Clifford L. Linedecker - Smooth Operator. The True Story of Seductive Serial Killer Glen Rogers

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Contents

Dear Reader:

The book you are about to read is the latest bestseller from St. Martins True Crime Library, the imprint The New York Times calls the leader in true crime! Each month, we offer you a fascinating account of the latest, most sensational crime that has captured the national attention. In DEADLY SEDUCTION a prominent attorney thought hed found the woman of his dreams, until the silky blonde society lady turned into a calculating, cruel seductress whose murderous future was about to rival her sordid past. DEATH CRUISE tells how a dream vacation in Florida turned into a nightmare of death on a tropical ocean for a mother and her two teenage daughters. Beneath one brilliant doctors kindly bedside manner lurked an insatiable killer who lured his patients into a vicious circle of death in WITHOUT MERCY.

True Crime Library is also where readers go to find the classic tales of the most infamous crimes of our times. THE MILWAUKEE MURDERS delves into the twisted world of savage serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer; WHOEVER FIGHTS MONSTERS takes you inside the special FBI team that tracks serial killers; BAD BLOOD is the story of the notorious Menendez brothers and their sensational trials; FALLEN HERO recounts the riveting tragedy of O.J. Simpson and the case that stunned a nation.

St. Martins True Crime Library gives you the stories behind the headlines. Our authors take you right to the scene of the crime and into the minds of the most evil murderers to show you what really makes them tick. St. Martins True Crime Library paperbacks are better than the most terrifying thriller, because its all true! The next time you want a crackling good read, make sure its got the St. Martins True Crime Library logo on the spineyoull be up all night!

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LOVE AND DEATH

The badly charred body of a petite woman was found slumped inside the scorched shell of the truck. Her clothing was burned off and the flesh of the trunk and upper part of the body was seared black by the flames. It appeared she had been deliberately set on fire, and the flames spread throughout the interior of the truck. There was no identification with the body, and authorities were able to determine how she died before they learned who she was. Los Angeles County Coroners Office pathologists concluded that the woman was strangled before her body was set on fire and left inside the burning truck.

THE MAN WHO STANDS ACCUSED OF THIS GHASTLY CRIME IS GLEN ROGERS. READ ON TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE TRUE STORY OF THIS

SMOOTH OPERATOR

Acknowledgments

I am indebted to many individuals for contributions to the writing and accuracy of this book.

Police officers, prosecuting attorneys, jail employees and members of their staffs, courthouse employees, librarians, and journalists have all had a hand in its production, from the initial concept to the completed manuscript.

Among those deserving of special acknowledgment for their help are Todd Blevins, a reporter for the Richmond Register; Beulah Phelps, a civilian employee at the Madison County Detention Center; and Deborah Garrison of the Department of Public Advocacyall in Richmond; and Roger Jordan in Cincinnati.

Thanks also go, of course, to my agent Tony Seidl of T. D. Media; and especially to my editor, Charles Spicer, for suggesting I write the Glen Rogers story.

Introduction

In many respects, if Glen Edward Rogers is guilty of the dreadful crimes he is accused of, he is a classic serial killer.

Serial killers tend to focus on a specific type of victim based on such things as gender, age, physical appearance, and lifestyle or profession.

The four women Rogers has been accused of murdering were all redheads in their twenties or early thirties. He met three of them in bars, and the other while drinking beer and listening to country music at a state fair.

Attraction to a certain type of victim, and an almost ritualized method of operation, including the manner in which they are isolated and slain, are factors that can help police track a killer down. Geography is also an important factor. Most serial killers are as territorial as cougars or wildcats. They work a particular area.

Wayne B. Williams was convicted of murder after Atlanta was gripped in fear for twenty-two months during the early 1980s while a wave of black children and young men died; David Carpenter stalked and murdered women along hiking trails north of San Francisco; and Arthur Shawcross killed prostitutes picked up in the red-light districts of Rochester, New York.

It took a while but all three of those serial killers were eventually run down and put out of business. Their territorial behavior was among the factors that helped police focus their investigation. Williams was arrested after dumping a body off an Atlanta bridge into the Chattahoochie River. A couple of police officers were hiding in brush at the base of the bridge, waiting for just such an event. Other bodies had already been pulled from the murky waters.

Shawcross left his scent and marked his territory as surely as any animal predator, by dumping most of his victims in the Genesee River. Writing about the murders before and after he was run to ground, the press dubbed him the Genesee River Killer. Carpenter was similarly tagged as the Trailside Killer, and police knew where to focus their investigation and searchthe hiking trails in the wilderness areas of Marin County.

Rogers is a different breed of animala specific type of serial killer who can be much harder to catch. Hes considered a spree killer, but, again, of a very narrowly defined type. Mass murderers who explode in sudden killing binges, bursting into office buildings, restaurants, or schools packing an arsenal of AK-47s, Uzis, and automatic pistols, and begin spraying everybody in sight are sometimes referred to as spree killers. They engage in killing sprees of sorts, but Rogers is a different breed.

Rogers fits into the same mold with such notorious butchers as Christopher Bernard Wilder, and Alton Coleman and Debra Brown, who kill in staccato bursts of violence separated by a few hours or a few days. In 1984, Wilder killed two beautiful women in the Miami area, then, after he learned police were closing in, he raged across the country murdering models and would-be models in a grisly four-week murder spree before he was finally shot to death by a state police officer in New Hampshire.

The same year, Coleman apparently first killed a little girl from Waukegan, Illinois, then he and his girlfriend set off on a seven-week sex-and-murder rampage through the Midwest slaughtering men, women, and children until they were finally tracked down and captured in Evanston, Illinois. The couple had traveled in a loop through Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and then back to Illinois.

Wilder, Coleman, and Brown moved rapidly, killing in one state, then selecting the next victim or victims hundreds of miles away in another state. Coleman and Brown drove in the cars of their victims, rode buses, and even pedaled bicycles during their crime spree. Wilder drove a series of cars, beginning with his own and then switching to others stolen from victims. Law enforcement authorities knew from the beginning of the manhunts exactly who they were looking for, but they didnt know where to look.