Questions Arise In Tommy Lynn Sells Alleged Confession In Cordt Murders:

By Dave Warren and Kathee Baird:

Serial killer Tommy Lynn Sell on Texas' Death Row

 This is the fourth part of a series into the investigation of the 1985 murders of Ena and Rory Cordt in Forsyth, Missouri and the alleged confession letter written by Tommy Lynn Sells admitting to killing the mother and son. 

The Ozarks Sentinel recently published the alleged confession of serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells and his role in the murders of Ena and Rory Cordt. While some believe Sells is the signer of the confession, many are not certain that the document reflects the truth of what really happened in the small town of Forsyth, MO in July of 1985.

In fact, Sells himself has told at least one person he would sign the confession if it were prepared by someone else, indicating it may not necessarily be the whole truth. Some have questioned the timing of the stories, noting that one of those named is seeking public office in November. (We can state that the timing of the story was based solely on this being the 25th anniversary of a murder that law enforcement had all but forgotten about.  However, we understand the concern and questions that have arisen.)

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To understand why a serial killer would be willing to sign a confession such as this one, you need to look into who prepared it and had it signed, and what their motivation might have been.
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Muddying the case further, law enforcement has not moved forward on the murder case in more than a decade and yet requests for records and documentation in the case from law enforcement agencies in Missouri are met with, “We regret we cannot release those at this time as this is an ongoing investigation.”
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While a source within the Missouri Highway Patrol has told The Sentinel that the agency is now taking another look at the case, no suspect has been named and officials will not confirm nor deny whether or not DNA has been preserved from the 25-year-old crime scene.
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In the past few weeks The Sentinel has traced the origin of alleged confession back to 2000, when Sells allegedly signed it.
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However, The Sentinel's investigation goes much deeper than just the naming of names. The alleged confession letter may be, in fact, a document that came into being to help discredit some, while vindicating others. Who created it? Did Sells sign it? What was the motivation behind the confession? All those questions demand answers.
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A key component of the investigation into the alleged confession may lie with a Taney County man who author Diane Fanning said told her he had a confession from Sells.
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Fanning, who wrote the book “Through The Window,” about the Cross Country serial killer spent time interviewing Sells on death row conducting research for the book and worked closely with Texas Rangers who listened to many of Sells' confessions about his involvement in a number of crimes – including those of Ena and Rory Cordt.
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Fanning's book on serial kill Tommy Lynn Sells is available here

Asked about Sells' involvement in the Cordt murders, Fanning said, “Yes. He confessed to that. He went into great detail and even told me about how he killed them and why he killed the little boy.”
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According to Fanning, the Texas Rangers believed Sells was the killer of Cordt and still do. “Yes. The Rangers definitely believe he killed them,” she said.
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However, according to Fanning, the confession letter as written, is another story.
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“Two men, Bob Schanz and Peter Rea, contacted me in 2001 or 2002, I don't remember exactly when, and that was the first time I had heard about a murder-for-hire plot,” Fanning said. “They said something about a judge and that Sells had been hired to kill them (the Cordts).”
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Fanning said she made a point of asking Sells about the confession during her next interview with him on Texas' Death Row.
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“I did ask Sells about it. He said that Schanz had asked him to sign a confession about that. He told me, 'Bob Schanz wants me to say this really was a murder for hire.”  Fanning noted that Sells told her he would “probably sign it,” but added, “If Bob Schanz typed it up, he would sign it.”
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Bob Schanz and former President George W. Bush

“I can tell you with certainty that the wording isn't that of Sells in the confession. The basic language is not that of Sells,” Fanning stated.” Sells has no real care for people in jail like he said in his confession. Sells himself has told me that there are a lot of people sitting in jail for crimes he did and, “I don't care.”

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The relationship between Schanz and Fanning has been a rocky one at best over the years.

