91 Years Later, Missouri Mystery of What Happened in Room 1046

I don't recall ever seeing a case that has as many twists and turns than this one. It's the mystery of what happened to a man in 1935 when he was found in room 1046 of a Kansas City hotel.

The mystery began on January 5, 1935 when a man giving a false name checked into this Kansas City, Missouri hotel

According to the account given on Wikipedia, the man said his name was Roland T. Owen and he was given a key to room 1046 in the Hotel President which would be the last time he would be seen alive. He had no bags, but gave a Los Angeles address and was wearing a dark overcoat. A bellhop saw him take a hairbrush, comb and toothpaste out of the coat and that's all he had with him. He only paid for one night's stay.

On the 2nd day, a maid tried to deliver fresh towels to room 1046, but she heard two men talking as she knocked on the door. A voice who she said was not "Roland" asked what she wanted and when she said she had fresh towels, he said "we don't need any" so she left.

Two days after "Roland" checked into the hotel, he was found by staff with wounded from beating and stabbing injuries. He was transported to a hospital, but died from his injuries. When no family could be found, investigators suspected he was staying in room 1046 as an alias. His body would remain in a local funeral home for a month and a half.

What happened in room 1046 that led to this man's death?

Hotel staff told police that there were odd communications with a man named Don, but no one knew who Don was or why he was in contact with the man in room 1046. The city planned to bury the anonymous man in a potter's field, but at the last minute someone named Louise donated money for a funeral and flowers. Who is Louise and why did she do this? No one ever learned why.

One year and a half later, a woman in Alabama saw pictures of the man in the news and said it was her son named Artemus Ogletree. She said that he had hitchhiked to California when he was 17 and claimed he eventually traveled to Egypt, but no proof of that was ever found. The FBI was brought into the case, but could develop no leads on who Artemus Ogletree really was or why he was in Kansas City staying at the Hotel President.

There was one final twist

The Kansas City Public Library did research on Artemus Ogletree in 2012 and said someone contacted them saying an elderly deceased person had an item related to Artemus along with newspaper clippings about the case. No one to my knowledge ever learned what that item was or what its connection to the killing of Artemus Ogletree might be.

The now 91-year-old mystery endures to this day. Who was Artemus Ogletree and who took his life in room 1046 in a hotel in Kansas City? Someone somewhere knows the truth, but they're not talking - yet.