aThousandYearsWide
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Letter Claiming Murder of Missing Machinist More Puzzle Than Help, Police Say
July 20, 1992
BURBANK, Calif. (AP) _ Police expected Thomas Roche to turn up in a few days, as do most people whom loved ones have reported missing. Instead, a letter came from someone who wrote of an uncontrollable need to kill.
No sign of Roche, 37, has been found. And police say the letter has proved more puzzling than helpful.
″I am suffering a great deal of guilt right now about what I have done and I feel it is necessary to write about it for my sake and yours,″ the letter begins. ″You don’t know me and hopefully you never will but I am the one who killed Tom Roche.″
Roche, a machinist, disappeared on Sept. 13, 1991, leaving behind his live- in girlfriend, a new job and a cherished Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
″Either this is a legitimate disappearance, and the person who wrote the letter had something to do with it, or Tom Roche disappeared on his own and had it done to cover his tracks,″ Detective Cliff Thieme said in a recent interview.
But Thieme also said the passage of time increases the chances the letter is valid. ″The more time goes by ... I have to look more strongly on the possibility that he may be dead,″ he said.
Barbara Rondeau, who lived with Roche, received the letter at their apartment, six days after he disappeared. The letter addressed to ″The family of Thomas Roche″ included a driver’s license, credit card and piece of jewelry belonging to Roche.
The writer described meeting Roche at a bar and getting him to agree to meet later.
″He fell for it and we arranged to meet on Friday the 13th,″ the letter- writer said. ″I must assure you that it was neat and quick. I do not think he suffered at all.″
He said his urge to kill Roche stemmed from his experience in the Vietnam War.
″Those were the happiest days of my life,″ the letter-writer said. ″I felt such a rush whenever I had a confirmed kill that it was hard to switch it off when I came back to the states. This Jefferey Behemer thing really got to me and I wondered if I could still do it.″
He apparently referred to Milwaukee serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, whose murders came to light after his arrest in July 1992.
Police, who have searched the country for clues into Roche’s whereabouts, would not disclose the letter’s postmark and said no usable fingerprints were found on the letter or envelope.
″I’m waiting for the ’magic phone call,‴ Thieme said. ″There isn’t much else we can do.″
Letter Claiming Murder of Missing Machinist More Puzzle Than Help, Police Say
Four months after Tom had vanished, on 11 January 1992, police in Placer County, California, which was 500 miles north of Burbank, were called to investigate a report of bones fragments discovered on a remote hillside. There were also numerous personal effects found at the site, including a dufflebag which contained a flashlight, hunting knife, an empty prescription bottle of medicine, two pairs of prescription eyeglasses and several shirts. The weathered bones were later DNA tested and positively identified as belonging to Tom Roche. It was determined he had been killed by a single gunshot. Because of the personal items found, police believe Tom had planned a trip with his killer, who drove them 500 miles north before murdering him.
Man Disappears: Tragedy or Hoax? : Mystery: He left a girlfriend, a new job and his beloved Harley. But now, police say letter from his purported killer may be true.
https://www.thetruecrimedatabase.com/case_file/tom-roche
July 20, 1992
BURBANK, Calif. (AP) _ Police expected Thomas Roche to turn up in a few days, as do most people whom loved ones have reported missing. Instead, a letter came from someone who wrote of an uncontrollable need to kill.
No sign of Roche, 37, has been found. And police say the letter has proved more puzzling than helpful.
″I am suffering a great deal of guilt right now about what I have done and I feel it is necessary to write about it for my sake and yours,″ the letter begins. ″You don’t know me and hopefully you never will but I am the one who killed Tom Roche.″
Roche, a machinist, disappeared on Sept. 13, 1991, leaving behind his live- in girlfriend, a new job and a cherished Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
″Either this is a legitimate disappearance, and the person who wrote the letter had something to do with it, or Tom Roche disappeared on his own and had it done to cover his tracks,″ Detective Cliff Thieme said in a recent interview.
But Thieme also said the passage of time increases the chances the letter is valid. ″The more time goes by ... I have to look more strongly on the possibility that he may be dead,″ he said.
Barbara Rondeau, who lived with Roche, received the letter at their apartment, six days after he disappeared. The letter addressed to ″The family of Thomas Roche″ included a driver’s license, credit card and piece of jewelry belonging to Roche.
The writer described meeting Roche at a bar and getting him to agree to meet later.
″He fell for it and we arranged to meet on Friday the 13th,″ the letter- writer said. ″I must assure you that it was neat and quick. I do not think he suffered at all.″
He said his urge to kill Roche stemmed from his experience in the Vietnam War.
″Those were the happiest days of my life,″ the letter-writer said. ″I felt such a rush whenever I had a confirmed kill that it was hard to switch it off when I came back to the states. This Jefferey Behemer thing really got to me and I wondered if I could still do it.″
He apparently referred to Milwaukee serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, whose murders came to light after his arrest in July 1992.
Police, who have searched the country for clues into Roche’s whereabouts, would not disclose the letter’s postmark and said no usable fingerprints were found on the letter or envelope.
″I’m waiting for the ’magic phone call,‴ Thieme said. ″There isn’t much else we can do.″
Letter Claiming Murder of Missing Machinist More Puzzle Than Help, Police Say
Four months after Tom had vanished, on 11 January 1992, police in Placer County, California, which was 500 miles north of Burbank, were called to investigate a report of bones fragments discovered on a remote hillside. There were also numerous personal effects found at the site, including a dufflebag which contained a flashlight, hunting knife, an empty prescription bottle of medicine, two pairs of prescription eyeglasses and several shirts. The weathered bones were later DNA tested and positively identified as belonging to Tom Roche. It was determined he had been killed by a single gunshot. Because of the personal items found, police believe Tom had planned a trip with his killer, who drove them 500 miles north before murdering him.
Man Disappears: Tragedy or Hoax? : Mystery: He left a girlfriend, a new job and his beloved Harley. But now, police say letter from his purported killer may be true.
https://www.thetruecrimedatabase.com/case_file/tom-roche