Fanning told The Ozarks Sentinel, “he (Schanz) has gone out of his way to discredit me.” Fanning noted Schanz initially attempted to discredited her with the ABC News show 20/20 and the Montell Williams Show.
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 However, over the years, Fanning has gone on to establish a solid reputation with ABC and Texas Rangers involved in the Sells case.
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She has also spent countless hours speaking with and corresponding with Sells who has been dubbed The Coast To Coast Killer.
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According to Fanning, the confession in which Sells tells of a murder-for-hire in Taney County, isn't the only such confession that Schanz apparently had him sign.
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“Ranger Johnny Allen told me about another confession, in a different case, that Schanz wanted Sells to confess to in a murder-for-hire,” she said. “So there's more than one confession by Sells about murder for hire plots that Schanz had Sells do.”
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At the time Schanz was in constant contact with Sells, according to Fanning. Fanning said Schanz provided Sells with items he wanted, or needed. “He would give him things like NASCAR stuff,” she said.
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If true, why would Schanz want to implicate Taney County officials in such a plot through a confession that he had Sells allegedly sign?
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To understand that, one needs to go back more than a decade and examine what was happening in Taney County at the time the alleged confession came into being.
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In a complaint filed by Schanz with the Circuit Court of Taney County, Associate Division, a 17-page document outlines what Schanz believed was corruption within county government.
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In the filing he notes some items related to the Cordt murders that seem to be part of the confession he Sells allegedly signed.
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He notes on page 14 of the document: “11. Ena Mary Cordt and Rory Cordt were found murdered on July 30, 1985.  Affiant has not been able to prove that the Sheriff had a task force such as was working on the Mease murder two years later.
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Affiaint does state that witnesses have stated the following about the law enforcement:

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  a. Sheriff Keithley is reported to have instructed Theron Jenkins that Ronald Houseman was not a suspect in the Cordt murders and would not be treated as such, (Source of this are the statements of JC Crouch and Joe Chowning before witnesses). (Theron Jenkins told Crouch and Chowning of this conversation).
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  b. Jenkins told Judge Rae that Keithley had recused from the Cordt case, did nothing on it at all, and that he, Jenkins, was in charge.
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  c. Keithley told Rae that he had never worked longer or harder on a case than the Crodt murder cases.”

The legal motion, at this point, brings up the names of two individuals who are named in Sells alleged confession in the Cordt murders. It should be noted that Sheriff Keithley would have automatically recused himself from speaking with his nephew, Ron Houseman, regarding the investigation, as that would be seen as a direct conflict of interest.
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It is not evidence of any conspiracy but rather the standard way of conducting any investigation.
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The third named person in the alleged confession appears on page 15 of the filing, section 14 where Schanz alleges that “Don Swan refused to help the affiant.”
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Prior to the alleged confession coming to light, Schanz had filed papers with the court indicating what he believed was a conspiracy to cover up the Cordt's murder investigation.
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While the original filing is against Judge James Eiffert, it seems suspect that those named in the alleged confession that Schanz claimed to have received from Sells would have been named in a court document prior to the securing of the confession.
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If, in fact, Schanz had the confession in hand at the time of the filing, it should have been mentioned as a key piece of evidence.
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The filing of the charge against Judge Eiffert only serves to bolster Fanning's claim that she was contacted in 2001 or 2002 and told that the confession was about a judge and a murder.
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The Ozarks Sentinel spoke with Bob Schanz, twice, about the alleged confession by Sells, attempting to verify that the one in our possession was, in fact, the same version as the one he had allegedly received from Sells. Schanz did confirm, via a telephone interview, that the confession was a true copy of the one he had received from the convicted serial killer.
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During one of the phone interviews, Schanz spent a great deal of time explaining just how the alleged murder-for-hire plot was set up, where Sells was two days before the killings (facts later confirmed by The Ozarks Sentinel) and that he was planning on writing a book on Sells himself. He later told another person who was investigating the alleged confession that he had, in fact, never spoken with us (despite phone records to the contrary). He did not produce his “original” confession for that person.
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In the late 1990's and between 2000-2002, Schanz worked hard on behalf of a former friend of his, Judge Peter Rea, hoping to show a conspiracy took place in removing Rea from office. He even submitted signatures of other Taney County residents who were pushing for vindication for Rea. (It should be noted that Schanz has told reporter Kathee Baird, and others, that he is no longer a friend of Peter Rea's).
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Does that explain the confession from Sells? Were those named in the confession innocent of any involvement other than being a target of Schanz's in his attempt to “clear the name of a friend?”
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Some in Taney County believe that's exactly what happened.
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For Kathy Keithley-Johnston and her sister Jana Keithley Kueck, the search for the truth behind the confession is a very personal one. Their father, former Taney County Sheriff, Chuck Keithley, was one of the persons named in the articles that were printed in The Sentinel.
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“Because our father was the former Sheriff of Taney County and because his name was brought into the story, we wanted to find out who was behind these lies! That is why my Sister and myself became so active in ascertaining who was behind these awful lies and what was truly behind their intent” stated Keithley-Johnston.
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“We are Chuck Keithley’s daughters and proud of not only him but the name we carry. We knew this so- called confession wasn't the truth and didn't reflect the man that we know, love and respect. Our father defended this county for 20 years. He is and was a man of honor and certainly of courage."
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Keithley-Johnston is convinced that specific people were responsible for the confession and she, along with her sister, set out to discover what they could and who might be behind it.
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"We discovered several things about the confession as we spoke to people. No dates appeared on the confession, and above all else, we believe that the confession was certainly not accurate or factual. We were told by many in the community just to let it go – that is not our style when liars are involved,” said Keithley- Johnston.
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“Dad always told us to make a stand when we knew someone had been harmed and wronged. We can’t think of a better person to make that stand for now – our father” said Keithley-Johnston, who is the Executive Director of Toxic Discovery a Non-Profit Consumer Protection Organization.
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The two sisters began their quest for the truth with the man allegedly at the middle of the confession, Bob Schanz.
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“I would like the readers to know Chuck Keithley's daughters formally met with Bob Schanz at his residence.” One of the questions they asked was whether Mr. Schanz was involved in this. Bob Schanz said "no and that the paper was the one lying. We didn’t believe that for one second," said Keithley-Johnston, who is the eldest daughter of the former sheriff.
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“We asked if Mr. Peter Rea was involved. His statement was that Peter Rea was involved and how Mr. Rea had said awful things about our father”. Mr. Schanz said that he had “nothing personal against our father.”

