Larry Sauer & Trisha Coble Murders in Butler County Kansas

PROBE CONTINUES AFTER BODY FOUND

Butler County sheriff's investigators were continuing this morning to probe the discovery Saturday of the body of a 44 year old Wichita man just inside the county.

Butler county Sheriff Dave Williams said "we're just about certain" Larry Sauer was killed in the same general area" that his body was found. The discovery was reported to the sheriff's office at 11:40 a.m. Satuday; Sauer's body was found in a hedgerow about 20 feet inside the County 1/2 mile south of Pawnee on 159th street.

Williams said he and sheriff's detectives Craig Murphy, Ed Garman and John Everett met with Butler County Attorney Mike Ward this morning to discuss procedures to be used in further investigation of the case.

He said the Wichita police Department will be assigning one officer to work with Butler County authorities on the case, and more if necessary.

Williams said two Wichita men who were driving down the road looking for quail in the hedgerow found the body. He said in addition to the body, a shoe was discovered about fifty feet inside the County.

He said the cause of death was a shotgun wound, adding Sauer had been shot once in the left upper torso.

Sauer disappeared Nov. 6 after taking his 14 year old son to Cessna Park in Wichita to watch airplanes take off. Williams said Sauer left the park to run an errand and was gone about an hour. He came back to the park, Williams said, and later tol dhis son to take the van they rode to the park in back home because he had something to do.

Williams said according to the son, Sauer was "looking off in another direction" as he (the son) drove off. (El Dorado Times, November 27, 1989, Front page and page 3)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Autopsy, Search Offer Few Clues In Slaying

An autopsy and a second scouring of the site where Wichitan Larry Sauer's body was found produced little new information Sunday for detectives investigating Sauer's slaying, said Butler County Sheriff Dave Williams.

Sauer's body was discovered Saturday under some leaves and branches a few feet off a dirt road just inside the Butler County line. Sauer, 44, had been missing since Nov. 6 from Cessna Park in southeast Wichita.

Family members and friends said Sunday they had no idea who would kill Sauer or why.

"Larry was a very likeable person. I can't fathom anybody harming him," said his wife, Janice.

Family friend Mary Hansen said those who knew Sauer think fould play was involved.
"He wouldn't have disappeared on his own....He wouldn't just up and leave," Hansen said.

Detectives will continue interviewing friends and family today. Williams said he plans to ask for manpower from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation or other agencies.

An autopsy confirmed that Sauer was shot in the left side with a shotgun, Williams said. He did not immediately have information whether the shot was fired at close range or whan Sauer might have died.

He said the body appeared to have been at the scene since Sauer disappeared.

Two hunters found Sauer's body just south of Pawnee and 159th East, 6 miles east of the park on Pawnee.

Sauer had taken his 14-year-old son, Jeffery, to the park to watch the airplanes take off about 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 6. After about 15 minutes, he left the boy briefly, saying he needed to run an errand.

He returned for a while, then told his son to drive the van home because "he had something he wnated to do," Sauer's wife said last week.
Sauer was an aircraft inspector for the Department of Defense, stationed at McConnell Air Force Base.
(The Wichita Eagle ~ 27 Nov 1989)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Victim's Friends Queried In Probe Of Mysterious Slaying

Three Butler County sheriff's offiers spent Monday interviewing friends of Larry Sauer, trying to discover who might have killed the 44-year-old Wichitan.

Hunters on Saturday found Sauer's body near Pawnee and 159th Street East, just of the Sedgwick County line.

Sauer, a Defense Department inspector who checked airplane parts of the Cessna Pawnee plant in Wichita, had been missing since Nov. 6, when he was last seen by his 15-year-old son, Jeffery. the two had gone to Cessna Park in southeast Wichita at about 4:30 p.m. to watch planes land. Sauer told his son to drive the family's van home because he had an errand to run. Family members said Sauer never returned.
Friends of Sauer's said he and his son often went to the park while waiting for Sauer's wife, Janice, to return home from work. The night Larry Sauer disappeared, his wife did not get home until 8:45 p.m.

Janice Sauer said her husband was the kind of man who always called if he was going to be late.

Butler County Sheriff Dave Williams said he was fairly certain Sauer was killed in Butler County, but there were several unanswered questions related to the case. He declined to elaborate.

Williams said there were no tire tracks in the area near the body and he thought the road had been graded since Sauer died.
Officials said Sauer's wallet was found on his body, but they would not say whether it contained money.

Sauer will be buried late this afternoon in Great Bend after a funeral service at All Saints Catholic Church at 1 p.m. in Wichita.
(The Wichita Eagle ~ 28 Nov 1989)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wichita Teen Being Held As Suspect In Death of Father

Butler County Sheriff Dave Williams refused to identify the 15-year-old male in custody, but a family member said Jeffery Sauer was picked up by deputies late Monday.

