CO CO - Oakey 'Al' Kite, 53, Aurora, 22 May 2004

[georgiagirl]

My friend's stepdad was murdered almost two years ago and the case is unsolved. I have copied the email she sent to me below and the link to his story below:

To all:
Please click on the link below and if possible, watch AMW this Saturday, March 4 @ 9pm EST. My step-dad (Al Kite) was brutally murdered almost 2 years ago and they have not found his killer. If you know of anyone who lives in the Denver or Aurora area please forward to them as well-or for that matter, send to all the people you know, as "Robert Cooper" may be anywhere.
I appreciate anything you can do to help out.
Thank you,
Julie
http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=37694

Maybe someone out there knows something that can help break this case.

Also, here is a link I found with some info about the victim:

http://www.unresolvedhomicides.org/detail.cfm?id=595F5D450B0308041E5B5D0116005555581C0C

 

[T'sNana]

This "Cooper" guy sure has done things to make him look guilty! I hope they find him soon. What another terrible waste of human life! This guy ("Cooper") seems to have thought this murder out in advance! IMO

 

[Mullins]

GeorgiaGirl,
Sorry to hear about Mr. Kite. He sounded like such a nice man. Do you know if the tenant had possibly left any of his belongings at Al's? Or taken anything of value such as jewelry, watch, from Al? I suppose the police already checked into this possibility...

 

[annemc2]

I saw the segment on AMW and it was quite chilling. It reminded me of another case that was featured on AMW in the past, about a realtor that was murdered. The realtor was a white male who, with his wife, had established a successful business. He was brutally murdered after showing a house to a man who, if I remember correctly, was described as using a cane and walking with a limp. This same scenario occurred in Mr Kite's case, where it is speculated that the cane/limp was used to thwart eyewitnesses.

I tried searching the AMW show archives but could not find information regarding the case about the realtor. Does anyone else recall this case? The MO seems quite similar to that of the person who killed Mr. Kite. I believe that the victim was stabbed, also, and that robbery was not the motive. I'm sure that if I noticed the similarities in the cases that some LE and/or the AMW staff did as well. But it's driving me bonkers now. Anybody?

 

[spikydragon]

I tried searching the AMW show archives but could not find information regarding the case about the realtor. Does anyone else recall this case?

I remembered it too, and went to google for it ... Was it the one described here? http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/74724

 

[annemc2]

YES! That's the one! Thanks so much for posting that - I thought there was something about a bathtub, too, so for sure that's it. Too similar to not be considered, IMO. Interesting that they would consider a hit man in this case and not in the Kite case...

 

[bykerladi]

If the victim's girlfriend met the purported killer, why didn't she give a description to the sketch artist?

 

[annemc2]

If the victim's girlfriend met the purported killer, why didn't she give a description to the sketch artist?

In the Kite case, she never saw his face. The AMW segment portrayed the sighting as if she saw him walking out the door and down the sidewalk (or something like that...). Whoever this Cooper guy is, he sure puts a lot of thought into what he's doing. I had forgotten about how he left both his and the victim's cell phones out for homeless people to pick up - threw the authorities off for quite some time. Creeeeepy.

 

[bykerladi]

But if she only saw him walking away how did she know he had an accent?

 

[annemc2]

from the AMW page

Different To Every Witness

This is what Robert Cooper looked like to Al Kite's next-door neighbor. She saw this man walk into Kite's home days before the murder.


The paper trail was going nowhere, so Detective Sobieski turned to the few people who'd seen Robert Cooper. One was Al Kite's girlfriend. Though she never saw his face, she did note the man dressed nicely and more notably, walked with a limp and used a cane.

When Sobieski talked to another woman who'd met Cooper, he was told a different story. This Robert Cooper did not limp but did speak with a Romanian accent. So now, the question is: which of these clues provide insight into the killer and which were planted by the killer to help him get away with murder?

 

[murderinmemphis]

I think the other case we are looking for is the Mike Emert case. There is an article here that gives a small amount of info.

The murder occurred in 2001. This article was updated in 2006. Although I can't say with certainty what was in the update it appears that in August of 2006 the story was updated thus:

"Meanwhile, King County sheriff's detectives have found and interviewed the person of interest they wanted to question in connection with the killing.

The sheriff's office says the 62-year-old Seattle man is not considered a suspect, although he is currently the focus of detectives."

 

[murderinmemphis]

It seems to me that "the crime" its self is the thing. While the killer left a lot of disinformation, actually visiting some of the other apartments while acting suspicious seems mighty risky for such a smart guy. Leaving the phone number on a piece of paper for the police to find seems gratuitous. It might have bought a little time, but given the amount of cops who work a homicide it wouldn't help much. It simply seems to be "thumbing his nose" for the fun of it.

