Episode Transcript
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(00:08):
The family, WHI was told hehad been strangled and left in a stairwell
at the hotel on the twelfth floorof the hotel. He being twenty five
year old Archie gone. His bodywas found where he worked the Davenport Hotel
in downtown Spokane, but specifically whereon the grounds could be a key detail
for police. Archie worked in thekitchen, but his body was found on
(00:31):
the twelfth floor. That is unusualand certainly going to when we do discover
what happened here going to be apart of the equation. Spoke. Can't
police say what happened to him wasincredibly brutal. Whoever did this went far
beyond wasn't necessary to get whatever theywanted. If they took something from him,
or even just to take his life, they went too far overkill.
(00:55):
Yes, my name is Haley Gunthner. I'm an anchor and reporter for KHK
NonStop Local and Spokane. My passionis covering cold cases, ensuring our community
never forgets these victims or their lovedones. Archie was beaten and strangled to
death fifty years ago. In Julyof nineteen seventy three. Archie's cousin Marie
(01:17):
says Archie's murder changed their family forever. It's very, very difficult, and
it's also difficult to hear my mothertalk about, you know, how wonderful
he was and growing up, whata good kidd he was. So it's
heartbreaking. It really is. Forno one more so, Marie says,
(01:37):
than Archie's parents. Her aunt anduncle. Absolutely it haunted them. You
know, there probably wasn't a daythat went by that they didn't think about
this. And I can tell youthat they kept his photograph front and center
on their mantle the entire time.I knew my aunt and uncle, so
they both passed away never knowing whodid this. Marie's sister, Judy,
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also remembers the devastation this caused forso many, but she says she's grateful
for so many good memories. Ido remember hanging with him and Christmases and
what have you. And yeah,Archie was he had a good heart.
(02:22):
Judy says Archie was the kind ofperson who simply couldn't see bad in anyone.
His level of trust and belief inother people were a little different than
mine back then. Because are youcalling me from Spokane? Yes? Correct?
Okay, so in the early Pardony, the late fifties and early sixties,
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we had the Candy Rogers, Yesmurderer. Candy Rogers was a nine
year old little girl who was abductedand murdered in Spokane in nineteen fifty nine.
In recent years, her killer,who was deceased, was identified through
Jeanette genealogy. We've covered her casein previous episodes. What happened to her
truly stunned the entire community. AndI was very close to her age,
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and the story that unfolded about hertaught me and my grandma and my mom
said, don't you talk to anybody, Don't you do this, don't you
get in a car. Don't youknow? We were really kind of scared
little girls back then, very verytraumatic and changed my life because I was
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a goofy, free loving little girl. But Archie never I think he never
was like that. Archie trusted,you know, unlike everybody. Judas says,
Archie always just wanted friends and love, acceptance. And my memory with
him is all sweet because he reallywas begging and nagging me at one point
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back then to go to his church, which was my aunt and uncle's church,
you know, and Bible School becausethe more people that he could get
to go to Sunday School and church, he would earn a beautiful Bible with
these ribbons and stuff that was colorfulthat indicated, you know, the pages
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you last read, you know.Yeah, and I go, all right,
Archie Dan, and I'll go withyou to church so you get your
Bible, you know. So hetaught me how to play monopoly. He
was very tight with their grandparents,which kept the cousins bonded. He was
really close to them, very veryclose to them, and I was so
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we ended up, you know,with holidays and would not you know,
spent a lot of time together.And we were just kids, just normal
kids back in those days that ranand played and kind of thought normal cousins
stuff. But they all grew upand started their adult lives. I had
(05:05):
married a guy in the Air Forceout of their child, and I had
a young son. By that time, I was twenty one. I was
ready to have my daughter. Yeah, so or no upon me. I
had just had her. She's amonth old, and I was in Okinawa,
Japan when he was murdered. Yes, so how did that's where my
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daughter was born? How did youfind out. My mom wrote me a
letter, Oh my gosh, becauseshe'd write me often and told me that
my cousin Archie passed away. Andit was very difficult the circumstances I found
out, And like I said,one of the comments I made earlier that
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I do believe to be true.And part of this story is how trusting
he was. You know he wastrusting. I mean, you said,
hey, you're a good guy,why don't you come over and blah blah
blah, and that might be JeffreyDahmer, and Archie would go, oh,
you like me? And acceptance wasa big thing with him. Could
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his overly trusting nature have played arole in this vicious crime? Maybe spoke
in? Police Major Crime Sergeant ZachStormann says they won't hunt down any lead.
He knows the waiting for answers hasgone on long enough. It's unusual
for us to ever speak to acase is open, and I've never done
that before, but he's willing to. Now there's enough information in this case
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file and enough evidence at property thatI have genuine hope we can solve it.
