May 21, 2023 • 33 mins
On July 18th, 1993, 8-year-old Kim Nguyen woke up in a good, particularly playful mood. After wrestling around with his older brother some, Kim entered the living room of the Nguyen Family home in Garland, Texas and flipped on the television. When his father came to check on him at about 7 AM, however, there was no trace of the little boy, not inside the house or outside. They called the police and informed them that Kim was gone and that there was a detail that might make finding him more difficult than a lot of children. Kim was autistic and chose not to verbally communicate the vast majority of the time. Word got around the boy’s working-class neighborhood fast, and lots of folks showed up to help search. But after the first several days, no sign of the boy could be found. Almost no sign.
If you have any information about the 1993 kidnapping and murder of 8-year-old Kim Nguyen, please call the Garland Police at (972) 485-4840
Please consider donating to the go fund me for Leon Laureles. You can find it at: gofundme.com/f/leon-laureles-private-detective-and-memorial
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Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by using @gonecoldpodcast and on YouTube at: youtube.com/c/gonecoldpodcast
Dallas Morning News, and WFAA Channel 8 News were used as sources for this episode.
#JusticeForKimNuyen #Garland #GarlandTX #Dallas #DallasTX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #TrueCrimePodcast #GoneCold #GoneColdPodcast #ColdCase #Kidnapping #Abduction #Unsolved #Murder #ColdCase #UnsolvedMurder
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.
If you have any information about the 1993 kidnapping and murder of 8-year-old Kim Nguyen, please call the Garland Police at (972) 485-4840
Please consider donating to the go fund me for Leon Laureles. You can find it at: gofundme.com/f/leon-laureles-private-detective-and-memorial
You can support gone cold and listen ad-free at patreon.com/gonecoldpodcast
Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by using @gonecoldpodcast and on YouTube at: youtube.com/c/gonecoldpodcast
Dallas Morning News, and WFAA Channel 8 News were used as sources for this episode.
#JusticeForKimNuyen #Garland #GarlandTX #Dallas #DallasTX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #TrueCrimePodcast #GoneCold #GoneColdPodcast #ColdCase #Kidnapping #Abduction #Unsolved #Murder #ColdCase #UnsolvedMurder
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
The concol podcast may contain violent orgraphic subject matter. Listener discretion is advised.
By eighteen eighty four, Duck Creek, Texas, was coming into its
own They'd recently reacquired a post officeby this time after going almost eleven years
(00:21):
without. There were a few churches, just as many general stores, and
even a district school. But itwas industry that buttered the residents bread,
specifically the corn mill to grist millsand the triple steam cotton gins. When
the Santa Fe and Dallas Greenville Railroadlines went in east of Dallas in eighteen
(00:46):
eighty six, however, they bypassedthe small farming community by about a mile.
About that same distance to Duck Creek'seast, Santa Fe Railroad Company built
a depot, and just shy ofa mile north, the Dallas and Greenville
line built theirs. The economic opportunitiesthe railroads and depots would have brought to
(01:10):
the modest town might have had DuckCreek located in northeast Dallas County on the
road to becoming a serious business hublike its bustling metropolis neighbor to the southwest.
Residents were not happy, and perhapsperceived the logistics giants decision to do
so as some kind of slight.They were especially upset when the following year,
(01:38):
after almost the entirety of Duck Creekwent up in flames, their post
office was moved to the small citythe Santa fe built around their depot,
Embrie. It's said that the menin Duck Creek began carrying their pistols and
rifles, something they'd never done before, because in its attempts to incorporate,
(02:00):
Embry had allegedly claimed the residence ofthat town alongside their own. Duck Creek
residents were itching for the new smalltown residents to pop off at the mouth.
Embry had even enticed the Duck Creeknewspaper, The Rustler, to move
shop and become the Embree Enterprise.It was nothing short of a hat Fields
(02:23):
and McCoy's type of situation, andin late eighteen eighty seven, the issues
between the two feuding towns had becomeheated court battles, so heated that a
United States Congressman who represented a completelydifferent district of Texas got fed up and
created the city of Garland smack dabin the middle of the two feuding towns.
(02:46):
That'll show him, he must havethought, and it did. Garland
was an instant success. It wasnewer, the gas lit streets lined with
banks and merchants. Even after afire destroyed virtually all the city's businesses.
In eighteen eighty nine, more modernarchitecture was erected in Garland, creating what
(03:10):
is today a picturesque and archetypal downtown. Businesses moved back in, and then
some wood plank sidewalks were installed,and surrounding the new town square were the
factories and plants that kept the placealive and thriving. And Garland continued to
(03:30):
thrive through most of the early twentiethcentury as an autonomous town that offered all
the amenities of the big city ofDallas in a much smaller package. There
were more than a dozen beautiful parks, more than two dozen schools, a
town history museum, a handful ofbanks, two hospitals, and enough grocers
(03:52):
and goods merchants to keep residents fromhaving to leave by the late nineteen sixties.
The proud world, working class folksthat called Garland home had always been
its backbone, and this reality grewincreasingly so as the decades came and went,
but Dallas inevitably was slowly creeping in. By the early nineteen nineties,
(04:16):
Garland had become little more than asuburban outlier for the big city, albeit
one with much more personality and historicalsignificance and beauty than many others, one
only rivaled in the area in thesetraits, perhaps by oak Cliff. As
time went on, however, theline between Dallas and Garland became even more
(04:40):
of a blur, and differences incrime rates between the two was hardly a
worthwhile topic for debate. Garland,in every practical sense, at least,
was now just a part of Dallas. Since nineteen ninety four was a major
election year in the state, asincumbent and Richards fought against candidate George W.
