Testimony: Mother Emotionless About Son's Disappearance

Monday, August 27th 2007, 7:36 am

By: News On 6

ALVA, Okla. (AP) -- Katherine Rutan did not show any emotion when it became clear her 6-year-old son was missing, the late Woodward County Undersheriff Monty Clem said in a transcript read in court Monday.

Katherine Rutan is being tried on a first-degree murder charge in the June 2002 disappearance of her son, Logan Tucker.

Prosecutors read the transcribed testimony of Clem, who said he called Rutan's brother, Brian Marquardt, in her presence to ask about the whereabouts of the boy. Rutan had claimed the boy was with Marquardt.

Clem said in the transcript that Marquardt "flatly denied having Logan.

"We continued to talk to Ms. Rutan. I asked her to come to the sheriff's office."

He described her demeanor as emotionless.

Clem stated authorities organized searches west of Woodward and at Boiling Springs State Park involving 300 to 400 people. The initial search lasted three or four days. During that time, Rutan never contacted the sheriff's office to inquire about the search.

One of the several stories Pollard told following Logan's disappearance was that Marquardt had taken the child camping in Pennsylvania or Vermont.

When asked directly if he'd ever had Logan in his custody, Marquardt replied emphatically, "No."

"Ever take him camping?" Again he answered no.

Marquardt testified that on June 23, 2002, the last day Logan was known to be alive, Marquardt was driving from Salisbury, Md. to Virginia Beach, Va., with his sales crew selling cleaning products. He said the FBI sent agents to the hotel where he was staying, searching all the crew's rooms and cars.

He said the last time he could recall seeing his sister was in 1999 when he first started his business. He saw her then at his mother's house in Tulsa.

Marquardt recalled meeting "the kid" one or two times, the first being while his sister lived in Olathe, Kansas.

"I was helping her boyfriend, husband or whatever he was move the waterbed and it dropped on my foot," Marquardt said. "The second time I met the kid was when I met my mother for the first time."

After District Judge Ray Dean Linder instructed Marquardt he could leave or stay for the rest of the proceeding, Marquardt said, "You mean I can stay and watch? I just want to see her get hanged!"

Later in Monday afternoon's testimony, two former employees of Marquardt's company testified they were in West Virginia on the date Logan disappeared. They further stated that Marquardt had not been absent from their presence during the entire month, nor did he ever have any children traveling with them.

Former Woodward County sheriff's Deputy Shaun Burnett, now 911 coordinator for Woodward County, said that when he went to check on the welfare of the boy, Rutan said he was with Marquardt on a camping trip in Pennsylvania or Vermont.

"She said she'd been having disciplinary problems with Logan, and she thought maybe her brother could help take care of those issues," Burnett testified. "She said she was trying to get Logan placed in a mental hospital."

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11/3/2006 Mother Of Missing Woodward Boy Could Face Murder Trial Soon

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8/19/2007 Mother To Go On Trial In Death Of Son

8/22/2007 Opening Arguments Set To Start In Child Murder Case

8/23/2007 Testimony Begins In Mother's Murder Trial

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