Glen Edward Rogers
Glen Edward Rogers (born July 15, 1962), also known as "The Cross Country Killer" or "The Casanova Killer", is an American serial killer. He was convicted of two murders and is a suspect in numerous others throughout the United States, including being mentioned, and considered by investigators in Los Angeles County, as a possible alternative suspect to O.J. Simpson in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman,[2] although as of 2019 nothing has developed regarding these allegations. Rogers was featured on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list after a crime spree that began on September 28, 1995 with Rogers' first authoritatively established murder.[3]
Glen Rogers | |
---|---|
Death Row mugshot | |
Born | Hamilton, Ohio, U.S. | July 15, 1962
Other names | The Cross Country Killer, The Casanova Killer |
Height | 6 ft (1.83 m) |
Criminal status | Incarcerated at Union Correctional Institution, awaiting execution |
Conviction(s) | Armed robbery, Arson, Grand theft auto, Murder |
Criminal penalty | Death |
Details | |
Victims | 5 (plus 70 claimed)[1] |
Span of crimes | 1993/1995–November 9, 1995 |
Country | United States |
State(s) | California Florida Kentucky (suspected) Mississippi Louisiana |
Date apprehended | November 13, 1995 |
Early life
Rogers was born and raised in Hamilton, Ohio. He was one of seven children born to Edna (née Sears) and Claude Rogers. Claude was a pump operator at the local Champion paper company. Rogers was expelled from his junior high school before he was 16. Sometime after his expulsion, Rogers' 14-year-old girlfriend Deborah Ann Nix got pregnant by another man. The young couple married and had another child in 1981. In 1983, Nix filed for divorce alleging brutal physical abuse.[4]
Murders
Authorities suspected Rogers in the stabbing or strangling of an elderly man from Ohio in 1993 and four women in California, Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana. He originally claimed the number of murders was closer to 70, but then recanted his statement, claiming he was joking and had not committed any murders.[5]
- Mark Peters (Hamilton, Ohio) – suspected victim
- On January 10, 1994, police recovered the remains of 71-year-old Mark Peters, a retired electrician and veteran, in a cabin belonging to the family of Glen Rogers in Beattyville, Kentucky. Peters had taken Glen Rogers in and allowed him to live in his home before October 1993 when Mark Peters was reported missing along with his car and several valuable personal items including antiques, guns, and a collection of coins. Rogers had disappeared as well and it was reportedly his brother Clay, who led police to search the family cabin for clues, leading to the discovery of Peters' skeleton, which was found bound to a chair and covered by a pile of furniture.[6][7]
- Sandra Gallagher (Los Angeles, California)
- On September 28, 1995, Sandra Gallagher, a 33-year-old mother of three, crossed paths with Rogers at McRed's bar in Van Nuys, California. The next day, Gallagher's strangled and badly burned corpse was found in her car near Rogers' Van Nuys apartment. Authorities allege that after murdering Gallagher, Rogers moved to Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida, killing a woman in each state.[3] On June 22, 1999, Rogers was convicted of murdering Gallagher[3] and on July 16, 1999 the state of California sentenced him to death.[8]
- Linda Price (Jackson, Mississippi)
- Kathy Carroll, Price's sister, said Price had met Rogers at a beer tent at the Mississippi State Fair. She remembered that her sister repeatedly said "Ain't he good-looking?" Rogers and Price briefly shared an apartment in Jackson, Mississippi. The last time Carroll saw her sister was the night before Halloween 1995, when the two were planning to have Carroll's grandchildren go trick-or-treating at Price's apartment. However, the next day, Price did not answer her door, and Rogers was gone. Similar to the other killings, Price and Rogers met over drinks; like the other women, Price was in her 30s and had red hair. She was found dead in a bathtub.[3]
- Tina Marie Cribbs (Tampa, Florida)
- On November 5, 1995, Cribbs was seen leaving the Showtown Bar in Gibsonton, Florida with Rogers. A bartender told police that Rogers had bought Cribbs and her friends drinks and that Rogers later asked Cribbs for a ride. Two days later, a member of the cleaning staff in a Tampa motel discovered Cribbs' body in a bathtub, like Price in Mississippi; she had been stabbed in the chest and the buttocks. A clerk at the motel told authorities that Rogers had arrived at the motel a few days before the murder. On November 5, Rogers paid for an extra night and asked that his room not be cleaned. The clerk then saw Rogers putting his belongings into a white Ford Festiva. The next day, Cribbs' wallet was discovered at a rest area in North Florida; the fingerprints lifted from her wallet and the motel room were matched to Rogers. On November 13, Rogers was arrested in Kentucky driving Cribbs' car, which he claimed had been lent to him. He also said Cribbs was alive when he left. On July 11, 1997, Rogers was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Tina Marie Cribbs.[9]
- Andy Jiles Sutton (Bossier City, Louisiana)
- Sutton was a known acquaintance of Rogers. Her slashed body was found on November 9, 1995, on a punctured waterbed in her apartment in Bossier City, Louisiana.[10]
Arrest, Sentence and appeals
Rogers was arrested in Waco, Kentucky after a 13 mile (20 km) chase on November 13, 1995. Kentucky State Police Detective Bob Stephens noticed Cribbs's stolen car and chased him, followed by rookie Irvine, Kentucky police officer Charles Cox while trooper Ed Robinson and other officers set up a roadblock to stop Rogers, Robinson fired a shotgun blast that hit the rear tires but didn't stop Rogers, then Robinson joined the pursuit. Sgt. Joey Barnes (who formerly served with Florida Highway Patrol) rammed his patrol car into Cribbs's stolen car and spin him off the highway into a ditch. Stephens, Cox, Robinson, Barnes, and other officers surrounded Rogers and arrest him. Rogers's chase and arrest were filmed by a local TV news crew who were on the scene.