(05:03):
Bush for governor. Kneeling down,even a semblance of clear violent crime
statistics for the preceding year is daunting, since explanations and specifics are steeped in
and even clouded by political rhetoric.For the city of Dallas, it was
all a battle of semantics anyway.Although the homicide rate in nineteen ninety three
(05:27):
was down, it nonetheless remained highat three hundred and seventeen or nearly thirty
one homicides per one hundred thousand residents. To be fair, it was something
to feel good about, since thecity's homicide rate had peaked at five hundred
just a couple years before. Still, there was a specific type of homicide
(05:49):
or murder more specifically, that hadthe citizens of Dallas, and particularly parents,
in a state of constant paranoia.Children being snatched off the streets and
later found slain. There'd been plentyin the city in the previous two decades,
but none as widely reported in theDallas Fort Worth Arlington area as those
(06:14):
that began in nineteen ninety three.One such crime in July of that year,
in fact, was almost immediately overshadowedby another less than two months later,
The kidnapping and killing of eight yearold Kemnawen of Garland, however,
arguably began the widespread panic of NorthTexas parents that was to come. Kim
(07:01):
Newen was born on September twenty second, nineteen eighty four, to parents Sarah
and Rudolph or Rudy, as hewas known to friends and family, who
moved to the United States from SouthVietnam in nineteen eighty one. With son
Michael and daughter Janmi upon their arrivalin the US with the help of friends.
(07:21):
Rudy and Sarah first settled in HotSprings, Arkansas, but they moved
to Garland, Texas a few yearsafter Kim's birth, where they'd found a
school that would be best suited fortheir child's special needs. Kim was autistic,
which in the late nineteen eighties andearly nineteen nineties was something materially misunderstood.
(07:46):
In fact, while some might ringslightly true, descriptions of autism in
reports at the time seem uncharacteristic ofwhat is known and understood about it today,
to the point that they read asour chaic. The following are verbatim
quote. Autism is characterized by antisocialbehavior, a mental disorder involving an inability
(08:11):
to express or understand any form ofcommunication. Early characteristics include a resistance to
being held or touched, isolation,and an inability to communicate orally or in
writing. And Autism is characterized bydaydreaming and disregard of external reality end quotes.
(08:35):
One doctor observed and his experience thatfolks with autism both stay close to
their nests and don't like communicating withthose in their nest, unless that's a
misprint. It's an incredibly strange observation, but is perhaps an attempt to explain
why kem no when didn't talk,or perhaps chose not to talk, contrary
(08:58):
to reports that suggest Kim was unableor completely unwilling to talk at all.
However, one Associated Press article quotesthe boy's father as saying that he understands
English, but often refuses to speakwith anyone, a description of him that
Garland police would echo, and furtherreports other subtle clues scattered throughout reports further
(09:26):
suggest that the boy chose not totalk, certainly a characteristic of his autism
and not a symptom as it wasconsidered at the time. Rudy described his
son's usual chosen communication style. Whenhe was hungry, the father told local
news reporters, he would take myhand and lead me to the refrigerator to
(09:48):
get him something to eat. Innineteen ninety three, the Newin family had
been living in Garland for five years. Kim, eight years old, was
enrolled at Centerville Elementary, where histeacher described him as having the mental capacity
of a two year old, whichagain probably speaks more to the ignorance of
(10:11):
autism at the time than it doesof Kim's actual mind and abilities, even
considering the wide spectrum of characteristics andtraits that we now understand to be included.
Rudy, the boy's father, mostoften worked seven days a week,
fourteen hours each of them to providefor his family at the clock and watch
(10:33):
repair shop he owned, but heenjoyed spending every second he could with his
children. Like any other working classfamily in the United States, the new
Wen's lives were busy and moving fast. Still, the children were savoring their
childhoods, and Kim, in starkcontrast to what many reports led on,
(10:58):
was a bit of an adventurer andwas easily distracted by nearly anything that offered
him the opportunity to explore. SomeLeading up to the summer of nineteen ninety
three, in fact, the eightyear old had wandered off a couple times.
Although both instances caused a little panic, Kim was quickly found in each
(11:20):
case, once sitting in the Noenfamily van and the other time near the
stop sign at the end of theirstreet. When it happened for a third
time, however, Kim's prolonged disappearancecaused panic far outside the Noen family and
ended in unimaginable tragedy. Early inthe morning of Sunday, July eighteenth,
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nineteen ninety three, eight year oldm Nowhen woke up ready to play,
and he didn't have to leave bedto start, since he and twelve year
old Michael shared one. Kim beganwrestling with his older brother, but after
a few minutes, Michael told himhe'd had enough and directed him to go
watch television. The boy left thebedroom and headed to the TV, after
(12:22):
which perhaps he flipped the channels lookingfor his favorite cartoon, The Pink Panther.
Like Kim, the title character movedthrough his misadventures without speaking, and
The Pink Panther's stoicism, grace,and competence always had him coming out on
top, a heroic figure for littleand not so little kids the world over.
(12:48):
At about seven am, Kim's father, Rudy, made his way to
the living room to check in onhim, but he wasn't there. Along
with his wife Sarah, Rudy begansearching the home, a single story brick
house on the seven hundred block ofGarland's Thornhill Lane. They woke Michael and
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Jan me up to help. Asthey neared the end of their initial search
the house, followed by the frontand back yards, and then their block
of Thornhill Lane, Kim's parents beganto panic. Sure the little boy had
wandered off before, but he'd previouslybeen easy to find. He'd never gone
(13:30):
far. After looking for about ahalf an hour, Rudy Noen phoned the
Garland Police Department to report his youngestson missing. He told them Kim was
autistic and might refuse to communicate,at least verbally. Police rushed to the
Nowen home, and with the helpof concerned neighbors and the Garland Emergency Corps,
(13:54):
a larger scale search began. Walkingnearby fields of grown grass, sporadic
small wooded areas, alongside creeks thathad receded as the result of the hot,
dry, North Texas summer, andin their own backyards. Volunteers scoured
a large perimeter around the Noen homeat the direction of police. The entirety
(14:20):
of this diverse, working class neighborhoodof Garland had gotten word of eight year
old Kim's disappearance fast, and theysprung into action to take care of their
own. Some neighbors went door todoor After having quickly put together flyers with
Kim's photograph and description. Resident ChristieParrott, battered by the hot Texas sun
(14:43):
and drenched in sweat, insisted toa Dallas Morning News reporter that she was
in it for the long haul.We walked twenty miles looking for him,
she said, I'm going to lookfor him until they run me off.
