William Kunnecke

In 1895, Regina's nephew, known only by his surname Koeninger, arrived from Germany, and William quickly employed him as a farmhand. Koeninger remained there for a year and a half, but then suddenly disappeared in the area of Trinity Mountain's lakes.[3] Kunnecke then began searching for another herder in Rocky Bar, explaining that his previous one had returned to Germany. This claim was investigated by the German consulate in Portland, Oregon, which discovered that Koeninger's parents hadn't heard from him for a while. They also informed the consulate that Kunnecke had owed their son $800, for which he had given a note for the promised amount.[3]

The German consulate demanded that he paid the required sum, but William claimed that he had already done so. In turn, he asked that arrangements be made for an indemnity bond, as a guarantee that his money can be refunded. Since a bond could not be taken out at the time, it was delivered at a later date to Mountain Home.[3]

People were wondering about his reason to leave suddenly, and since the suspicion that Kunnecke had killed Koeninger was so strong, county commissioners offered a $1,000 reward for any information about his whereabouts. Kunnecke was last seen riding a saddle horse, claiming to be en route to Rocky Bar. It's believed that he instead went to Trinity Mountain, to get rid of any evidence there. A burned-down shack belonging to Kunnecke was later discovered in the mountains, and people suspected that Koeninger's body was discarded and subsequently burned to ashes in a deliberately-started fire, so nobody could find him.[3]

In the spring of 1900, the body of another sheep owner named Litzman was found on a trail between his farm and that of the Kunneckes. According to his surviving brother, Litzman was known to carry a lot of money on his person, as he had no faith in banks, but strangely, not a single dollar was found on his body.[4] Kunnecke had already left town, ostensibly to skip a court-appointed $500 bail bond about violating a law about herding diseased sheep.[2] His wife had remained in the town only so she could close up the business, withdraw $80 from the Rice & Co. Bank, which belonged to her nephew, and later join her husband. It later transpired that William had poisoned him, stolen the money and simply left the body lying on the trail.[4]

After returning to Germany for a short time, Kunnecke returned to America, passing through Spearfish, South Dakota before settling on a farm in Cottonwood's creeks.[5][2] Shortly after his arrival, Kunnecke ran into trouble with the law, having been accused, tried and convicted of stealing 300 sheep from James Cox, for which he had to pay $1,350 and spend a month in jail.[1] In due time, he hired a young man named Charles Rohrbecker as a farmhand. Charles later disappeared, prompting his brother, William, who resided in Iowa, to come asking about him.[1]

Kunnecke explained to the young William that his brother had quit, and that he didn't know what happened to him after that. William was offered a job at the ranch, where he met with Andrew Demler, who had already worked there for a few months, with Rohrbecker quickly learning that the fellow ranch hand never went anywhere without his trusty sheep-lined coat and dog. For a few weeks, everything was going fine. One day, however, Andrew vanished without a trace. When questioned, Kunnecke claimed that Demler had quit, and that he had sold all of his sheep to him.[1]

Kunnecke then asked Rohrbecker to take over the job, to which he agreed. They then rode out to the sheep camp, where they found Demler's dog, sniffing at a pool of frozen blood to the side of a sled. Kunnecke tried to explain that he had killed a sick ewe and had discarded it there. This did not convince Rohrbecker, who opened the door to the little shack and found Demler's prized coat. The young William inquired about why it was there, receiving a threatening answer from his employer, who thought that he had asked "so many damn fool [sic] questions."[1]

Panicked, Rohrbecker tried to quit right then and there, but was warned by Kunnecke that he'd have to stay at least until a new farm hand could be hired. Realizing that he had killed Demler and that the same fate probably awaited him as well, Rohrbecker reluctantly agreed to stay. Kunnecke then left, taking both horses with him, leaving the frightened William herding the sheep. While gathering the sheep, Rohrbecker spotted a washout that would lead him out of the sheep camp, waiting until nightfall before escaping.[1]

He ran east towards Fort Pierre, so he could catch the nearest train back to Iowa. At some point during his night-long trot through the snow, he heard hoof beats on the trail behind him, and quickly hid in a ditch to avoid the rider. After the rider had gone away, he found his way to Fort Pierre, hopped on a train and once he arrived in Iowa, he wrote a letter to Sheriff Feeney about his suspicions toward Kunnecke.[1]