it happened this way.
Instead, he put forth the theory that Born’s killer was standing outside the
car when he shot Born through the window.
But if this was true, where did the bullet go? It
wasn’t inside his head. It wasn’t inside the car, and it didn’t open the door
and then close it on its way out of Born’s Chevrolet. Evans’s theory was based
on his own assumptions and ignored the plausible answer. Nevertheless, people
believed him.
During that entire week, whispered phone calls were
made to Sheriff Price, instructing him to look at certain people, or hinting
that he should follow this lead or that clue, and it would all bring the
mystery man into the light, the World told its readers. A young girl,
nationally known for her ability to mimic birdcalls, was in the area that Sunday.
She reporting hearing a gunshot and then hearing a man running through the
bushes. Deputies investigated this report but were never able to substantiate
it. Nevertheless, it was more proof that Born was murdered, even though it
could never be verified.
When his investigation into Born’s death began to
stall, Sheriff Price became frustrated and publicly
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