Sergeant Stormant came to the interview witha folder packed with the handwritten notes
of detectives half a century ago.Anything that starts with police work starts with
what we call a face sheet,and there's there's one in here. There's
fond They write it out and it'svery basic. It's a hey, I
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came there is a big problem here. We call the techives and then you
have the detectives reports, which aremore in depth. This is a list
of all the employees at the Davenportat the time they start gathering data,
and really it's no different than whatwe do now. It's data capture because
you don't know what's going to beinteresting later and you only have that moment
to do it. Now. There'ssome parking tickets that were issued at the
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time for cars that were around theDavenport that they thought might be interesting.
Those cars weren't the only vehicle ofnotes. Detectives found his car a short
distance from the Davenport Hotel with hisdog waiting for him, and the picture
we have I think is very likelythe actual dog they found. We have
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that for you up on our website, nonstoplocal dot com. The photo also
captured Archie wearing some unique floral overalls. The photo is black and white but
Stormant says he's been told they werevery bright in color and exactly what he
was wearing when his body was found. He died of violent death. I
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don't know that. I want tospeak beyond that for protecting the integrity and
investigation. But he was violent andit was beyond the pal for what was
necessary to actually kill him. Hewas not a strong person. He wasn't
an obviously not a violent person either. You heard his family earlier. He
was the kind of man who wasjust loving, happy. He had been
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married for a few years and justwanted to support his family. He had
only worked at the Davenport a fewdays when he was killed. Here's what
else we know. Archie was aveteran. He served our country with an
honorable discharge. He was a goodperson, a good citizen who lived his
life here in Spokane. He livedin Vinegar Flats I believe what now would
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be underneath the Maple Street Bridge,and worked at the Davenport Hotel. He
worked in the kitchen and had adog that was obviously very important in his
life. Reports from the Spokesman Reviewstate Archie's body had likely been dragged to
the stairwell where he was found,and that they weren't sure exactly where he'd
(09:09):
been killed. The motive was unknowntoo, still is, but Sergeant Storman
says they do have physical evidence towork with. There's evidence available at our
property facility that needs to be tested. I believe it could bear fruit in
this case. Still has family outthere that cares very much about this person
and what happened to them, andthey're still looking for answers, and I
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feel bad about not being able topropride that for them. Yet not yet.
He's not going to give up.Have there been many suspects over the
years. There's a number. There'sa number of people that detectives looked into
at that time. Some were completelyeliminated, others, I don't know.
I think they may still be interestingto us even today. What do you
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know about what the Davenport was likeback then? If you're okay speaking,
Yeah, the Davenport today is obviouslyknown as the premier hotel and Spokane a
luxury hotel by any standard. Idon't think in nineteen seventy three it was
looking its best. It had Ithink rooms rented by the week, by
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the week, and had fallen onhard times. This is before the Weltworthy
renovation. It was early two thousands, fifty years ago. I mean I
think it's like, yeah, along time ago, A long time ago.
That's still a busy from your undera busy place. Yeah, restaurants,
coffee shops. I think there weresome stores. I'm still operating on
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the ground level. Wow, that'sjust very bold. Yeah, have you
if you can't answer this, doyou think multiple people were involved? I
don't know. That's something I justI'd have to guess at. What he
does know is the importance of handlinga case like this with care. What
I hope the family understands is we'regonna move very cautiously. But he says
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he under stands how painful the weightmust be. They're all going through their
own personal hell in it, andsome of them are justifiably angry, and
that's directed to me, at thepolice department, at everyone, because the
system failed, and that's they're correct. It has. Not all cases are
(11:22):
going to be solid. We havesome that probably will not, but we
have a number that should be anda number that already have. And that's
what we have at this point ishope, and that keeps Archie's family hanging
on. Here's Marie. When youguys see news alerts of cold cases is
being solved, especially cold cases datingback, you know, forty fifty years,
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what does that do to you?Guys? Does it kind of fuel
you to keep going? It's prettyactually encouraging knowing that crimes that are that
old are being solved in this dayand age. It's amazing. It's it's
great for the families. Even thoughit's these are tragic circumstances, it does
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give us hope that Archie's case willbe eventually solved. I bet he'd be
pretty dang proud of you. Ihope. So we miss him a lot.
If you know anything about the Julynineteen seventy three murder of Archiegonia inside
the Davenport Hotel, you were urgedto call it SPOKEMPD Sergeant Storman says any
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tip, big or small, couldbe crucial in getting answers. We wish
someone had some information would come forwardwith just a little bit of information.
Maybe they remember a conversation or acomment worked at the hotel back then,
or possibly you know someone has saidsomething back then to that witness or individual
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who might have knowledge of this andeven something that seems insignificant or seemed insignificant
at the time, could be thekey to cracking this case. So it
would be really helpful and give peaceto the family if we could, you
know, know what actually happened tohim until the next one. I'm Haley Guntner.