‘Perfect storm’ of miscues
Special Judge Dawson R. Engle said “a perfect storm” of delays allowed his mother’s killers to escape Oklahoma City in 1986.
On April 23 of that year, Kathy Sue Engle, 41, was abducted in her own car from Shepherd Mall. (See www.coldcaseokc.com for full details.) Witnesses saw the abduction take place.
“My understanding from police is that they (witnesses) debated and waited before calling police,” Dawson Engle said.
When they did call in, a jurisdictional mess occurred, he said.
The Engles’ home had a physical address in Oklahoma City but a Yukon mailing address and phone number. Dawson Engle and his sister attended Mustang schools.
“Apparently at the time, standard procedure was for OCPD to treat that (kidnappings) like a domestic and go to the home address,” Dawson Engle said. “But it was a Yukon address. So OCPD called Yukon police and told them that they had a report of a kidnapping. … But Yukon police said, ‘No, that’s an Oklahoma City address.’ So nothing happened.”
By the time it all got sorted out, precious hours had elapsed. Officers didn’t show up at the Engle house until about 10:45 p.m. — almost three hours after the abduction.
The kidnappers escaped. Kathy Engle didn’t. Her body was found a week later in a Sayre oil field.
*****UPDATE******
Inspector Kyle Eastridge says police did arrive at the Engle home well before 10:45 p.m. There was no answer at the door initially, apparently because Dawson A. Engle, the victim’s husband, was fast asleep and didn’t hear them.
Next feature drawing near
The next major case on our schedule is the 1986 kidnapping of Kathy Sue Engle, a 41-year-old wife and mother of two who was later found dead near Sayre.
For years, authorities thought they knew who killed Engle, but DNA tests seem to have cleared the suspects.
Do you remember the Engle case? Have any information we should know?
Contact us here or by e-mail at coldcase@oklahoman.com.