Next Door neighbors of the Nouen family, Manuel and Anne Ortigone, also spent
(15:03):
several hours fighting through the ninety sevendegree day. After four hours, Manuel
said his legs ached, but asa father of two children himself, as
well as a friend to the missingboy's family, he understood the neighborhood had
to push through their own discomfort andpain to find Kim. Garland police,
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meanwhile, weren't sure where to concentratethe efforts. Commander Bob Barber said they'd
found no evidence or even signs offoul play, and the fact that the
eight year old had no real hangoutsbesides his home rendered an area of focus
virtually non existent. In other words, the search was a crapshoot. No
(15:52):
clues as to Kim no Wen's whereaboutswere found during the first day of search,
which ended not long dark, GarlandPolice commander Barber commented, it's very
disturbing that we haven't found him yet. As the search continued. The following
day, Monday, July nineteenth,nineteen ninety three, neighborhood residents scolded the
(16:17):
police for failing to provide the manpowerand resources necessary to find the missing boy.
In all, a couple dozen policeofficers were assigned to the search efforts
and investigation, along with a handfulof police Academy trainees. The days were
sweltering, and perhaps the merciless Texassun had the volunteer searchers a little more
(16:41):
on edge than usual, which ledthem to their criticisms of the police response
or perhaps not less than a monthand a half later, when seven year
old Ashley Nicole Estelle disappeared from themostly upper middle class city of Plano with
no evidence of foul play, severallaw enforcement jurisdictions became involved immediately, including
(17:07):
FBI agents and thirty five Dallas Policedetectives. Garland residents had no way of
seeing the future, of course,but in their minds, the cops simply
were not pulling out all the stopsto find Kim Newhen there were far more
local volunteers than police, seventy fiveor so, a few of which came
(17:29):
from Afar, some middle and highschool aged kids, and many who had
called into work to find eight yearold Kim. It was one of them
who found the first potential clue.That afternoon, three men hurriedly burst into
the building that was once a daycarebut now served as the makeshift police command
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post. In the hands of oneof them was a children's blue plaid shirt
they'd found along a creek bed.The missing boy's parents remained at home during
the searches, as per the requestof the Garland Police, who rushed to
the Nowen home two blocks away withthe volunteers discovery. It took seconds to
(18:11):
get there, but Rudy Nowen toldofficers the shirt was not Kim's. Discouraged
but certainly not defeated, searchers continued, having looked nearly everywhere in a several
block radius, police and volunteers beganretracing the previous day's tracks through familiar fields,
(18:36):
creeks, woods, culverts, vacantproperties, and again around their own
homes. Parents in the area werejustifiably horrified, not only because Kim Nowen
had seemingly vanished without so much asa trace, but also because they feared
their children might be next. Theneighborhood, where the residential streets were usually
(19:00):
filled with kids playing, was nowempty of youth, save those deemed old
enough to help in the efforts,or those that defied their parents' orders to
stay inside, insisting instead to lenda hand. At five pm, civilian
folks were asked to postpone their searchingto make way for tracking dogs and an
(19:22):
aerial search by helicopter. By theend of the night, there was still
no trace of Kem Noen. Thenext day, Tuesday, July twentieth,
a new police command post was setup at a shipping and Receiving service office
about two miles away from the Nowenhome. That day, at a little
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before noon, an unidentified resident founda long, blue and brown striped shirt
on East Walnut Street, near aGarland power plant facility. When showed to
Kim's father, he confirmed that itbelonged to his son. It was the
shirt he slept in that night,the only article of clothing he was thought
(20:04):
to have been wearing when he disappeared. There was no blood on the shirt
and it had not been torn,no signs of foul play. Knowing his
son, the discovery gave Rudy Noena glimmer of hope. Kim, the
father pointed out, had been knownto take off clothing at inappropriate times or
(20:27):
in inappropriate situations. Rudy believed therewas a good chance his son would be
found soon. The Garland Police,on the other hand, were quoted as
saying the discovery was an ominous one, something that increased the chances of foul
play. To the cops, itfelt like the break in the case they
(20:48):
needed, though, the clue thatwould lead them to Kim Noen, especially
considering the area was outside the perimeterthat had already been searched several times.
Now they had an educated guess aboutwhere to look. Even if there had
been foul play, as the policenow strongly suspected Rudy Noen needed to know,
(21:15):
He refused to open up his clockand watch repair shop, opting instead
to stay home and wait for news, any news. Two days before,
as he anxiously awaited word from volunteersor police, he told a Dallas Morning
News reporter, I'm really worried abouthim. I hope no one gets him.
(21:37):
The next day, when the discoveryof Kim's shirt reawakened his optimism,
Rudy said, I can't go towork until I've heard something. But it
was more than that. The entirenon family was suffering unimaginably. His other
children couldn't sleep without knowing their littlebrother was okay. Kim's mother, Sarah,
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like her missing son, had stoppedverbally communicating struck mute, her husband
said, by the fear she feltfor her missing child, no matter if
he's dead or alive, the boy'sfather said, seemingly slipping back into a
dark place, I have to knowwhere my son is. At the time
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kem Newn's shirt was found, manyvolunteers were seeing red, angry that it
was only them and not police searching, but Garland Police spokesperson Officer Larry Rawlins
confidently backed the department's decision. Thevolunteers, Rawlins said, were continuing to
(22:56):
search the same areas that had alreadybeen looked over closely. They were as
sure as they could possibly be.The officer said of his department that Kim
was not in that area. Localsand some from out of town, but
by and large, folks who residedin the Neuez neighborhood had every right to
(23:18):
be frustrated. It's unknown if anyof the civilians watched or read enough true
crime to know that bodies of missingpeople are commonly found in areas that were
thought to have been thoroughly searched.But one thing was clear to them.