The Keithley sisters say Schanz told them "he would “swear on a stack of Bibles that it was Peter who was the one who had shared things with him. He said that Peter was really getting him upset and didn’t know what his game was."
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During the sisters meeting with Schanz, "he persisted on was showing us very disturbing paintings by Tommy Sells and presenting letters that were allegedly written by Tommy Sells. We had no desire to look at any of these documents in his possession. All we wanted was the truth to come out. Mr. Schanz said the confession that was printed was not the one he had, but he never showed us the copy. When we asked for it, he said he would have to dust off so many items before he could find it. That he had not looked at this stuff for years.”
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Keithley-Johnston says, “We asked him, why do you and Peter Rae hate our father so much? Mr. Schanz said he had nothing against my dad but that Peter Rae had it in for him and Ron Houseman. Mr. Schanz admitted to loaning Mr. Rea $5,000 one time and $2,000 another time. He says that Mr. Rea still owes him for the last $2,000 loan. Bob Schanz said he could solve the Cordt murders in two days if given the chance. Schanz told us that he did not believe that Sells killed Ena or Rory – he went on to say that Sells would admit even to killing President Kennedy if asked. He said that Peter Rea is the one that called him first saying that someone was wanting to do a story on the 1985 murder."
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The Keithley sisters say they then asked Mr. Schanz where the statement came from about the “$1,000 piece of ass?” Keithley-Johnston says this statement bothered the sisters as women – “who says that kind of thing about a female and a single mother? The woman and her child are dead. We, as women, are repulsed by such a vulgar comment. Mr. Schanz told my sister and I that specific statement came directly from Peter Rea. Mr. Schanz told us that this whole thing is made up.”
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During their search for the truth, the sister have met with, and called several people including:

Bob Schanz ,Peter Rea, Presiding Commissioner Chuck Pennel, Don Swan, and Attorney Barney Naioti.

