Evening star., 1937-05-23
SEARCH FOR BODY
BALKS KEENE CASE
Baff|ed Police Hope River
Will Yield Its Clue This
Week,

Bafned investigators seeking solu-
ton to the disappearance Of Charles
r. Keene, ST., are hoping an unceasing
search Of the waters Of the lower Po-
tomac will aid in clearing up the mys-
terry this week
II Keene's body was plunged into
the river. either by murderer or in
= suicidal leap, it should come to the
surface before the end Of this week
at the latest, Coast Guard Officers
said
Fort the past week Coast Guard
patrol boat has been cruising slowly
along the lower reaches of the river
searching for the body. and the patrol
will be continued through this week, it
was said.
Until the body is found, according
to Norfolk Detective Sergt. Leon No
whisky, who is convinced Keene was
murdered, investigators are facing an
almost nsurmountable obstacle.
so far everything points to nomi-
eide, but we have uncovered nothing
tangible to work on" said Nowitsky.
"RedFaced Man" Sought.
Maryland State Detectives Marlin
Brubaker and ]. J. Cassidy left Wash-
ington yesterday to concentrate their
investigation in the Norfolk area,
where they hope to find the "red-f faced
man" who, so far as is known, was
the last person to see the Washington
real estate man alive.
J. NJ Eby, who manages the re-
freshmenJ stand aboard the steamer
District of Columbia, said the red
faced man" purchased a bottle Of
beer for Keene about midnight May
IL. Eby said he thought at the time
that the red-faced man probably was
resident Of the Old Soldiers Home
at Hampton, Va.
officials Of the Old Soldiers Home
last night said about TOO men live
here and a large percentage Of them
are forid faced"
After drinking the beer without
exchanging word with his host,
keene retired to his cabin, Eby said.
Watchman Heard Noise.
AS Walter Bowen, night Watchman,
made his rounds at AS am, he
heard what he thought was the muf-
neo report of shot. 1t came from
the rear of the boat, where Keene' S
cabin was located. Bowen hastened
to the aft deck to investigate. He
walked through the deserted salon
listening intently. He heard not a
sound. All lights in the state rooms
were out. He dismissed the noise
from his mind.
After the ship docked at Norfolk a
maid inserted key in keene's cabin
door. She heard key drop out of the
lock on the other side. She does not
remember whether the door was locked
Inside. the cabin was in disarray.
Keenes grip was open. Clothes were
scattered about. On the floor were his
shattered eyeglasses and gold wrist
watch with the metal wrist band
broken. There were bloodstains on
the bed, on the wash basin and on the
sill of the window. On the aft deck
rail, 10 feet from the cabin window
which could be reached by a narrow
outside catWalk, there was the smear
of bloody hand. Keene's coat and
shoes were in the cabin. No gun or
any other weapon was found. A
chamois pouch and leather paper
case which Keene's family had never
seen were on the floor
Police at first suspected suicide.
Then they swung to the homicide
theory.
But without corpus delecti, No.
whisky pointed out, investigators can
not proceed far with the murder the
ory. Even II murderer should be
found, it was pointed out, he could not
be prosecuted until the victims body
Is found.