Police Stories: Lost and Found

This entry is about losing things and finding them again.

First we have the story of Leon Jordan's murder 40 years ago. The Kansas City Star ran an article urging that police reopen this cold case, and try to solve it in the spirit of many cases from the "Civil Rights" era that have been solved. In the story, the reporters note that the shotgun used in the murder, and the finger print transfer cards had been misplaced. Well, both the finger print cards and the shotgun have been found. Lord knows where the finger print cards were. Seems as if a few officers, evidence techs and CSIs got curious and started poking around in the dustier corners of KCPD storage areas and found them. On the finger print cards was the serial number of the missing gun. A tech, out of curiosity, ran the number through the computer weapons tracking system. And got a hit. The Kansas City, Missouri Police Department owned the gun. It was in a patrol car even at that very moment. Seems as if the gun was sold to an unknown person, then bought by KCPD from a gun dealer, because it was the model of shotgun that the department uses. Needless to say, this "cold case" is now being reopened. Read more about the finding of the gun, etc. here.

Next thing found is a person, namely Larry Schnackenberg. Mr. Schnackenberg, 58, was running errands July 8 and suddenly disappeared. His car, with his cell phone, wallet with money and ID in it were found in Shawnee Mission Park. Volunteers looked pretty steadily for Mr. Schnackenberg all that weekend without finding him. The case filtered out of the news cycle, although missing posters remained up around town. I personally figured that Mr. Schnackenberg's body would turn up eventually. Well, surprise, surprise, when a park security employee saw Mr. Schnackenberg on a trail near Shawnee Mission Park. Rick Reynolds had acquaintance with Mr. Schnackenberg, so when he saw him while on bike patrol yesterday, he recognized him despite his weight loss and weathered appearance. He was reunited with his family at Shawnee Mission Medical Center later in the day. The family is happy to have him back. However, the questions are flowing, especially from readers and viewers of the news. Because Mr. Schnackenberg appeared to be of sound mind before his disappearance, and he appeared to not have been assaulted or otherwise bothered, and he did reappear in decent enough shape, people are questioning the legitimacy of the disappearance and whether or not it was engineered or done on purpose. Even his family says that they've got some questions. So this story may not be over yet. It does have this extra dimension, because the family brought the media in after his disappearance quickly, and now there are all these extra people wanting answers. It's the price that is paid for using the media in these types of cases. Speaking of media, here are some news links. KMBC notes that he had a beard, and had lost his footwear when he was found. The KC Star also has the story, and video of the family's news conference.

So there you are. Things usually don't disappear forever. That's pretty rare. They usually turn up someplace.