In January 1935, just 24 hours after Roland T. Owen checked into room 1046 at the Hotel President in Kansas City, Missouri, he was found beaten and tortured. His wrists and ankles were bound with a cord, he had a skull fracture on the right side of his head, and had been stabbed multiple times in the chest. He was only semi-conscious and barely able to speak when police asked him if anyone else had been in the room, but he did manage to say one word before dying, “nobody.” That was the beginning of one of the strangest and oldest murder mysteries in US history.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices