https://murderandmalice.com/2021/01/06/looking-for-a-victim-the-murder-of-al-kite/
On May 24th, 2004, Al’s employer grew concerned when he failed to show up for work, so they contacted his sister, who lived in another state. She called the police and requested a welfare check.
The police were dispatched to Al’s condo on 2002 South Helena Street, not realizing the horrific scene they were about to encounter. They discovered Al deceased, bound and tied up, face down in a basement bedroom. It was a gruesome scene.
His hands were tied to his ankles and had extensive wounds on the bottoms of his feet. The coroner performed an autopsy, and the results shocked everyone. It was determined Al died Saturday, May 22nd, and was tortured for hours. The killer used Al’s kitchen knives to insert above his eyeballs and into his ears and shoulders. Unfortunately, it didn’t end there. The killer viciously stabbed Al 22 times, and his head was almost severed. The killer took his time and was extremely careful to clean up the scene. Police found all the kitchen knives, a honing rod, house key, pen, drinking glass, and Al’s car keys, soaking in a sink full of bleach to destroy any DNA. The killer also took a shower, poured bleach down the drains, and even took trash with him. Fortunately, he forgot two things; his bloodstain on the basement stairs and a rental agreement found crumpled up in a trash can. This would be the detectives first clue into who might have murdered Al.
Al’s renters had recently moved out, and he posted an ad in the library of the nearby University Of Colorado Medical School. A few weeks before Al’s murder, a man, using the alias Robert Cooper, answered the ad telling Al he was from the East Coast and worked for Wells Fargo. Al arranged for Robert to see the unit. Al’s girlfriend, Linda, happened to stop by while Robert was down in the basement. Al wanted Linda to meet Robert, but she asked to use the bathroom before Robert came back up. Linda said Robert rushed out the front door before she could introduce herself, which she found odd. She noticed the man was well dressed, had a limp, and carried a cane in his right hand. She didn’t get a good feeling from him and was happy when Al said the man didn’t want to rent the unit. But Robert contacted Al later and said he wanted to move in and gave Al a deposit on May 18th, four days before Al’s murder. Al gave Robert a key to the home. Law enforcement believe Robert Cooper is responsible for murdering Al Kite.
All the information Robert Cooper supplied Al on the rental agreement was false. The name, social security number, references, and even his current address were all for other people or businesses. Detectives discovered Cooper’s cell phone was a burner(prepaid) phone purchased at a 7-11 in March 2004. Cooper waited 30 days to activate the phone; exactly how long the store kept their surveillance footage before taping over it. This made it impossible for the police to see who purchased the phone. Cooper only used the phone to communicate with people renting out properties. One woman Cooper contacted showed him her rental property. She said he gave her the creeps, and he only seemed interested in the windows and doors. She taught Romanian at a local college and noticed Cooper had a hint of a Romanian accent.
Al’s case was featured on The DNA of Murder with Paul Holes on Oxygen Channel in 2019. Paul met with a bindings expert, Lindsey Philpott, and intelligence analyst, Julie Quinn, to get their take on the bindings and torture methods used. The bindings were odd because Al was bound around the upper arms, above the elbows, and twice above the knee. This type of hogtying is connected to the Turkish Hezbollah group, a violent radical Kurdish Islamic group organized in the 1980s. The group’s purpose was to secure a separate Islamic state in Turkey. The whipping of Al’s feet is unusual to investigators as well. There’s a type of foot beating called Falaka, a kind of corporal punishment that involves beating the soles of a person’s feet and is excruciatingly painful. This method is common in Turkey. The honing rod found in Al’s sink was most likely used for the injuries on Al’s feet.
https://unresolved.me/oakey-al-kite
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/homicides-and-sexual-assaults/victim-oakey-al-kite-jr
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Just another day of deciding to never sleep again....