Rogers was scheduled to be put to death on Valentine's Day 1999 in Florida, but he immediately appealed to the Florida Supreme Court claiming that the State had not presented enough evidence to support the charges. Rogers also argued that the trial court should have granted the defense's motions for a mistrial because a witness was allowed to testify about a misdemeanor for which Rogers was convicted in California. He also claimed the prosecution was also allowed to present an improper argument during closing arguments.
His appeal was delayed until March, 2001, and was ultimately denied. In April 2005, Rogers filed another appeal, which is still pending. Should his death sentence ever be overturned based on a charge of prosecutorial misconduct, he will no longer be eligible for execution in the State of California.
Television and film
The 2012 documentary My Brother the Serial Killer examined Rogers' crimes and included claims that Rogers killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in 1994.[11][1][12][13] According to Rogers' brother Clay, Rogers claimed that, before the murders, he had met Brown and was "going to take her down."[13]
During a lengthy correspondence that began in 2009 between Rogers and criminal profiler Anthony Meolis, Rogers wrote and created paintings about his involvement with the murders. During a prison meeting between the two, Rogers claimed he was hired by O.J. Simpson to break into Nicole Brown Simpson's house and steal some expensive jewelry and that Simpson had told him "You may have to kill the bitch". In a filmed interview, Glen's brother Clay asserts that his brother confessed his involvement.[13]
Rogers' family stated that he had informed them that he had been working for Nicole in 1994 and that he had made verbal threats about her to them. Rogers later spoke to a criminal profiler about the Goldman-Simpson murders, providing details about the crime and remarking that he had been hired by O.J. Simpson to steal a pair of earrings and potentially murder Nicole.
Rogers was the subject of an episode of The FBI Files titled "Deadly Stranger" (Season 3, Episode 12). He was also the subject of an episode of Southern Fried Homicide titled "Smooth Talking Devil" (Season 3, Episode 2) on Investigation Discovery.
The Oxygen channel's series It Takes a Killer episode "The Casanova Killer", (run time: 22 minutes, air date: September 2, 2016) focuses on four of the murders linked to Rogers and the manhunt leading to his capture.[14]
The 2019 film The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson purports to tell the story as asserted by Rogers and his family about his involvement with Nicole Brown Simpson. Rogers is portrayed by Nick Stahl and Mena Suvari portrays Nicole Brown Simpson.[15]
Bibliography
- Combs, Stephen M; Eckberg, J. Road Dog. Federal Point Pub Inc, 2002 ISBN 0-966-82591-8
- Linedecker, Clifford L. Smooth Operator: The True Story of Seductive Serial Killer Glen Rogers. St. Martin's True Crime Classics, 1997 ISBN 0-312-96400-5
- Spizer, J. The Cross Country Killer. Top Publications, Ltd., 2001 ISBN 1-929-97611-9
References
- "Documentary: Serial killer, not O.J., killed Simpson and Goldman". CNN. 21 November 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
- Cable News Network Documentary: Serial killer, not O.J., killed Simpson and Goldman 21 November 2012; by Alan Duke http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/20/justice/o-j-simpson-film-claim/
- Killer Found Guilty in 2nd Murder Case - Los Angeles Times. (n.d.). Featured Articles From The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 9, 2012, from http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jun/23/local/me-49258
- CHU, HENRY (November 12, 1995). "Contradictions Fill Suspect's Past : Manhunt: Some in Glen Rogers' hometown saw him as charming. Others recall troubles, hair-trigger temper" – via LA Times.
- Rogers Says Claim of 70 Slayings Was in Jest : Crime: Suspect in cross-country killings tells media that his remark about victims was a joke and that he has never killed anyone. - Los Angeles Times. (n.d.). Featured Articles From The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 9, 2012, from http://articles.latimes.com/1995-11-20/local/me-5383_1_killings-tells-media
- Berger, Leslie (November 21, 1995). "Extradition Hearing for Accused Serial Killer Postponed". Los Angeles Times.
- "truTV | Funny Because it's tru". truTV.
- Streeter, Kurt (July 17, 1999). "Serial Killer Rogers Sentenced to Death". latimes.
- ROGERS, GLEN E « Profiles on Florida’s Death Row. (n.d.). Profiles on Florida’s Death Row. Retrieved October 9, 2012, from http://floridadeathrow.wordpress.com/2008/01/03/rogers-glen-e/ Archived 2012-12-02 at Archive.today
- Suspected Serial Killer Is Arrested in Kentucky - New York Times. (n.d.). The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Retrieved October 9, 2012, from https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/14/us/suspected-serial-killer-is-arrested-in-kentucky.html
- Alan Duke. "Documentary: Serial killer, not O.J., killed Simpson and Goldman". CNN.
- "O.J. Simpson film: Serial killer murdered Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman 9". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
- Harris, Dan (20 November 2012). "Serial Killer Murdered Nicole Brown Simpson, New Documentary Claims". ABC News. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
- "The Casanova Killer". Oxygen Official Site. 5 September 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
- https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/you-wont-believe-who-the-murder-of-nicole-brown-simpson-film-is-claiming-actually-killed-her.html/