Keithley-Johnston says she has also spoken to Taney County Sheriff Jimmie Russell, former Texas Ranger John Allen and Sgt. Dan Nash with the Missouri Highway Patrol.
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As of press time, Keithley-Johnston said she had called to schedule an appointment with David Tate, Mayor of Hollister – "We want to know if the upcoming election between our cousin Ron Houseman and David Tate has anything to do with this document surfacing at this time. We just find the timing very interesting to say the least."
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During their phone conversation with Peter Rea, Keithley-Johnston said a number of facts came to light. “He told me on the phone that he had hired a lawyer from Texas to go down and get the statement from Sells. That lawyer, Mr. Rea said, was paid for by none other Bob Schanz.  We asked who the lawyer was or where he was and we were told that he was in either heaven or hell.”
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“I asked where the attorney was from and Mr. Rea said he was either from Austin, Dallas or Houston. I was shocked that Mr. Rea could remember he was on a road trip to California when the Cordt murders were committed but could not remember what lawyer he had hired to obtain the confession. When a confession is obtained does that not have to be provided to the prison or jail? Can anyone just walk in off the street and have a person sign a statement and walk out with it and then proceed to distribute it to people all over the country? None of this makes sense," says Keithley-Johnston.
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Keithley-Johnston said she now believes that the witness signature which appears on the alleged confession is that of the very lawyer hired by Rae and allegedly paid for by Bob Schanz.
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During their conversation, Keithley-Johnston said Rea made mention of corruption within Taney County. “He told me we were all embedded." He went on to say “We suffer from corruption and conspiracy in this county.”
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One thing that struck the two sisters as odd was a statement made by Rea during the phone call about a former suspect in the Cordt murders, Paul Smart. “He (Rea) said he had met with Paul Smart at his cabin. Smart asked him if he could assist him in getting his driver's license back. Pete said he told him he no longer had his license to practice law.”
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We don’t believe anything that Paul Smart has to say either. Why would he (Smart) bring up Peter Rea in his statement to The Ozarks Sentinel – has Mr. Smart been paid by someone to say these things?"
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One thing the Keithley family is adamant about is that their father, who served the county for more than two decades, is a man of integrity and honor and would never be involved in anything illegal.
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The Keithley sisters both agree on one thing “Our family's wish is that through the courts, justice for Ena and Rory finally happens. Our prayers are with their family. May the guilty individual finally be brought to justice. May the people behind these evil lies be exposed! The people of Taney County who know my father, can bear witness to his character and integrity in his two decades of loyal service to this county. Shame on those who have been behind these malicious lies. My heart goes out to the relatives of the Cordt family. I pray those truly behind the death of their loved ones be brought to justice,” stated Jana Keithley Kueck.
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It's a theme that most involved in this case can relate to.
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“The family and community needs closure in this case,” Fanning said. “Springfield, Missouri indicted Sells for a murder so I don't understand why they (Missouri law enforcement) aren't looking at Sells.”
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Fanning noted that one person named in the confession received by Schanz and the very person who interviewed him after his capture, told her he believes Sells is the killer. “Don Swan himself told me he thought Sells was the killer, but that because he was on death row, there was no need to move forward,” she said. “Texas would execute him.”
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“Sells caused a lot of people pain before he was caught and now, sitting on death row, he still causes pain,” Fanning said.

Note:  Bob Schanz refused comment for this story stating, "I am meeting with a lawyer next week."

Sells Names Who Hired Him To Kill Forsyth Mom and Son:

By Dave Warren and Kathee Baird



This is the third installment in our investigation into confessed serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells and his account of what happened in 1985 when Ena Cordt and her son, Rory, were brutally slain in her Forsyth home. We had initially planned on this being the final part of the story. However, over the past few weeks’ new information as come to light that will be explored in a fourth part of this series.



Press here for a link to the first story. Press here for a link to the second story.

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Tommy Lynn Sells on death row in Texas

For the past 25 years there have been many in Taney County who doubted the guilt of a man accused of a crime he says he didn’t commit. Others have been certain there was a cover-up at the county level. Some saw Indians behind every tree, claiming conspiracy in the unsolved double homicide of Ena and Rory Cordt.



Did Tommy Lynn Sells really commit the crime



Why have investigators from Missouri discounted Sells confession while Texas authorities believe it is likely true? How many coincidences does it take before they're a just too many? Are there ties between a Nixa murder and the double homicides in Forsyth?



