Chapter Twenty Six:Kathy Kohm:A Chance to Clear One’s Name

 Chapter 26

    In 1999, Rosemary Kohm was interviewed as part of an article looking back and remembering Kathy.  She said that she had been so angry for so long.  She had to find ways to keep the anger from ruining her life. 

    The Jonbenet Ramsey murder investigation was dominating the headlines at the time. Rosemary was asked about the case. She felt that the Ramsey’s should be more open with law enforcement.  She said when Kathy disappeared that she let a Park Ranger from the nearby Abraham Lincoln boyhood home search every part of their home.  He went through Kathy’s room looking for any small clue. 

    When asked if she had forgiven Stanton Gash, Rosemary said that she had not. She said that she would shoot him herself if she thought she could get away with it. 



     On October 9th 1999 Kathy Kohm would have turned 30.  But she didn’t turn 30.  She would be forever 11.  Eighteen years had passed.  When she was a child she had asked her Dad if he thought she was smart enough to be a doctor.  He assured her that she was capable of becoming anything that she wanted. 

    Her killer had had eighteen years of freedom to do whatever he wanted. He could go to a movie, go for a walk or just spend the day laying on the beach. He could travel.  He could volunteer or get a job. He was free to do all the things that Kathy never got to do. He had all the time in the world. 

    Two Indiana State Police investigators traveled to Indian Harbor Beach, Florida and knocked on a condo door on December 6th 1999.  Stanton Gash opened the door.  This was a moment he had been expecting.  They explained that they had a warrant to collect DNA evidence.  They took the samples. They said that they would be in touch. Then they left.  

    This test would be the moment that could finally clear his name once and for all.  An innocent man would be thrilled to finally be exonerated.  An innocent man would be so relieved.  People had always looked at him with suspicion.  Even his closest friends and family had doubted him just a little.  He could always sense it.  Ever since it all happened things were never the same.

    But now the police were going to do a proper DNA test.  The truth would finally come out.  An innocent man would be thrilled and relieved.  Finally everyone would know the truth.   An innocent man would be happy.  

    Stanton Gash was found in his Florida home on December 20th 1999. He had overdosed on drugs and alcohol. He hadn’t waited for the test results to come back.  He knew what they would show.  He knew it meant that all the people who had believed in his innocence all those years would finally know the ugly truth. He couldn’t face them. He just couldn’t.  

    It wasn’t just the people close to him that worried him.  He would have to face the public.  It would be in all the papers. It would be on every television channel. He would have to face Kathy’s family.  All the questions he had refused to answer in the Civil Trial would be asked. 

    Then there would be the trial and it would all end in jail.  Gash knew he definitely could not go to jail.  He weighed his options and made his choice.  He made a confession in that act.  An innocent man would have been thrilled to see those results come back.  But Gash knew he was not an innocent man. 




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