It looked like the cops had givenup before the discovery of Kim's shirt.
(23:41):
In fact, many of the volunteershad as well. The group consisted of
up to forty that Tuesday morning andafternoon, a considerable drop from the seventy
five folks who came out Monday.Many of the remaining searchers were recognized by
the reporters who continued to pick upthe beat and who had previously taken quotes
(24:03):
from some of them. After thediscovery, however, and as a search
of the perimeter around the power andlight generating facility immediately got under way,
with hope seemingly renewed, one hundredor so volunteers showed up to comb the
area for more clues, or,better still, for the missing child himself,
(24:25):
perhaps scared and hungry, but hopefullyalive, they marched on at the
active direction of the Garland Police.At the end of the day, hopes
were dashed again when the massive searchturned up absolutely no other clues suggesting what
might have happened to Kim. Onthe fourth day of the search for eight
(24:49):
year old Keim Newen, Wednesday,July twenty first, nineteen ninety three,
the FBI finally entered the investigation,as they almost always do, likely to
justify coming into help local and statejurisdictions since the bureau is charged with handling
federal and interstate crimes. FBI agentstold reporters they had developed leads out of
(25:14):
state. Rudy newn worried the FBI'sinvolvement meant that Kim had indeed been kidnapped.
He hoped his son wasn't dead,but that hope had been shaved to
a sliver upon FBI agents reporting thatthey were working the case as a presumed
abduction. I lost my hope whenI heard that they think my son is
(25:37):
not here anymore. Constantly on edge, everything Rudy did, no matter how
routine, brought his son's possible deathto the forefront of his mind. There
was absolutely nothing that took his thoughtsoff of his missing son, not even
for a second. He told theDallas Morning News that when he sat to
(26:00):
eat, he thought about Kim outthere not eating, and pushed his own
food aside. Rudy felt like hewas going crazy. The phone would ring
and he'd grab for his beeper ashis brain misfired. I found him,
his daughter's friend, yelled out.Rudy turned around quickly to see his son,
(26:22):
but it was a pair of scissorsthe girl had found. She'd been
looking for them for a while.Kim no Wen's mother, Sarah, continued
in silence, only breaking it toweep or scream inconsolably. Rudy was keeping
his wife away from the home,away from their son's things, the constant
reminders that every second he was gone, the less likely the chances were he'd
(26:47):
be found alive. He made surethe couple's other children, Jamie and Michael,
were always busy with friends or inactivity. If they stopped for even
a minute, Rudy told the DallasMorning News, they'd begin to ask questions
and cry. They knew. Headded that something was terribly wrong. Still,
(27:10):
he was grateful for the outpouring ofsupport from the community, both neighbors
and strangers. Rudy wanted that messageknown and clear. It's not enough to
say thank you after this is over. No matter what happens, I will
have to do something good for thesepeople and for this country. But the
(27:32):
father now refused to continue to stayhome as the Garland Police had requested.
After a photograph of his son wasshown on the news that Wednesday, Rudy
began weeping and said he could nolonger stay behind. He had to help
find his son. On Thursday,July twenty second, nineteen ninety three,
(27:55):
when eight year old Keim Newin hadbeen gone five days, the number of
search volunteers increased tremendously to around twohundred and fifty. The Texas heat wouldn't
relent, but neither would the volunteers. As area residents, neighbors and parents
of Kim Nowen's schoolmates delivered food,including Kim's favorite pineapple cake. Their moral
(28:21):
support was keeping the Newen family fromturning to their darkest thoughts. Nancy and
Roger Thompson had brought them food everyday since the boy disappeared, but that
was hardly all they did. Thecouple had handed out over three thousand Missing
Persons flyers featuring Kim's photo and description, and it also began making T shirts
(28:44):
and buttons. Meanwhile, Special AgentMarjorie Posche said the FBI was pursuing an
out of state lead they had discovered. The Garland police, however, continually
probed the missing boys fall Rudy,specifically asking if he had any enemies.
He had none, Rudy told them, and although he'd long grown tired of
(29:10):
the question, it was hard toblame the cops for constantly asking, After
all, they had nothing else togo on. In fact, they continued
to hesitate to label the case asanything other than a missing person due to
the lack of evidence of foul play. Dallas lawyer Joe Bellino, who often
(29:32):
represented the area's Vietnamese families, touchedthe new En family when he came forward
with a five thousand dollars reward sureKim had been kidnapped. Bellino insisted the
reward was unconditional. The boy beingfound was the only requirement to collect the
money. Sirch efforts continued the nextday. Nineteen year old Jason Lafon,
(29:59):
a local re bowman, took offwork on Friday the twenty third. Repossessing
cars wasn't the only potentially dangerous workhe was willing to do. As a
searcher, he would do things otherswould not, such as crawling into manholes,
silos, drainage pipes, and smallculverts, any nook or cranny.
(30:22):
Others worked their day jobs, someincredibly grueling in their own right, and
came out to search all evening andinto the night on foot, horseback,
bicycles, and in vehicles. TheRed Cross had also set up shop in
Garland, providing food and drink forthe heat exhausted searchers. Volunteers had even
(30:47):
restored other volunteers faith in humanity,as indicated by quotes in the newspaper,
but it was the hope they gavethe new End family like their efforts that
was most valuable. Some commented thatthey believed Kim was still alive, likely
being held in someone's house nearby.It was only a matter of time,
(31:11):
they thought, before they'd come acrossthe kidnapper. Civilians helped officers keep the
efforts organized at the police command center, and the relationship between the two groups
was mending as they worked together towardthe common goal of finding the boy.
