Post by Graveyardbride on Feb 25, 2015 12:25:19 GMT -5
It’s been two years since Kate Ragsdale, 73, was found dead inside her home at 118 The Highlands, February 24, 2013, in the upscale Highlands neighborhood, right in the heart of Tuscaloosa. Since then, no arrests have been made, but the lead investigator says he's just as sure as ever they will solve this case. “I am most confident, that I have talked, over the last two years, probably more than once, with someone who knows exactly what happened to Kate Ragsdale, who knows who the killer is,” Sgt. Dale Phillips said. “And I may have even talked to the killer.”
But Phillips says to bring the case to a close, investigators have to find the connecting piece, to put a lot of other pieces together. He says the death of 73-year-old Kate Ragsdale, a retired University of Alabama librarian, is one of the most complex cases he has ever encountered. He describes it as the type case that comes along only about once in a decade. “A lot of times serious assaults and murders like this happen because someone loses their temper. While I can’t say that this person went there to kill Kate, this person had the opportunity to not kill Kate. And they chose not to, they chose to follow through and end her life,” he said. Like a lot of other details in this case, Phillips couldn’t elaborate on this statement. He says it is important to keep certain aspects of the case confidential, details only investigators and the killer would know.
Some details, however, have been released. Investigators say Kate Ragsdale’s death was the result of sharp force trauma. They do not believe it was a burglary attempt, but the person was likely looking for something specific. Phillips also believes the person is local and knew Kate Ragsdale. “They knew who lived there, they went there for a specific reason. Again, we don’t know what that specific reason was, but they went there knowing this was Kate Ragsdale’s residence, looking for something specific.”
In an earlier interview, investigators said they believed the person responsible for Ragsdale’s death went there for a purpose. They do not think it is likely this was a random act of violence.
118 The Highlands
Phillips also says investigators have developed an extremely detailed timeline of Ragsdale’s life, in the weeks and days leading up to her death.
Even though two years have passed, Phillips believes the passage of time has some benefits for the investigation. He says investigators are able to take advantage of developing technology in re-analyzing evidence. In just the past few weeks, he says investigators have been able to resubmit some evidence. He believes this may reveal important details about the identity of the killer. “We’re very optimistic that these new tests will kind of give us a jump start to move on.”
Meanwhile, Phillips says there’s another path to solving this case. “There are a handful of people who know what happened to Kate. And they need to think about what that family’s going through, and what Kate went through. I think those people, maybe not the ones that were there, maybe not the ones who took Kate’s life, but there’s people who know what happened. Those people really need to search their soul and decide to do the right thing and come forward.”
But at the two-year mark, Phillips admits there is still daily work that can be done on this case. “This case is nowhere near a cold case. A cold case requires you get to a point that all the leads have been followed up and there’s no new information. That is not the case here. We have so much information and so much evidence to process and examine, and sometimes you have to wait for other steps to be followed. The best way to sum up this case, I think is to say we are in a position that every move that we make has to be a calculated move.”
Phillips can’t say when the case will be solved, but he’s determined to bring the investigation to a close. “I never had the opportunity to meet Kate, but I feel like I know her better than anyone. And she didn’t deserve how her life ended.”
Source: Terri Brewer, WRBC News, February 24, 2015.