Over the past two weeks we have examined the written words of Tommy Lynn Sells, one of America’s most prolific serial killers, in regard to the 1985 slayings of Ena and Rory Cordt of Forsyth. Sells, whom law enforcement considers one of the worse serial killers in recent memory, is on death row in Texas for the brutal murder of Kaylene Harris in 1999 in Del Rio.



What we do know about the murder of the Cordts is that Sells was in the Forsyth area enrolled at a drug treatment center in Blue Eye at the time of the murders. He claims he was approached by a Taney County deputy at the county fair. At the time he was away from a the rehabilitation center where he had been placed following his release from the Missouri Department of Corrections.



Sells modus operandi, (m.o.) in most of the homicides he committed was the use of a knife and weapons of opportunity like baseball bats. Ena and Rory were killed with his favorite weapons.



Following the death of Ena and Rory Cordt, Sells, who has been dubbed The Coast-To-Coast Killer, went on to become one of the nation’s worst serial killers.



Coincidence after coincidence



Sells wasn’t even looked at by local law enforcement in 1985 as a suspect, despite his being recently released from prison and his “talk” with a deputy at the Taney County Fair. While he was not known as a prolific killer at the time, his confession was looked at with skepticism in 2000? But why, by then police were well aware of his actions and his ability to ruthlessly kill people.



Why did authorities in Taney County choose to send the very deputy Sells allegedly spoke with in 1985, and whom he claims was involved in the plot to kill the Cordts, to interview him on death row to determine if he was involved in the Cordt killings?



Who had the most to lose if Sells’ confession was true? Certainly the deputy would have been implicated had law enforcement taken his confession into account.



Sells maintains in letters to Bob Schanz, an expert on the serial killer, that the murder in Forsyth was one for which he was paid. He claims the deputy, the sheriff and the then county clerk as the three people who approached him and a friend at the Taney County Fair in July of 1985(who he will only refer to as Bob) and paid him to kill Ena Cordt.



He claims the first contact was through the deputy (Sells worked for much of his adult life as a carny, traveling from state to state). He claims the deputy, who he names as Don Swan, was the one who first mentioned the “job.”



Sells then goes on to implicate the former County Clerk, who he calls “Ron” in his letter to Schanz. Finally he names the former Taney County Sheriff as being another one involved in having Cordt silenced.



He claims he was offered $2,500 for the murder, but was only paid $1,000. When he asked for the remaining money, he was allegedly told "you had a $1,000 piece of ass."



All of this appears in a written confession (which we will publish,) yet authorities claim that Sells account of the murder and his knowledge of details of the crime scene are inconsistent.



Amazingly, Sells did recall the first name of the county clerk and the full name of the deputy whom he claimed first spoke with him about money in exchange for killing Cordt.



It's been 25 years since the Cordt murders. Given the many years that have passed and years of drug and alcohol abuse by Sells coupled with the numerous murders he has committed, investigators are being unreasonable when they ask him to recall each portion of the 1985 double homicide in Forsyth.



Not likely



Texas Ranger John Allen said that following Sells’ arrest in Texas, "He was calm, almost complacent when we began to question him. Then he said: I guess you want to know about the others."



In the subsequent days that followed, Sells spelled out how he'd drifted across America, killing as he made his way across the country, often in a drunken or drug-induced haze.



In most of those confessions he was inconsistent on some points and failed to have a clear recollection of crime scene details, but homicides across the United States have been solved with what he does remember.



The FBI profiling guide indicates that many serial killers are unable to recall exact details of each crime for a variety of reasons.



For example:

• Perceptions during violence: The acts the killer carries out on victims is done very much like he is put on autopilot. This is believed to be the case because they have acted these scenarios many times in their fantasies and so it is just like revisiting them. Identify lies based on the amount of detail provided. Fantasy worlds or delusions are typically very detailed, so if the story appears inconsistent and lacking in detail, the subject may be trying to feign psychosis or delusion. Law enforcement agencies that dismiss confessions because of inconsistencies have repeatedly failed to identify individuals who were later found guilty of the crime.

For some who have interviewed Sells on death row he has a few surprises

Dr. Michael Stone, the host of Discovery’s “Most Evil” is a professor of clinical psychiatry at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. The author of ten books, he has recently published “The Anatomy of Evil” with Prometheus.

