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	Franklin County, Kansas, USA

2009-11-07

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2009-11-05

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Monday, June 15, 2009 11:58 AM

Sister longs for answers on Wellsville arson death

Woman considers 2002 incident an unsolved murder

By COURTNEY SERVAES, Herald Staff Writer

Patricia Hugg isn’t looking for vengeance.

She knows nothing will bring her brother back.

No, 81-year-old Hugg isn’t out to accuse someone of something he or she didn’t do. Rather, Hugg, who lives in California, just wants a little justice, just wants to know what happened to her brother more than seven years ago.

“Why can’t someone step up to the plate if they know something?” Hugg said. “I think it would be good to know what exactly happened.”

A shocker

When Hugg received word of her brother’s death, she had just returned home from church.

It was Mother’s Day 2002 — a day she has trouble forgetting.

Her brother, 84-year-old Lloyd Deitch, had been found dead, burned to death in his Wellsville home.

“Naturally, there was horror and shock and great sadness on my mother’s part,” Hugg’s daughter Janis Salupo said. “And weeks of trying to get questions answered.”

At first, Hugg thought maybe her brother purposely set the house on fire.

But she knew better, knew her brother better.

“At that point, I was just so stunned by it,” Hugg said. “It’s hard for me to believe my brother would do such a thing.”

Hugg said the dogs gave it away — the stray dogs her brother took in, provided shelter for, fed. The same dogs that burned to death in the basement of the house, Hugg said.

“Those of us who knew him, know his love for dogs,” Hugg said. “That was a shocker for me.”

A cold case

Franklin County Sheriff Craig Davis remembers the case.

Davis said the case currently is considered a homicide and arson investigation, but he hasn’t received any new leads since the initial investigation.

“It’s a cold case at this time unless somebody comes in,” he said. “Law enforcement take a stand that it’s considered a homicide until proven otherwise.”

Deitch was found in his home alone, Davis said. His wife, Monzella, was staying with a relative the night of the fire.

In the early stages of the case, the sheriff’s office, Ottawa Fire Department, Kansas State Fire Marshall’s Office and members of the KBI all were involved in the investigation.

For Davis, cold cases are never easy. He wants to be able to provide families with answers.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” he said. “It’s not unusual for family members to check with us and check on the status of the case.”

The bottom of it

Every once in a while, Hugg will run across a newspaper article where a cold case was solved.

It gives her hope.

Davis said it’s not impossible for a cold case such as this one to be solved, even though it’s been more than seven years.

“Sometimes cases get solved as many as 30 to 40 years later,” he said. “New evidence might turn up, new technology is created.”

Hugg is hoping to someday know what happened to her brother, but she knows she doesn’t have 30 to 40 years left to wait.

“Maybe they’ll never get to the bottom of it,” she said. “Or maybe I won’t be around.”

The truth

As you age, Hugg said, you get used to death, used to shocks and surprises.

But that doesn’t mean you like them, Hugg said.

“As you get older, you have a history of these things happening,” she said. “You just have to deal with it.”

Hugg and her family have a lot of questions they’d like answered, a lot of answers they fear they’ll never have.

“(My mother) has expressed to me often that she would like to see this brought to some sort of close in her lifetime,” Salupo said. “We’re very confident that it won’t happen at this point.”

That doesn’t mean Hugg can’t hope for some sort of clue, some tip.

“I just felt that there was something that needed to be done so we could get down to the truth of it,” Hugg said.

Anyone with information about this crime should call the Franklin County Crime Stoppers at (888) 311-TIPS — that’s (888) 311-8477. Callers can remain anonymous.

Courtney Servaes can be e-mailed at cservaes@ottawaherald.com.