A copy of the article, for future reference:
Grisly details cited in case of Fulton man
Affidavit questions search ‘oversight.’
By JAMES GOODWIN of the TribuneÂ’s staff
Published Wednesday, November 19, 2003
New allegations against Jack Wayne Rogers describe a dark world of genital mutilation and murder, while a delay in the search of the Fulton manÂ’s property raises the question whether evidence could have been destroyed.
111903%20rogers.jpgRogers
The former lay minister pleaded guilty in federal court last week to possessing child pornography. But records filed Monday in Callaway County Circuit Court suggest that Rogers, 58, also might have acted on other sordid fantasies.
People interviewed by the Missouri State Highway Patrol have said that Rogers has admitted to multiple murders and has surgically removed the genitals of willing subjects and unwitting victims in Columbia and elsewhere.
"Rogers called it ‘communion’ " when he consumed body parts of a victim, Sgt. David Merrill, a criminal investigator with the highway patrol, wrote in a court affidavit.
The document, which led Monday to a third search of RogersÂ’ property and a travel trailer at 707 Nichols St., outlines alleged acts of genital mutilation, cannibalism and murder. But if evidence suggests Rogers participated in any of the crimes, county prosecutors have yet to press charges.
Merrill wrote in the 17-page affidavit that "due to an oversight and despite the fact that I believed that probable cause existed to search Â… for human remains," investigators did not look for remains in flower beds, under paving stones or elsewhere in RogersÂ’ front and back yards during the first two searches.
Instead, investigators concentrated on finding the child pornography Rogers admitted last week in federal court to possessing.
There was a three-week span between the first search of RogersÂ’ property on March 18 and his arrest on April 9. The gap between those searches is provocative for investigators.
"I believe," Merrill wrote, "Â… that after the execution of the first search warrant and before being taken into custody, that Jack Rogers destroyed evidence which may have implicated himself" in the disappearance of Brandon K. Perry, 20, of Skidmore and other "yet to be discovered crimes" as well as the "illegal" genital surgeries.
RogersÂ’ lawyer in the pornography case, Valerie Leftwich, declined to discuss MerrillÂ’s affidavit. "I would have no comment on that," she said.
Investigators have seized surgical tools and other materials from RogersÂ’ home that could lend credibility to accounts that he performed at least one genital surgery in Columbia.
Fierce Pancake (imported) wrote: Sat Nov 22, 2003 7:16 pm
In his affidavit, Merrill recounts the story of an unnamed man who told investigators that he paid Rogers to surgically remove his genitals. The man met Rogers over the Internet and later arranged to meet him in person at a Columbia motel, Merrill wrote.
The man and his wife met with Rogers and an unnamed associate, according to the affidavit. Rogers conducted the procedure as his associate handed him the surgical utensils and took photos, Merrill wrote.
Investigators later found the associate, who said he had known Rogers for a few years and had helped him perform the same operation on three other men.
"The individual told officers that the standard agreement between Jack Rogers and individuals undergoing Jack RogersÂ’ surgical procedures was that Jack Rogers would retain the severed and removed body parts for his own use," Merrill wrote. "The individual reports that Jack Rogers told him that Jack Rogers would on occasion eat" the body parts and that "on one occasion Jack Rogers asked if he wished to try it."
The man who underwent the procedure at the Columbia motel has identified himself in a digital image taken from a computer confiscated in April from RogersÂ’ now-defunct business, according to the Merrill affidavit.
That business, Deck & Decker Personnel Service, was located in a suite at 1900 N. Providence Road. A sex chamber and a manual describing the procedure for removing genitals were also found at the business, Merrill wrote.
Another man interviewed by state investigators said Rogers told him he "had killed a number of individuals and that they talked frequently about Jack RogersÂ’ involvement in performing surgeries involving the removal of male genitalia," Merrill wrote.
The man told investigators that Rogers once mentioned that one man had died during such a procedure. The man also reported that Rogers said he "would keep the teeth of victims and throw their teeth out of his car window while he drove to hide and dispose of the body," Merrill wrote.
In his affidavit, the investigator said he sought a third search warrant for RogersÂ’ home to look for human remains. Police confiscated a backpack, couch cushions and a blue plastic tub found in a travel trailer on Monday.
But an inventory of seized items makes no reference to human remains.
