Oakey Albert Kite Jr. was born May 7, 1951 in Nash County, North Carolina. His parents were Oakey Albert Kite and Edith Davis Kite. The couple had one more child - a daughter, Barbara. Already in his youth, Oakey Jr. he did not use his name, but the pseudonym "Al". He probably did this to avoid being confused with his father, who had the same name. Oakey Kite Sr. was a renowned dog trainer and co-owner of Oakey and Hunter Grove. Edith Davis Kite raised the children. She died in January 1970, aged only 48. Her son was 18 at the time.
Al grew up in Halifax County, North Carolina. He attended Weldon High School. His best friend at school at the time was Gail Kay. Kite continued his education at Atlantic Christian College in Wilson, a town about an hour away by car. The field he chose was business administration.
In 1971, Al began working at Stone & Webster. It was a large engineering services company. The man held various positions there during the thirty-one years he lived there. Kite moved several times and worked at the company's offices in Massachusetts, Texas, New York, Nevada, Wyoming and Tennessee. At one point, Al even moved to Algeria, where he supervised one of the projects.
In 1976, Kite married his previously mentioned high school friend, Gail Kay. The woman had a daughter, Julie, from a previous relationship. Al treated her like his own child. However, the marriage did not stand the test of time and ended in divorce in 1988. However, the former partners maintained good relations. Kite also continued to be involved in Julie's upbringing.
In the early 1990s, Al became an accounting procedures manager in California. His clients included large companies such as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, Bay Area Rapid Transit and San Francisco International Airport. In 1998, there was an offer to move to Colorado, which Al gladly accepted.
The man lived in Aurora. It is the third largest city in Colorado, with a population of nearly 400,000. inhabitants. Aurora is also part of the Denver metropolitan area, which is the capital and largest city of the state. Al bought a two-story house that was way too big for himself. After moving, the man transformed the basement into a separate apartment to rent to tenants. This allowed him to pay off his mortgage faster, using space he wasn't using anyway.
In 2002, Al unexpectedly lost his job. However, he quickly managed to find employment at the Carter-Douglas consulting company. In his new job, he became known as a friendly and always helpful person. The man often spent his free time outdoors. He enjoyed playing golf, skiing and hiking mountain trails, enjoying the charm of living in Colorado. Al led a fairly quiet life until 2004, when several significant events occurred.
First, the man started dating Linda Angelopulos. Although at first it did not seem that their relationship would be serious, over time it became so. At the beginning of 2004, a tenant who had been living at Al's for several years declared that he did not want to extend the lease. This is what happened and the man moved out in May 2004. Kite then started looking for a new tenant. First, he placed an ad in local newspapers.
On May 19, 2004, the first candidate applied to Kite. It was a man who introduced himself as "Robert". He informed me that he would like to move in as soon as possible. He was willing to pay a deposit and the first month's rent. Al told Linda about the potential tenant. Apparently he had just moved from the East Coast and started working at Wells Fargo. He stayed temporarily with his sister, but wanted to rent his own apartment.
Interestingly, Kite's girlfriend never met the mysterious man. She showed up at Al's house once when the future tenant was also there. However, she had to use the toilet, and when she came out of the bathroom after a while, "Robert Cooper" was just leaving. The woman saw him from behind. Although she couldn't see his face, she had a chance to look at the clothes he was wearing. She remembered that he was very well dressed. He wore elegant trousers and a coat that day.
Conversations with Al revealed that the man was about 40 years old, about 175 cm tall and weighed 80 kilograms. Linda also noticed that he had dark, wavy hair. "Robert" stood out because he had a noticeable limp and used a cane to walk. It later emerged that several unrelated witnesses had encountered a man who identified himself to them as "Robert Cooper."
One of these people was a professor from the University of Colorado who was also looking for a tenant. A man matching the description given earlier met her to view her apartment. This time the potential tenant didn't have a limp or carry a cane. However, the woman noticed something even more peculiar. “Robert Cooper” spoke with a distinct accent. The professor had knowledge of Eastern European languages and, in her opinion, the man she was talking to was from Romania.
At least three people who wanted to rent their apartment in May 2004 remembered meeting a mysterious man. What seemed most peculiar was that each "Robert Cooper" presented a slightly different incarnation. Each time he changed his accent or the way he behaved and moved. It was as if he was playing a completely different role to these later witnesses.
In their opinion, the man gave them strange and unpleasant feelings. "Robert's" presence on their property made them feel uncomfortable. For this reason, none of these people decided to rent their house or apartment to a strange stranger.
Unfortunately, he achieved his goal and convinced Al. Their first meeting probably took place on May 19. On that day, anyway, "Cooper" was spotted leaving Kite's house by one of his neighbors. A day or two after this meeting, Al and "Robert" agreed to pay the first month's rent. A new tenant was due to move in soon.
On the morning of Saturday, May 22, Kite drove Linda to the airport. The woman was leaving for a week and planned to contact her boyfriend after landing. She arrived at the location around 3:30 p.m. and called Al, who seemed to be in a good mood. He told Linda that he and his neighbor had just repaired a pipe in the basement. At the end of this short conversation, they wished each other a nice weekend and said goodbye.
On the morning of May 24, 2004, employees of the consulting firm Carter-Douglas in Denver, Colorado, noticed the absence of one of their colleagues. It was "Al" Kite. This likable and widely liked man was known for his conscientiousness. He was very rarely late, and when he was, he always announced that he wouldn't get to work on time. More minutes passed and Al was still not at work. Co-workers began to worry. Several calls were made to his landline and mobile phone, but Kit could not be reached.
So the Carter-Douglas guys decided to call Al's sister, Barbara. The woman admitted that she had not received any messages from her brother that morning. She tried to contact him, but to no avail. However, the older sister lived in Virginia, over 2,500 km from Denver, and was unable to personally check what was happening to her brother. But she knew this absence was very unlike Al, so she contacted the Aurora police.
Late in the afternoon, officers arrived at Al Kite's home. They knocked on the door repeatedly but received no answer. The police were afraid that the man might be in danger, so they decided to enter the house using force. Then they started searching other rooms. They couldn't find the owner of the house anywhere, but they didn't notice anything unusual either. Everything changed when they entered the basement.
This is where Al Kite's body was found. The man was lying face down and the crime scene looked gruesome. There were traces of blood on the wall and floor. Detective Thomas Sobieski, who arrived at the deceased's home and was one of the lead investigators on the case, later described the crime scene as "the worst he had ever seen." There was a wound on the back of Al's head, indicating that he had probably been hit by surprise. Investigators believed that the blow was struck while the victim was walking down the stairs to the basement.
The worst part was that Al's death wasn't quick or painless. The man's hands were tied behind his back and then his wrists were tied to his feet. The man couldn't move, let alone defend himself. The attacker tortured Kite mercilessly using several sharp tools. In the end, he stabbed twenty-two people. It was estimated that Al died hours after he last spoke to his girlfriend.
Linda recalled that a few days before his death, her boyfriend had been talking to his mysterious new tenant about the reclining chair in the living room. The men planned to move the piece of furniture to the basement. A hypothesis emerged that the perpetrator could have been a new tenant who took advantage of the kind nature and trust of the property owner.
Investigators determined that after Kite's brutal torture and murder, the killer then spent considerable time in the victim's apartment. He ate food from the fridge, took a shower, and even slept in Al's bed and wore his clothes. It was a shocking discovery. Soon even more strange facts began to come to light.
According to the testimony of one of the neighbors, the mysterious man left Kite's house early Sunday morning. However, he managed to thoroughly clean the interior first. Technicians had trouble finding any forensic traces. When police arrived on scene and discovered the body in the basement, they noticed several items in the sink. Its drain was blocked and several knives and other items were thrown inside, including: a glass, a pen and the victim's car keys. The sink was then filled with bleach.
The main task of the investigators was to determine the identity of the perpetrator and the motive. At first it seemed like it was some form of revenge, as Al had been tortured before his death. However, the man always avoided conflicts and was widely liked and respected. None of his family or friends knew any potential enemy who could do him any harm. Later, a theory emerged that it was a methodically planned attack. The police discovered that Kite's car, his mobile phone and his wallet were missing. The services decided to find them, hoping that this way they would be able to find the perpetrator of the brutal murder.
On May 24, the day he was reported missing, a blue-gray GMC pickup truck belonging to Al was found. The vehicle was parked near the man's house. Everything pointed to Kite not having abandoned him there. The investigators found surveillance footage from one of the nearby ATMs. The camera captured the man who drove up in Al's vehicle. It was very difficult to identify him because he was wearing a ski mask, covering most of his face. “Robert” was also wearing gloves, so police were unable to find any fingerprints on the ATM keypad or inside the pickup truck.
