Murder at the Roosevelt Hotel in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

by Peter Heelmann

Overview

Byron C. Hattman sealed his fate when he checked into the Roosevelt Hotel on December 13, 1948. A maid found his body in a blood-spattered room two days later. An investigation linked him to the young wife of St. Louis pediatrician Robert C. Rutledge, who confessed to the brutal attack after trying to poison himself. The scandal made national headlines and seemed like an easy case for the Linn County court. That is, until new evidence changed the story completely. Reporter and author Diane Fannon-Langton uncovers the truth and compiles the complete details of the Hattman slaying for the first time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467119603
Publisher:	History Press, The
Publication date:	08/01/2016
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Diane Fannon-Langton writes "The Time Machine," a history column for the Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A Cedar Rapids native, she is married to Richard Langton Sr., and has two children and five grandchildren. Her interest in local history is fueled by having unlimited access to the Gazette's archives. "Newspapers have always been viewed as the purveyors of current events," she says, "disposable after each day's read. To me, they are the record of history, more detailed than any encyclopedia."

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 9

1 Murder Discovered 11

2 Arrest 17

3 Charged 23

4 Return to Cedar Rapids 30

5 The Trial 36

6 The State's Case 43

7 The Defense 48

8 Rutledge Testifies 61

9 State Rebuttal 71

10 Closing Arguments 79

11 A Verdict 88

12 Personal Interview 96

13 A Request for a New Trial and a Sentence 103

14 Freedom 111

15 The Appeal 115

16 Conclusion 122

Bibliography 125

About the Author 127