Bagbey recalls '73 case
By Garret Mathews
Steve Bagbey a rookie Evansville Police officer in January 1973 remembers sitting in the back of an ambulance next to the body of Ann Kline.
I had only been on the police two months. I hadn't even been to the academy, and here I was by myself with a murder victim, recalled Bagbey, who retired from the force in 1999 and recently as a member of the Evansville City Council.
We went down the old Division Street in front of Berry Plastics, and the vehicle ran over a lot of train tracks. Each time that would happen, the sheet would come down a little more and a little more until I could see bright red blood. It made you shudder.
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On duty
Bagbey was in a patrol car at the corner of Virginia and Governor streets when the call came in: at 3:34 p.m. on Jan. 18.
I'll never forget that day. <modsnip>
I saw a white female with her dress pulled up. She had black pantyhose and was wearing a multicolored dress. I watched the coroner dip his hands in the blood and put some in a vial. There wasn't any such thing as gloves back in those days.
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Pat Wathen, a reporter for the Evansville Courier, helped cover the story for the newspaper.
It was my first big murder case in my career that started in 1968. It was so shocking because it was in the middle of the day. I had never seen so much blood. The body had been removed, but I'll never forget the odor, Wathen said.
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The detectives
Robert Hollis was one of the lead detectives on the case with Ray Hamner, Charlie Berlin and Gary Keene.
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We found blood on a white porcelain water fountain. A girl went outside about the time of the murder and when she came back a few minutes later, there was the fresh blood. I think the killer knew this area and came there to clean up.
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http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/jan/06/bagbeyrecalls73-case/
Another article:
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/jan/09/victimssisterseeksclosure/