What was even stranger was that the killer paid out exactly one thousand dollars. This was also the amount of the deposit he had previously given to the victim. Kite, however, had a much larger amount saved in her bank account. The perpetrator of the crime did not use the accumulated savings, which ultimately ruled out a robbery motive. It can be assumed that "Cooper" only paid his own money for the deposit, which in his mind was not even theft. It is also worth adding that there was an ATM confirmation of the amount withdrawn on the passenger seat. It was as if "Cooper" wanted the police to make this discovery. It was another moment in which the mysterious man showed his boldness and self-confidence.
Al's phone was found in one of the phone booths. While going through the contents of the waste bin in Al's kitchen, a discarded lease agreement was found. The application contained the basic information contained in this type of documents. So there was the name and surname of the future tenant, his postal address, social security number and telephone number.
It's not hard to guess that "Robert Cooper" was written in the "name and surname" column. As you probably guessed, these were fictitious personalities, because the investigators checked this lead thoroughly. The sister's address that the enigmatic man provided was actually on the campus of a local medical university. The Social Security number belonged to an elderly woman who had nothing to do with the case. The telephone number he entered on the contract was linked to a nursing home. It seemed that the perpetrator had already prepared all this information in advance.
Another masterstroke by "Cooper" concerned the cell phone number he used. First of all, it was a pre-paid number without registration, which he used only for renting an apartment. He purchased the SIM card in one of the 7-Eleven stores. It was located near the medical university. The mystery man must have been familiar with the area because he listed an address associated with this university on the lease agreement. After purchasing, the man waited exactly thirty days to activate the number. Why? After this time, the surveillance footage in 7-Eleven stores was deleted.
Although more than 20 years have passed since Al's death, the identity of the mysterious "Robert Cooper" has not yet been established. In my opinion, even this nickname itself is not accidental. I suspect it may have been some kind of tribute to D.B. Cooper, the famous plane hijacker who also used a fictitious identity. Despite over half a century, we do not know what his real name and surname were. In both cases, many people also saw the perpetrators and their memory portraits were created. It would seem that finding these men is only a matter of time. However, this did not happen.
Returning to "Robert Cooper", the first question to ask is whether he knew Al before or whether he was a completely random victim. There is also no clarity on this point. On the one hand, the brutality displayed by the perpetrator could indicate a personal relationship and a desire to retaliate for previous wrongs. Knowing Kite's character, it is hard to believe such a hypothesis. However, it is possible that the men once met professionally. Perhaps Al once gave "Cooper" advice that turned out to be wrong, and as a result, the man could, for example, lose a significant amount of money. But would this justify the perpetrator's cruelty?
More likely, in my opinion, is the hypothesis that Kite was an accidental victim of a sadist who had planned the crime in detail in advance. He just needed a victim who he could trust. In this case, Al's kind nature may have been what the man was looking for when he aroused negative feelings in other potential tenants. Or maybe he did it on purpose to confuse the investigators. Maybe he wanted them to think the victim was accidental?
What is certain is that we are dealing here with one of the most cunning, methodical and intelligent murderers in history. Many assume that his modus operandi would qualify "Robert" as a serial killer. However, there is no known case in which the murderer's modus operandi would be similar. Murderers, however, very rarely change their ways. Maybe there were more victims, but they simply couldn't be found or the cases weren't as publicized? Or maybe they happened on the other side of the world, so it's difficult to connect them because American investigators have never heard of them?
Well, finally, let's return to a clue that may be crucial in this case. We are talking about the perpetrator's foreign, Eastern European accent. Of course, it could have been fake. A few years ago, however, it was possible to test the few DNA samples left by the perpetrator at the crime scene. It is true that there was no person in the police databases whose genetic material was compatible. However, using the latest forensic methods, it was possible to determine that "Cooper's" ancestors most likely came from south-eastern Europe. The Romanian (or similar) accent could therefore be real and the perpetrator should be looked for in this part of the world, although it is still a very large, not fully defined area.
It is also interesting that the perpetrator focused largely on Kite's feet during his torture. This method is called phalanx or falaka. It has been used in the past in many different countries. It is also used to this day, often by state services in countries that do not fully respect human rights. Could "Cooper" have been a secret service agent in the past? This could be supported by the man's excellent training, who was able to cover his tracks like a professional. Speaking of the professional, another theory is that "Robert" was a paid killer. I personally believe in this a little less, because in their case it's the "job" that counts. A hitman wouldn't go to so much trouble. In any case, the mystery still awaits its solution.