Garland Policeman Steve Frasier commented that officersand detectives were chasing every single lead brought
(31:37):
to them by volunteers, while policewomanLena Kirkholm credited them with taking on a
majority of the work, which wasmuch appreciated for the overworked department. No
one was even thinking about giving up. It would be several more days until
another discovery ended the search efforts.Even after that, the Garland Police struggle
(32:02):
to find the missing pieces they neededto solve the case. That's next time
on Gone Cold. If you haveany information about the nineteen ninety three kidnapping
and murder of eight year old kemNeawen, please call the Garland Police at
nine seventy two four eight five foureight four zero if you have not already,
(32:29):
look for Gone Cold on Instagram,Facebook and Twitter by searching Gone Cold
and looking for the Texas logo.If you'd like to support the show and
get the episodes add free, goto Patreon dot com forward slash Gone Cold
Podcast. Thanks to all of youwho support us there. It's a huge
(32:49):
deal to us. If you're notin a position to help Gone Cold financially
but would like to in some otherway. Well, I've got just the
thing, eaving us a five starrating and written review on iTunes. Particularly
helps Gonkold's visibility. The more folkswho find us and listen, the greater
chance someone with information about a casehere's the show and comes forward with what
(33:15):
they know. Every little bit helps, and we appreciate ill support immensely,
however you choose to give it.Sources for this episode can be found in
the episodes show notes. Thanks forlistening, y'all,
The concol podcast may contain violent orgraphic subject matter. Listener discretion is advised.
By eighteen eighty four, Duck Creek, Texas, was coming into its
own They'd recently reacquired a post officeby this time after going almost eleven years
(00:21):
without. There were a few churches, just as many general stores, and
even a district school. But itwas industry that buttered the residents bread,
specifically the corn mill to grist millsand the triple steam cotton gins. When
the Santa Fe and Dallas Greenville Railroadlines went in east of Dallas in eighteen
(00:46):
eighty six, however, they bypassedthe small farming community by about a mile.
About that same distance to Duck Creek'seast, Santa Fe Railroad Company built
a depot, and just shy ofa mile north, the Dallas and Greenville
line built theirs. The economic opportunitiesthe railroads and depots would have brought to
(01:10):
the modest town might have had DuckCreek located in northeast Dallas County on the
road to becoming a serious business hublike its bustling metropolis neighbor to the southwest.
Residents were not happy, and perhapsperceived the logistics giants decision to do
so as some kind of slight.They were especially upset when the following year,
(01:38):
after almost the entirety of Duck Creekwent up in flames, their post
office was moved to the small citythe Santa fe built around their depot,
Embrie. It's said that the menin Duck Creek began carrying their pistols and
rifles, something they'd never done before, because in its attempts to incorporate,
(02:00):
Embry had allegedly claimed the residence ofthat town alongside their own. Duck Creek
residents were itching for the new smalltown residents to pop off at the mouth.
Embry had even enticed the Duck Creeknewspaper, The Rustler, to move
shop and become the Embree Enterprise.It was nothing short of a hat Fields
(02:23):
and McCoy's type of situation, andin late eighteen eighty seven, the issues
between the two feuding towns had becomeheated court battles, so heated that a
United States Congressman who represented a completelydifferent district of Texas got fed up and
created the city of Garland smack dabin the middle of the two feuding towns.
(02:46):
That'll show him, he must havethought, and it did. Garland
was an instant success. It wasnewer, the gas lit streets lined with
banks and merchants. Even after afire destroyed virtually all the city's businesses.
In eighteen eighty nine, more modernarchitecture was erected in Garland, creating what
(03:10):
is today a picturesque and archetypal downtown. Businesses moved back in, and then
some wood plank sidewalks were installed,and surrounding the new town square were the
factories and plants that kept the placealive and thriving. And Garland continued to
(03:30):
thrive through most of the early twentiethcentury as an autonomous town that offered all
the amenities of the big city ofDallas in a much smaller package. There
were more than a dozen beautiful parks, more than two dozen schools, a
town history museum, a handful ofbanks, two hospitals, and enough grocers
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and goods merchants to keep residents fromhaving to leave by the late nineteen sixties.
The proud world, working class folksthat called Garland home had always been
its backbone, and this reality grewincreasingly so as the decades came and went,
but Dallas inevitably was slowly creeping in. By the early nineteen nineties,
(04:16):
Garland had become little more than asuburban outlier for the big city, albeit
one with much more personality and historicalsignificance and beauty than many others, one
only rivaled in the area in thesetraits, perhaps by oak Cliff. As
time went on, however, theline between Dallas and Garland became even more
(04:40):
of a blur, and differences incrime rates between the two was hardly a
worthwhile topic for debate. Garland,in every practical sense, at least,
was now just a part of Dallas. Since nineteen ninety four was a major
election year in the state, asincumbent and Richards fought against candidate George W.
(05:03):
Bush for governor. Kneeling down,even a semblance of clear violent crime
statistics for the preceding year is daunting, since explanations and specifics are steeped in
and even clouded by political rhetoric.For the city of Dallas, it was
all a battle of semantics anyway.Although the homicide rate in nineteen ninety three
(05:27):
was down, it nonetheless remained highat three hundred and seventeen or nearly thirty
one homicides per one hundred thousand residents. To be fair, it was something
to feel good about, since thecity's homicide rate had peaked at five hundred
just a couple years before. Still, there was a specific type of homicide
(05:49):
or murder more specifically, that hadthe citizens of Dallas, and particularly parents,
in a state of constant paranoia.Children being snatched off the streets and
later found slain. There'd been plentyin the city in the previous two decades,
but none as widely reported in theDallas Fort Worth Arlington area as those
(06:14):
that began in nineteen ninety three.One such crime in July of that year,
in fact, was almost immediately overshadowedby another less than two months later,
The kidnapping and killing of eight yearold Kemnawen of Garland, however,
arguably began the widespread panic of NorthTexas parents that was to come. Kim
(07:01):
Newen was born on September twenty second, nineteen eighty four, to parents Sarah
and Rudolph or Rudy, as hewas known to friends and family, who
moved to the United States from SouthVietnam in nineteen eighty one. With son
Michael and daughter Janmi upon their arrivalin the US with the help of friends.
