Letter from a cop
Don Bennett, a retired Oklahoma City police detective, sent us a letter after reading the stories about Brenda White and Judith Elwell and the comments from Judith’s brother on the Cold Case OKC blog.
Excerpts follow:
“As a Youth Bureau Detective for OCPD,” he wrote, “I was responsible for a large amount of follow up investigations pertaining to the Elwell disappearance of 7/6/1967. We received reports from all over Okla. City, Oklahoma, and from various areas of the U.S.
“We made follow up investigations on all reports that came to us, even though most of them seemed inconsistent with the facts as we knew them. I personally went to Wichita, Ks. with other local Law Enforcement Officers along with representative Jim Standard of The Oklahoman in August of 1967.
“This trip was to interview a male Nurse who had been in Okc. and had worked at the Nursing Home in the 3200 NW 10 (area) just East of where Elwell lived. He had worked there at the time of the disappearance. The suspect was interviewed at great length and voluntarily agreed to take a polygraph test administered by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The suspect was released after passing all tests and interviews and no other evidence existed connecting him to this case.
“Lt. Jim Reading, head of the Youth Bureau, kept a file on this case in his office that was about 8-10 inches thick and was kept up to date on a daily basis. For some unknown reason this file has disappeared or been misplaced. I myself about a year ago attempted to ascertain information about this case and was advised by OCPD it could not be found.
“To my knowledge, this is the only unsolved case of a missing or abducted child in the history of the OCPD.”
(That statement has not been verified.)
“The OCPD and the Youth Bureau spent hundreds if not thousands of man hours and travel investigating this case and did all we possibly could do in solving this case as there was a lot of public sentiment and input into this case. We worked this case as if it was our very own missing child.”
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Comments
As far as I know the case of Cinda Pallet and charlotte kinsey has never been solved they disappeared in 1981 from the fair grounds.
YES ABOUT CHARLOTTE AND CINDY THEY SHOULD HAVE CK ON A TEACHER AT JEFFERSON MIDDLE SCHOOL ABOUT THOSE GIRLS .HIS NAME IS ROBERT JOHNSON MY DAUGHTER ATT ,THAT SCHOOL AS WELL AS A SON OF A WELL KNOW ATT. IN OKC WE HAD MANY TALKS WITH THE PRINCPAL ABOUT BAD THINGS HE HAD DONE AND TREATED OUR CHILDREN AND ANOTHER LITTLE GIRL THAT LATER ATTENED ANOTHER SCHOOL,, WE TOOK OUR CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL EARLY THAT YEAR AND REFUSED TO SEND THEM BACK… HE WAS ALSO THE MAN THAT TOOK THE PICTURE OF THEM IN THE FARRIS WHEEL AT THE FAIR. THE LAST PICTURE EVER SEEN OF THEM THAT I KNOW OF … THE POLICE SHOULD HAVE CK HIM CLOSER .HE WAS THE ART TEACHER AT JEFFERSON MIDDLE SCHOOL………..
