In January 1935, a young man checked into the Hotel President in Kansas City, Missouri, using the name Roland T. Owen. He carried almost nothing with him. He kept to his room, drew the curtains, and attracted the attention of several hotel employees through a series of unusual encounters.
A few days later, he was found gravely injured in Room 1046. He would die in hospital without ever explaining what had happened to him.
At first, investigators didn't even know who he was.
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Who was the man registered as Roland T. Owen? Why had he used a false name? Who were the people who visited, telephoned, or appeared to be connected to him? And what had happened behind the closed door of Room 1046?
The investigation would uncover a trail of aliases, conflicting witness accounts, unexplained telephone calls, anonymous funeral arrangements, and people who seemed to know something about the dead man's life. Yet, despite years of enquiries, the central mystery remained unresolved.
Eventually, the young man was identified as Artemus Ogletree. His real name had been recovered, but the circumstances surrounding his final days remained elusive. The people who may have been with him in Kansas City were never conclusively identified, and nobody was ever charged with his murder.
In this calm, atmospheric investigation, we travel back to Kansas City in 1935 and follow the story from the city's troubled history and the mysterious hotel registration to the discovery in Room 1046, the search for the man's identity, and the many unanswered questions that followed.
Who was Don? What connected Artemus to the other names that appeared during the investigation? Why did someone arrange and pay for his burial anonymously? And who was Louise, the person who sent thirteen American Beauty roses with the message "Love forever"?
Was the answer hidden among the people who passed through the hotel? Did someone know exactly what had happened but choose never to speak? Or did the evidence simply disappear along with the people investigators were trying to find?
Tonight, we won't pretend to solve the mystery of Room 1046. We'll follow the surviving evidence, distinguish documented facts from later recollections and theories, and consider what the investigation can — and cannot — tell us about the final days of Artemus Ogletree.
Perfect For:
• Falling asleep to true crime and unsolved murders
• Calm historical investigations
• Atmospheric documentaries for sleep
• Mysterious hotel deaths and unexplained identities
• Exploring famous unsolved cases at bedtime
Settle in, get comfortable, and come with me to Kansas City in the winter of 1935, where a man checked into a hotel under a name that wasn't his, and left behind one of America's most enduring unsolved mysteries.
This is The Sleepy Investigator.