Glen Rogers, the Cross-Country Killer

Map of Ohio with Hamilton locator

Before Rogers went to California, he had lived in the town of Hamilton, Ohio. He worked odd jobs, barely making a living, but his mother would not let him live with her.  A seventy-one-year-old electrician and veteran, Mark Peters, offered to take Glen in and help him get on his feet.  He'd ask him to do some light errands in exchange for room and board.

Edna Rogers (left) with Mark Peters

Peters had a loving family in the area, so when he turned up missing late in October, his daughter, Joan, reported it to the police.  She said that Peters had had a collection of coins, some antiques, and several guns, all of which were missing.  The police searched extensively but found no trace of the missing man.

Sign: Hamilton Police Headquarters

Glen Rogers was gone as well, as was Peters' car, and the police asked Glen's brother, Clay, recently returned from prison, what he might know.  Clay apparently told the police that Glen had been anxious to raise money for his bail.  He was going to steal what he could from Peters and sell it.  That had been in October.  A little while later, Glen had reported to Clay that Peters was dead, and that it had been accidental.  He'd also gone up to the family cabin in Beattyville, Kentucky, so it was possible the police would find something there.

Officials in Kentucky searched the cabin and on January 10, 1994, found a skeleton, bound to a chair beneath a pile of furniture.  Due to the state of the remains, official were unable to ascertain the cause of death.  However, it looked like anything but an accident.  They started the process of establishing the identity and only after two months of painstaking effort by technicians and anthropologists were they able to say that the remains were those of Mark Peters.

Before that occurred, Glen had been arrested in California and charged with assaulting a female, and the ID he showed the police there was that of James Peters, Mark's son.  It was an early case of identity theft, wherein Rogers had used the social security card to get a California driver's license and had run up considerable bills that were sent to Mark Peters.  So much for repaying an old man's kindness.  His family was left bereft.

While the police tried to find him, he proved elusive, giving him time to kill again and then flee to another state.