Welcome back to more stories from the distinguished career of Osage County Sheriff George Wayman.
The disappearance of Cindy Kinney has lain heavy on his mind for over twenty five years and he frequently goes over the details of the case in his thoughts. Cindy was a good student with a clean reputation and a loving family. At the time of her disappearance her uncle was an officer with the Pawhuska Police Force and he was the first on the scene. When the Sheriff was called to the Laundromat that Cindy’s parents owned on Pawhuska’s Main Street he found few clues; just a half eaten sandwich and her purse. There was a new bank under construction across the street from the Laundromat but interviews and background checks of the workers there turned up nothing. Following the few slim leads and posting rewards proved futile. When the parents called in a psychic, Wayman would criss cross the country in vain pursuing her hunches.
Wayman knows Cindy wasn’t the type of girl to run away and now after all these years, with hundreds of man-hours and thousands of dollars devoted to finding her, this case still baffles him. The day he retired from office he didn’t know anymore about Cindy’s whereabouts than he did the day she vanishes and he knows that will haunt him till he dies.
Another case that is hard to forget is the murder of Buck Cheshewalla and his wife Maudie. This was a case that should have been handled by the FBI because it happened on the Osage reservation but it quickly became personal for the Sheriff. Everyone loved Buck and Maudie but in the fall of 1988 they were killed for just a few dollars. The fact that they were on the reservation didn’t matter to Wayman; they were in Osage County and he considered them to be his people. He was driven to solve the crime before he retired the following year and he did.
This case, along with the Marchie Miles killing and the murders leading up to his death, will have to take a back seat to some local matters for the time being but stay tuned for more at another time.
It looks like my friends at Prairie Song are getting ready for another season with a grand “start of summer” party. Fiddler Jana Jae of Hee-Haw fame will be performing on March 28th at 3PM along with the Prairie Roses. Roddy Lay is the MC and music giant Jim Halsey who was recently inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame is helping to organize the show. Will Rogers’ niece Coke Myers will be a special guest and with a big spread of food it sure sounds like a good place to be. They have a limited number of tickets so you might want to saddle up quickly and get over to Outlaws Feed and Supply in Dewey- I’m sure they won’t last.
Also coming up on March 27th & 28th is the Green Country Classic Ranch Rodeo and Ranch Horse Competition which will be held at the Claremore Expo Center. Big ranches from all over the country will be competing and folks these things get wild and wooly. I hear that The Cross Bell Ranch team who has won their share of ranch rodeos will be competing with their champion horse so check it out.
Next week: my favorite garage band “Mid-Life Crisis” is coming to town and I’ve got all the scoop. Also there were five bullet holes in a sliding glass door in George’s most famous case. Till then I’ll see ya down the road…
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