(07:21):
Rudy and Sarah first settled in HotSprings, Arkansas, but they moved
to Garland, Texas a few yearsafter Kim's birth, where they'd found a
school that would be best suited fortheir child's special needs. Kim was autistic,
which in the late nineteen eighties andearly nineteen nineties was something materially misunderstood.
(07:46):
In fact, while some might ringslightly true, descriptions of autism in
reports at the time seem uncharacteristic ofwhat is known and understood about it today,
to the point that they read asour chaic. The following are verbatim
quote. Autism is characterized by antisocialbehavior, a mental disorder involving an inability
(08:11):
to express or understand any form ofcommunication. Early characteristics include a resistance to
being held or touched, isolation,and an inability to communicate orally or in
writing. And Autism is characterized bydaydreaming and disregard of external reality end quotes.
(08:35):
One doctor observed and his experience thatfolks with autism both stay close to
their nests and don't like communicating withthose in their nest, unless that's a
misprint. It's an incredibly strange observation, but is perhaps an attempt to explain
why kem no when didn't talk,or perhaps chose not to talk, contrary
(08:58):
to reports that suggest Kim was unableor completely unwilling to talk at all.
However, one Associated Press article quotesthe boy's father as saying that he understands
English, but often refuses to speakwith anyone, a description of him that
Garland police would echo, and furtherreports other subtle clues scattered throughout reports further
(09:26):
suggest that the boy chose not totalk, certainly a characteristic of his autism
and not a symptom as it wasconsidered at the time. Rudy described his
son's usual chosen communication style. Whenhe was hungry, the father told local
news reporters, he would take myhand and lead me to the refrigerator to
(09:48):
get him something to eat. Innineteen ninety three, the Newin family had
been living in Garland for five years. Kim, eight years old, was
enrolled at Centerville Elementary, where histeacher described him as having the mental capacity
of a two year old, whichagain probably speaks more to the ignorance of
(10:11):
autism at the time than it doesof Kim's actual mind and abilities, even
considering the wide spectrum of characteristics andtraits that we now understand to be included.
Rudy, the boy's father, mostoften worked seven days a week,
fourteen hours each of them to providefor his family at the clock and watch
(10:33):
repair shop he owned, but heenjoyed spending every second he could with his
children. Like any other working classfamily in the United States, the new
Wen's lives were busy and moving fast. Still, the children were savoring their
childhoods, and Kim, in starkcontrast to what many reports led on,
(10:58):
was a bit of an adventurer andwas easily distracted by nearly anything that offered
him the opportunity to explore. SomeLeading up to the summer of nineteen ninety
three, in fact, the eightyear old had wandered off a couple times.
Although both instances caused a little panic, Kim was quickly found in each
(11:20):
case, once sitting in the Noenfamily van and the other time near the
stop sign at the end of theirstreet. When it happened for a third
time, however, Kim's prolonged disappearancecaused panic far outside the Noen family and
ended in unimaginable tragedy. Early inthe morning of Sunday, July eighteenth,
(11:56):
nineteen ninety three, eight year oldm Nowhen woke up ready to play,
and he didn't have to leave bedto start, since he and twelve year
old Michael shared one. Kim beganwrestling with his older brother, but after
a few minutes, Michael told himhe'd had enough and directed him to go
watch television. The boy left thebedroom and headed to the TV, after
(12:22):
which perhaps he flipped the channels lookingfor his favorite cartoon, The Pink Panther.
Like Kim, the title character movedthrough his misadventures without speaking, and
The Pink Panther's stoicism, grace,and competence always had him coming out on
top, a heroic figure for littleand not so little kids the world over.
(12:48):
At about seven am, Kim's father, Rudy, made his way to
the living room to check in onhim, but he wasn't there. Along
with his wife Sarah, Rudy begansearching the home, a single story brick
house on the seven hundred block ofGarland's Thornhill Lane. They woke Michael and
(13:09):
Jan me up to help. Asthey neared the end of their initial search
the house, followed by the frontand back yards, and then their block
of Thornhill Lane, Kim's parents beganto panic. Sure the little boy had
wandered off before, but he'd previouslybeen easy to find. He'd never gone
(13:30):
far. After looking for about ahalf an hour, Rudy Noen phoned the
Garland Police Department to report his youngestson missing. He told them Kim was
autistic and might refuse to communicate,at least verbally. Police rushed to the
Nowen home, and with the helpof concerned neighbors and the Garland Emergency Corps,
(13:54):
a larger scale search began. Walkingnearby fields of grown grass, sporadic
small wooded areas, alongside creeks thathad receded as the result of the hot,
dry, North Texas summer, andin their own backyards. Volunteers scoured
a large perimeter around the Noen homeat the direction of police. The entirety
(14:20):
of this diverse, working class neighborhoodof Garland had gotten word of eight year
old Kim's disappearance fast, and theysprung into action to take care of their
own. Some neighbors went door todoor After having quickly put together flyers with
Kim's photograph and description. Resident ChristieParrott, battered by the hot Texas sun
(14:43):
and drenched in sweat, insisted toa Dallas Morning News reporter that she was
in it for the long haul.We walked twenty miles looking for him,
she said, I'm going to lookfor him until they run me off.
Next Door neighbors of the Nouen family, Manuel and Anne Ortigone, also spent
(15:03):
several hours fighting through the ninety sevendegree day. After four hours, Manuel
said his legs ached, but asa father of two children himself, as
well as a friend to the missingboy's family, he understood the neighborhood had
to push through their own discomfort andpain to find Kim. Garland police,
(15:28):
meanwhile, weren't sure where to concentratethe efforts. Commander Bob Barber said they'd
found no evidence or even signs offoul play, and the fact that the
eight year old had no real hangoutsbesides his home rendered an area of focus
virtually non existent. In other words, the search was a crapshoot. No
(15:52):
clues as to Kim no Wen's whereaboutswere found during the first day of search,
which ended not long dark, GarlandPolice commander Barber commented, it's very
disturbing that we haven't found him yet. As the search continued. The following
day, Monday, July nineteenth,nineteen ninety three, neighborhood residents scolded the
(16:17):
police for failing to provide the manpowerand resources necessary to find the missing boy.