Here is where I go way out on a limb:

A lot of this guys stuff seems to mimic movies. In the film "The Usual Suspects" the killer, Keyser Soze, is from Eastern Europe, but the false personality he presents throughout the movie is a character named "Verbal" who has a very pronounced limp.

The house where the murder took place was at the corner of Helena and "Hannibal".

His alias, Bob Cooper, calls to mind D. B. Cooper, the most famous alias of all time.

The whole idea would seem pretty feasible if I could think of a character who committed similar murders. The meticulous nature of the crimes put me in mind of Jack the Ripper, but that's about as far as the similarity goes.

 

[gaia227]

Al Kite was the victim of a very well organized and manipulative criminal. The man who called himself Robert Cooper posed as a perspective renter and Al Kite needed a roommate. This same man "Robert Cooper' had approached more than one person about renting and every single person gave a different physical account of the man. One said he walked with a limp, the other said he had a Hungarian accent and their basic physical descriptions varied as well.

The address Robert Cooper used turned out to be a school, his social was that of a woman's and it seems pretty obviously Robert Cooper was not his real name.

LE believe that Al Kite was targeted because of opportunity and he was murdered for the thrill of it. Cooper hit Kite on the back of the head, tied him up and tortured him for hours before finally killing him by stabbing him 22 times. He took a shower at Kite's house and LE believe he slept there as well. He then used Kite's truck to go to Kite's ATM to withdraw money. He was wearing a mask. LE said there were charges on Kite's credit card made after his death.


Robert Cooper planned this crime out very extensively. He made sure his rental information was incorrect. He delibertely left a piece of paper at the crime scene with his name and his real cell phone number. LE tracked the cell phone all over the Denver area before finally learning Cooper had gone and purposefully left the phone in a homeless area on the assumption someone would pick it up and start using it causing the police to chase the phone all over the place.

This is an interesting case. I would not be the least bit surprised to learn "Robert Cooper" travels all around the country posing as different people and has murdered several with no connection being made to eachother.


http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/2009/02/08/man-posing-as-renter-tortures-kills-homeowner/

http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=37694

http://www.unresolvedhomicides.org/detail.cfm?id=595F5D450B0308041E5B5D0116005555581C0C

 

[littlehorn]

Hungarian accent...Walks with a limp on cue...Sounds like Keyser Soze...

 

[gaia227]

LoL.....nice observation.

 

[annemc2]

from the AMW site:

# NOTE: POLICE CANNOT CONFIRM WHETHER ANY OF THESE CLUES ARE TRUE OR DELIBRATELY FALSE
# May be from the east coast, most notably New Jersey
# May have connections to the banking industry, most notably Wells Fargo Bank
# Usually dresses professionally, suit and tie
# May be using the name Robert Cooper
# May be familiar with the area around the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver
# May have a sister or mother who lives in Aurora, Colorado
# May have attempted to become a police officer but was denied

I wonder how they came up with these? Esp the possible Wells Fargo and NJ connections?

 

[gaia227]

I wondered the same thing annemc2. They are portraying this man as a complete enigma - not even knowing his real name - yet somehow they have enough clues to think he might have ties to NJ, Wells Fargo, Univ.of Co@Denver....

I wonder if all of those ideas are based on interviews of people who encountered him the days leading up to Al's murder. According to the article he approached several people about rental property. I can't imagine he would have told any of those people anything that is remotely true.

 

[littlehorn]

I wondered the same thing annemc2. They are portraying this man as a complete enigma - not even knowing his real name - yet somehow they have enough clues to think he might have toes to NJ, Wells Fargo, Univ.of Co@Denver....

I wonder if all of those ideas are based on interviews of people who encountered him the days leading up to Al's murder. According to the article he approached several people about rental property. I can't imagine he would have told any of those people anything that is remotely true.

Those "Facts" are rather randomly specific, aren't they? I'd imagine they were part of his patter that he used on other people he unsuccessfully approached about rental property.

Hard to separate truth from lies in this one until he's caught.

 

[waltzingmatilda]

Is it my imagination or does the composite sketch (the 2nd) provided by the lady who didn't rent to him resemble Clark Rockefeller? One of the photos of the perp with the mask withdrawing money from the ATM (the one that shows the most face) resembles CR's nose and shifty eyes. I am watching that trial right now while reading this and the resemblence is noticable. Doesn't this Perps MO sound similar to CR or am I just sleuthing too much?

 

[gaia227]

Clark Rockefeller:
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/08nF00o74ebCE/340x.jpg

Yes - he does look like him doesn't he?

I haven't kept up with the Rockefeller case so I am not familar with his MO - can you fill me in?


There was a woman who disappeared in Florida and for some reason her case reminds me of Al's a little bit:
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/p/prince_sandra.html