Larry Sauer was buried Tuesday in Great Bend but his wife and son were not there.

After a funeral mass at All Saints Catholic Church in Wichita, Janice Sauer went to El Dorado to visit the couple's 15-year-old son, Jeffery, being held as a suspect in his father's death, a family member said.

In El Dorado, Butler County Sheriff David Williams said a 15-year-old male was in custody for possible involvement and questioning in the case but had not been charged. Williams refused to identify the youth.

"He was picked up late last night on probably cause," Williams said.

A family member who did not want to be identified said Jeffery Sauer was picked up by deputies late Monday.

Quail hunters on Saturday found Larry Sauer's body on the edge of a Butler County field south of Pawnee, near 159th Street East. Authorities said he died from a shotgun blast.

Jeffery Sauer is a sophomore at Wichita's Southeast High School where school officials said he was not a discipline problem. Friends and neighbors of the Sauers described the family as extremely good neighbors, calling them the All-American family.

Williams said more than one person may have been involved in the killing, and deputies have not determined a motive.

Larry Sauer, 44, who grew up in Great Bend, was a Defense Department employee who inspected airplane parts at the Cessna Pawnee plant in Wichita.

Janice Sauer reported her husband missing after he failed to return home Nov. 6. She and family friends begged the media to give the case some attention. She told officials Jeffery and his father went to Cessna Park near the family home at 2132 S. Ridgewood to watch airplanes land the evening her husband disappeared.

Janice Sauer said Jeffery told her his father asked him to drive the family's van home from the park because he had some errands to run. Jeffery Sauer told his mother he went straight home from the park and watched television until she returned home from work at 8:45 p.m.
Larry Sauer never came home. His wife because suspicious because, she said, he was the type who always phoned, even if he was only 15 or 20 minutes late.

An autopsy showed Sauer was shot in his left with with a shotgun and died the same day he disappeared.
The killed has baffled people who know the family.

"He's (Jeffery) a really nice boy, which is unusual for a teenager," said Tyra Kahre, the Sauers' next-door neighbor. "He's real good about being alone. He's very responsible for his age."

Jim Lovegrove was a friend of Larry Sauer's and worked with him for 15 years. He said Sauer never mentioned any problems at home. The men saw each other two or three times a week, and they visited the day Larry Sauer disappeared.

"He was telling jokes like he always does," Lovegrove said. "He and his boy worked out in the exercise room together. They always went to watch airplanes together."

If something was wrong at the Sauer house it was a closely guarded secret.

"It was like any teenage-parent relationship," Janice Sauer said Monday before her son was taken into custody. "They got along, and sometimes they didn't. They both liked to be in charge."
(The Wichita Eagle ~ 29 Nov 1989)

EUREKAN IS BOUND OVER FOR MURDER

Eureka, Kan - A man whose wife told a law officer that her husband had beaten her just hours before she died was bound over for trial on a first degree murder charge.

Danny Ray Coble, 23, was charged Thursday in Greenwood County District Court, in the death of Trisha Lynn Coble, 24, on Sept. 3.

County Attorney Frank Beyerl alleged the couple argued and Trisha Coble struck her husband before running from the house. Coble chased her about 400 years, kicked her, beat her, dragged her back to the house and beat her again, Beyerl said.

Mrs. Coble died about 15 hours later.

Beryerl relied on a statement taken from Trisha Coble about an hour before she underwent surgery at HCA Wesley Medical Center in WIchita. She died during surgery.

Greenwood County Undersheriff Bill Helkenberg testified he asked, "Who hit you? Who hurt you?" He said that Trisha Coble replied it was her husband. Helkenberg said he asked her, "Your husband, Danny Coble?" and the woman said yes.

Helkenberg testified that Mrs. Coble told him the beating occurred near the couple's home, and said "He kicked me, beat me, and dragged me."

Pathologist David DeJong testified she died of bleeding from a "smashed liver," probably after being kicked with the point of a boot or shoe. She suffered a broken jaw, three broken ribs, and bruises or lacerations to her back, buttocks, head, arms, legs and hands, he said, in an attack that probably lasted five to 10 minutes.

Coble was taken into custody hours after his wife was injured. Helkenberg and KBI agent Tom Williams testified that Coble talked to them two days after his arrest. Acknowledged that he hit and beat his wife after she had struck him.

But Coble told Helkenberg a different story - claiming that he had been asleep on the couch, waiting for his wife to come home when he heard a noise outside, a loud vehicle and a woman screaming," Helkenberg said.

Coble said he went out the back door and as was struck in the face as he came around the corner of the house.

When he regained his faculities, his wife, Trish, was laying in the yard, Helkenberg testified. (El Dorado Times, November 17, 1989)