Stone believes Sells account of the Taney County double homicide and told Dr. Katherine Ramsland in an interview that Sells troubled childhood is probably what sparked his murderous rages. “I was surprised by Tommy Lynn Sells, on Death Row in Texas. I assumed I’d hate him and want to pull the switch on him myself. But when I interviewed him, I was struck by his candor and openness about his dreadful childhood and about the terrible crimes he committed, since he was willing to explain to me how his crimes gave him a (temporary) surcease from the rageful and vengeful feelings he had stored up over the years because of his maltreatment. So I ended up with some respect and sympathy for him,” he said. “Tommy Lynn Sells and I continue to exchange letters.”

What is surprising in Sells’ alleged written confession is that he knows the positions and names of those he maintains hired him to carry out the murders in 1985. Those facts, according to psychiatrists, would be likely to stand out in the killer’s mind. For example, he notes in the letters that the sheriff of the county was the uncle of the county clerk – a detail that is significant.

Unfortunately, we do not know how much information was fed to Sells, either unintentionally or intentionally, by law enforcers. It would be possible to frame questions that had enough information in them so that Sells could later retell a story in a way that would implicate others. But, there’s a problem with that theory, too.

First and foremost, Sells has never claimed the involvement of others in any of the other homicides he has confessed to. Only the Cordt killings has others named as co-conspirators and only those killings have other participants in the crime indicated by Sells.

Amazingly, Sells alleged killing of the Cordt’s is not the only crime he has confessed to in southwest Missouri. He has been indicted for the Oct. 15, 1997 abduction, rape, and murder of 13-year-old Stephanie Mahaney in Springfield. In that case, he is considered the only one present during the commission of the crime.

In the Cordt case, authorities in Missouri have discounted Sells confession despite some strong, albeit circumstantial evidence, that he may well be involved.

Included in that evidence is the statement by former suspect Paul Smart that he was allegedly told by a member of law enforcement that they knew Sells was “guilty as hell” and that he (Sells) had told investigators exactly what the Cordts had eaten before they were killed and that it was confirmed through their autopsies.

Smart was considered a suspect early on after investigators found his fingerprints in the shower at the Cordt home. Smart says he was going to do some drywall work in Cordt's bathroom, and that he was friends with her father, Bob.

Even more disturbing is Smart’s allegation that a member of the Taney County government was initially investigated but that the sheriff told investigators to go after Smart instead. Smart was never charged with the murders but has lived under the shadow of suspicion for the past 25 years.

Sells maintains that he and two other men drove to Ena’s home that fateful evening and that all three raped her before Sells ended her life. If true, is it only Sells DNA that the Missouri Highway Patrol claims to have?

Those who have spoken or had written communication with Sells, point out that he was young and in need of money after his release from prison. His account of being threatened by a deputy who then hired him, to kill Cordt seems plausible given his fear of being of going back to prison.

One expert on Sells says the whole story Sells weaves about the Cordt killings is more than plausible, despite some inconsistencies that he feels are expected 25 years after the commission of the crime. The passage of time has had an impact on the case, witnesses have died, or in the case of one of those named suffer from Alzheimer's disease. Facts have become muddled.

Urban legends have sprung about the double homicide and they are now starting to be taken as fact in the Cordt case. The inability of the state’s elite Highway Patrol to solve the Cordt murders, the case being put on the back burner for so long and the dimissal of Sells as a suspect have done little to “lay the story to rest.”

One thing is for certain

For most experts on Sells, authorities in other states and for Sells himself, the murder of Ena Cordt and her young son Rory has been solved. No one has been brought to justice and, in fact, if others were involved, some people have been able to escape justice.

In 1985, while still alive herself, Ena’s mother laid her daughter and grandson to rest just across the bridge in Forsyth. We cannot allow them to lie in the cold ground without justice being served, while some hope that time will erase the memory of two young lives cut short and that they will soon be forgotten.

Their deaths have been forgotten by many, but not all.

In next week’s article we will take a look at other possible suspects and where law enforcement currently is on this cold case. In addition, we will publish the complete written confession that Bob Schanz said came from Tommy Lynn Sells.