In all, a couple dozen policeofficers were assigned to the search efforts
and investigation, along with a handfulof police Academy trainees. The days were
sweltering, and perhaps the merciless Texassun had the volunteer searchers a little more
(16:41):
on edge than usual, which ledthem to their criticisms of the police response
or perhaps not less than a monthand a half later, when seven year
old Ashley Nicole Estelle disappeared from themostly upper middle class city of Plano with
no evidence of foul play, severallaw enforcement jurisdictions became involved immediately, including
(17:07):
FBI agents and thirty five Dallas Policedetectives. Garland residents had no way of
seeing the future, of course,but in their minds, the cops simply
were not pulling out all the stopsto find Kim Newhen there were far more
local volunteers than police, seventy fiveor so, a few of which came
(17:29):
from Afar, some middle and highschool aged kids, and many who had
called into work to find eight yearold Kim. It was one of them
who found the first potential clue.That afternoon, three men hurriedly burst into
the building that was once a daycarebut now served as the makeshift police command
(17:49):
post. In the hands of oneof them was a children's blue plaid shirt
they'd found along a creek bed.The missing boy's parents remained at home during
the searches, as per the requestof the Garland Police, who rushed to
the Nowen home two blocks away withthe volunteers discovery. It took seconds to
(18:11):
get there, but Rudy Nowen toldofficers the shirt was not Kim's. Discouraged
but certainly not defeated, searchers continued, having looked nearly everywhere in a several
block radius, police and volunteers beganretracing the previous day's tracks through familiar fields,
(18:36):
creeks, woods, culverts, vacantproperties, and again around their own
homes. Parents in the area werejustifiably horrified, not only because Kim Nowen
had seemingly vanished without so much asa trace, but also because they feared
their children might be next. Theneighborhood, where the residential streets were usually
(19:00):
filled with kids playing, was nowempty of youth, save those deemed old
enough to help in the efforts,or those that defied their parents' orders to
stay inside, insisting instead to lenda hand. At five pm, civilian
folks were asked to postpone their searchingto make way for tracking dogs and an
(19:22):
aerial search by helicopter. By theend of the night, there was still
no trace of Kem Noen. Thenext day, Tuesday, July twentieth,
a new police command post was setup at a shipping and Receiving service office
about two miles away from the Nowenhome. That day, at a little
(19:44):
before noon, an unidentified resident founda long, blue and brown striped shirt
on East Walnut Street, near aGarland power plant facility. When showed to
Kim's father, he confirmed that itbelonged to his son. It was the
shirt he slept in that night,the only article of clothing he was thought
(20:04):
to have been wearing when he disappeared. There was no blood on the shirt
and it had not been torn,no signs of foul play. Knowing his
son, the discovery gave Rudy Noena glimmer of hope. Kim, the
father pointed out, had been knownto take off clothing at inappropriate times or
(20:27):
in inappropriate situations. Rudy believed therewas a good chance his son would be
found soon. The Garland Police,on the other hand, were quoted as
saying the discovery was an ominous one, something that increased the chances of foul
play. To the cops, itfelt like the break in the case they
(20:48):
needed, though, the clue thatwould lead them to Kim Noen, especially
considering the area was outside the perimeterthat had already been searched several times.
Now they had an educated guess aboutwhere to look. Even if there had
been foul play, as the policenow strongly suspected Rudy Noen needed to know,
(21:15):
He refused to open up his clockand watch repair shop, opting instead
to stay home and wait for news, any news. Two days before,
as he anxiously awaited word from volunteersor police, he told a Dallas Morning
News reporter, I'm really worried abouthim. I hope no one gets him.
(21:37):
The next day, when the discoveryof Kim's shirt reawakened his optimism,
Rudy said, I can't go towork until I've heard something. But it
was more than that. The entirenon family was suffering unimaginably. His other
children couldn't sleep without knowing their littlebrother was okay. Kim's mother, Sarah,
(22:00):
like her missing son, had stoppedverbally communicating struck mute, her husband
said, by the fear she feltfor her missing child, no matter if
he's dead or alive, the boy'sfather said, seemingly slipping back into a
dark place, I have to knowwhere my son is. At the time
(22:34):
kem Newn's shirt was found, manyvolunteers were seeing red, angry that it
was only them and not police searching, but Garland Police spokesperson Officer Larry Rawlins
confidently backed the department's decision. Thevolunteers, Rawlins said, were continuing to
(22:56):
search the same areas that had alreadybeen looked over closely. They were as
sure as they could possibly be.The officer said of his department that Kim
was not in that area. Localsand some from out of town, but
by and large, folks who residedin the Neuez neighborhood had every right to
(23:18):
be frustrated. It's unknown if anyof the civilians watched or read enough true
crime to know that bodies of missingpeople are commonly found in areas that were
thought to have been thoroughly searched.But one thing was clear to them.
It looked like the cops had givenup before the discovery of Kim's shirt.
(23:41):
In fact, many of the volunteershad as well. The group consisted of
up to forty that Tuesday morning andafternoon, a considerable drop from the seventy
five folks who came out Monday.Many of the remaining searchers were recognized by
the reporters who continued to pick upthe beat and who had previously taken quotes
(24:03):
from some of them. After thediscovery, however, and as a search
of the perimeter around the power andlight generating facility immediately got under way,
with hope seemingly renewed, one hundredor so volunteers showed up to comb the
area for more clues, or,better still, for the missing child himself,
(24:25):
perhaps scared and hungry, but hopefullyalive, they marched on at the
active direction of the Garland Police.At the end of the day, hopes
were dashed again when the massive searchturned up absolutely no other clues suggesting what
might have happened to Kim. Onthe fourth day of the search for eight
(24:49):
year old Keim Newen, Wednesday,July twenty first, nineteen ninety three,
the FBI finally entered the investigation,as they almost always do, likely to
justify coming into help local and statejurisdictions since the bureau is charged with handling
federal and interstate crimes. FBI agentstold reporters they had developed leads out of
(25:14):
state. Rudy newn worried the FBI'sinvolvement meant that Kim had indeed been kidnapped.