OKC MIGHT NOT HAVE A RECORD OF BRENDA WHITE ,BUT AS OF THE MID 9O,S MIDWEST .CITY FOUND THERES BECAUSE I SPOKE TO AN INVEST, ABOUT IT. BRENDA WHITE ,IS MY COUSIN.. THE ORIGANAL OFFICER HAS PASSED AWAY AND I ALSO SPOKE TO HIS SON . I BELIVE HIS LAST NAME TO B MESSICK . IF YOU FIND ANY NEWS ON BRENDA WHITE CASE ,,,ANYONE PLEASE………….CONTACT ME,,no_news_82_okc@yahoo.com
I BELIEVE I MADE A MISTAKE IN MY E-MAIL THE TEACHER WAS THE ART TEACHER AT JEFFERSON MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HIS NAME WAS .”ROBERT TAYLOR” I LOOKED AT SOME OF THE OLD THINGS ,THAT CONCERENED HIM AND AN UNFIT DRAWING HE HAD MADE OF MY DAUGHTER .WITH HER CHEERLEADING OUTFIT ON WITH HER PANTIES PULLED DOWN AND BANDADES ON HER KNEES IT EVEN HAD THE SAME EAR RINGS ON THE DRAWING THAT SHE WORE…. THAT IS SICK. WHY CAN MEN LIKE THAT . WALK THE STREET MUCH LESS TEACH ARE CHILDREN. OH . HE SIGNED THE DRAWING “TAYLOR MADE” SICK SOB REBECCA .. YEA IF YOU READ THIS YOU KNOW WHO I AM . I PRAY SOME DAY YOU BURN IN HELL……………
HI NELL MY NAME IS REBECCA I AM BRENDA WHITES COUSIN . AND I WAS WONDERING WHY YOU ASK THE QUESTION ABOUT DEWEY GEORGE MOORE IN THE BRENBA WHITE CASE ? DO YOU KNOW HIM ? PLEASE CONTACT ME .. “REBECCA” AT- no_news_82_okc@yahoo.com
I HAVE TRIED TO CONTACT LT.STEVE MCCOOL AT OKC POLICE DEPT. HE HAS NEVER RETURNED MY CALLS ABOUT BRENDA WHITE, I HAVE FOUND INFO THAT NEEDS TO BE CHECKED OUT. SO THIS MORNING I CALLED A LADY AT :FOUR NEWS: AND WE WILL SEE IF ANY ONE FROM THE OKLAHOMA CITY POLICE DEPT. WILL CONTACT HER……… REBECCA.” BRENDAS COUSIN”
I AM PLEASED TO LET EVERONE KNOW MY PHONE HAS BEEN ON FIRE ,,,,,,I HAVE SPOKEN TO SO MANY POLICE DECT AND LT, CHIEFS CAPTIN, INVEST, COLD CASE INVEST, I CANT REMBER ALL THERE NAMES .. I REALLY CAN AND I HAVE THEM WRITTEN DOWN SO I WANT FORGET ,BUT NOT KNOWING IF I CAN USE THERE NAMES IN PRINT ,I WANT AT THIS TIME ..STARTING YESTERDAY, THE BALL IS ROLLINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG, WE WILL SOLVE THIS CASE … WE WILL FIND OUT WHO TOOK OUR “LITTLE BRENDA”AND HOPE FULL MAYBE JUDITH EWELL .I SPOKE TO ANY OKC DECT ,THAT WILL BE FOLLING BRENDAS CASE WITH MIDWEST CITY AND SEE IF THEY HAVE ANYTHING IN COMMON. I PRAY THIS WILL ALL COME TO AN END SOME DAY SOON ,AND WITH THE HELP OF DNA AND THE NEW EVEDINCE WE HAVE IT COULD, I JUST WANT EVERY ONE ENVOLED TO KNOW HOW MUCH “WE THE FAMILY” APPERACITE YOUR HELP .AND I HOPE THAT IT DOES NOT HURT PEOPLE AND THEIR FAMILYS THAT WAS BORN MANY YEARS AFTER THIS CRIME HAPPEN ,YOU DONT NEED TO FEEL GUILTY YOU HAD NO CONTROL OVER OTHER PEOPLES ACTION.AND WITH OUT GOOD PEOPLE LIKE YOU WITH GOOD MORELS .WE COULD NOT BE MOVING FORFOWARD ,WITH THIS CASE. THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP. REBECCA “BRENDAS COUSIN”
Dewey Moore died of natural causes on July 28, 2004 in McAlester at the Corrections Facility. The State of Oklahoma regrets they weren’t able to kill him themselves.
Hopefully, someday, the killer of Brenda White and the person who took Judith Elwell will be known. Dead or alive, that person needs to be identified so both families can have closure and a measure of peace.
I am sorry to state this but I know of three additional cases that happened in the OKC area. Amber Renee Barker has been missing since 12-18-97. I participated in the walking search in the OKC fairgrounds area without sucess. To my knowledge her body has never been found. Kirsten Renee Hatfield has been missing since 5-14-97 and I believe she was last seen in the Midwest City of Del City Area. A third case involved a missing girl Chrystal Dittmeyer since 6-13-96. There was an arrest and trial of her stepfather but I do not know the disposition. Her body has never been found but she has never been heard from since she disappeared.