He hoped his son wasn't dead,but that hope had been shaved to
a sliver upon FBI agents reporting thatthey were working the case as a presumed
abduction. I lost my hope whenI heard that they think my son is
(25:37):
not here anymore. Constantly on edge, everything Rudy did, no matter how
routine, brought his son's possible deathto the forefront of his mind. There
was absolutely nothing that took his thoughtsoff of his missing son, not even
for a second. He told theDallas Morning News that when he sat to
(26:00):
eat, he thought about Kim outthere not eating, and pushed his own
food aside. Rudy felt like hewas going crazy. The phone would ring
and he'd grab for his beeper ashis brain misfired. I found him,
his daughter's friend, yelled out.Rudy turned around quickly to see his son,
(26:22):
but it was a pair of scissorsthe girl had found. She'd been
looking for them for a while.Kim no Wen's mother, Sarah, continued
in silence, only breaking it toweep or scream inconsolably. Rudy was keeping
his wife away from the home,away from their son's things, the constant
reminders that every second he was gone, the less likely the chances were he'd
(26:47):
be found alive. He made surethe couple's other children, Jamie and Michael,
were always busy with friends or inactivity. If they stopped for even
a minute, Rudy told the DallasMorning News, they'd begin to ask questions
and cry. They knew. Headded that something was terribly wrong. Still,
(27:10):
he was grateful for the outpouring ofsupport from the community, both neighbors
and strangers. Rudy wanted that messageknown and clear. It's not enough to
say thank you after this is over. No matter what happens, I will
have to do something good for thesepeople and for this country. But the
(27:32):
father now refused to continue to stayhome as the Garland Police had requested.
After a photograph of his son wasshown on the news that Wednesday, Rudy
began weeping and said he could nolonger stay behind. He had to help
find his son. On Thursday,July twenty second, nineteen ninety three,
(27:55):
when eight year old Keim Newin hadbeen gone five days, the number of
search volunteers increased tremendously to around twohundred and fifty. The Texas heat wouldn't
relent, but neither would the volunteers. As area residents, neighbors and parents
of Kim Nowen's schoolmates delivered food,including Kim's favorite pineapple cake. Their moral
(28:21):
support was keeping the Newen family fromturning to their darkest thoughts. Nancy and
Roger Thompson had brought them food everyday since the boy disappeared, but that
was hardly all they did. Thecouple had handed out over three thousand Missing
Persons flyers featuring Kim's photo and description, and it also began making T shirts
(28:44):
and buttons. Meanwhile, Special AgentMarjorie Posche said the FBI was pursuing an
out of state lead they had discovered. The Garland police, however, continually
probed the missing boys fall Rudy,specifically asking if he had any enemies.
He had none, Rudy told them, and although he'd long grown tired of
(29:10):
the question, it was hard toblame the cops for constantly asking, After
all, they had nothing else togo on. In fact, they continued
to hesitate to label the case asanything other than a missing person due to
the lack of evidence of foul play. Dallas lawyer Joe Bellino, who often
(29:32):
represented the area's Vietnamese families, touchedthe new En family when he came forward
with a five thousand dollars reward sureKim had been kidnapped. Bellino insisted the
reward was unconditional. The boy beingfound was the only requirement to collect the
money. Sirch efforts continued the nextday. Nineteen year old Jason Lafon,
(29:59):
a local re bowman, took offwork on Friday the twenty third. Repossessing
cars wasn't the only potentially dangerous workhe was willing to do. As a
searcher, he would do things otherswould not, such as crawling into manholes,
silos, drainage pipes, and smallculverts, any nook or cranny.
(30:22):
Others worked their day jobs, someincredibly grueling in their own right, and
came out to search all evening andinto the night on foot, horseback,
bicycles, and in vehicles. TheRed Cross had also set up shop in
Garland, providing food and drink forthe heat exhausted searchers. Volunteers had even
(30:47):
restored other volunteers faith in humanity,as indicated by quotes in the newspaper,
but it was the hope they gavethe new End family like their efforts that
was most valuable. Some commented thatthey believed Kim was still alive, likely
being held in someone's house nearby.It was only a matter of time,
(31:11):
they thought, before they'd come acrossthe kidnapper. Civilians helped officers keep the
efforts organized at the police command center, and the relationship between the two groups
was mending as they worked together towardthe common goal of finding the boy.
Garland Policeman Steve Frasier commented that officersand detectives were chasing every single lead brought
(31:37):
to them by volunteers, while policewomanLena Kirkholm credited them with taking on a
majority of the work, which wasmuch appreciated for the overworked department. No
one was even thinking about giving up. It would be several more days until
another discovery ended the search efforts.Even after that, the Garland Police struggle
(32:02):
to find the missing pieces they neededto solve the case. That's next time
on Gone Cold. If you haveany information about the nineteen ninety three kidnapping
and murder of eight year old kemNeawen, please call the Garland Police at
nine seventy two four eight five foureight four zero if you have not already,
(32:29):
look for Gone Cold on Instagram,Facebook and Twitter by searching Gone Cold
and looking for the Texas logo.If you'd like to support the show and
get the episodes add free, goto Patreon dot com forward slash Gone Cold
Podcast. Thanks to all of youwho support us there. It's a huge
(32:49):
deal to us. If you're notin a position to help Gone Cold financially
but would like to in some otherway. Well, I've got just the
thing, eaving us a five starrating and written review on iTunes. Particularly
helps Gonkold's visibility. The more folkswho find us and listen, the greater
chance someone with information about a casehere's the show and comes forward with what
(33:15):
they know. Every little bit helps, and we appreciate ill support immensely,
however you choose to give it.Sources for this episode can be found in
the episodes show notes. Thanks forlistening, y'all,
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