University Daily Kansan / Tuesday. April 23. 1991
9
Series of unsolved deaths worries local American Indian community
By Lara Gold
Kansan staff writer
Pictures of Don Bread's four children line his office desk.
Connie, 24, as a high school cheerleader. Joey, 2, smiling bright in a portrait. Erica, 9, cuddling with her big brother Chris.
Don Bread stands near a telephone pole where he has erected a memorial to his son Chris. The memorial was placed near a ditch where 19-year-old Chris Bread's body was found after his death one year ago. His body was discovered on 15th Street about a mile and a half from the Outhouse, an east Lawrence bar where Chris was seen the night before he died.
Chris, 19, dressed in a tuxedo the night of his senior prom.
Many pictures of Chris Bread were taken that night. But the one that rests on the center of Don Bread's desk was the best one taken.
"There is a light around his face."
Dare Bread said, "It is my favorite one."
Bread's children are his favorite thing in the world. He has tried to protect them by teaching them about safety.
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But he could not protect his son forever.
"I would tell Chris to always be cautious and aware of what's around him.
Chris Bread died either from a fractured skull caused by the impact from a vehicle in a hit-and-run accident or a blow to the head. He supposedly was walking home about 12:30 a.m from the Outhouse, a club about one-and-a-half miles east of the old High Street where he was struck by a large vehicle, a truck or a van, March 2, 1900. He was knocked unconscious and died about 10 minutes later, after becoming brain dead.
A passing motorist found his tire-marked body on the north side of the road in a shallow ditch about 1 a.m.
Since that night, mystery has surrou-
naded Chris's death.
Chris Bread was the fourth American Indian found dead in Lawrence that year.
The first Indian death occurred in April 1898, when John Sandoval. 19, was found drowned in the Kansas River
Cecil Dawes Jr., 21, a former KU student, was also found drowned in the Kansas River in October 1989
Harry Oliver, 72, was killed Dec. 4, 1989 in a hit-and-run accident.
Police offered no answers or suspects in any of the four cases.
At the beginning of the Bread investigation, Lawrence police and the Douglas County Sheriff's Department seemed optimistic.
With Chris Bread's death, rumors of hate crimes ripped through the Lawrence community.
Eighteen days after Chris Bread's death, Sheriff Lori Anderson said that officials had investigated 143 leads in the case.
He said the sheriff routinely informed him about progress.
But when the leads turned into dead ends, the American Indian community questioned whether local authorities were doing everything
At that time, Don Bread thought that everything possible was being done to find the person who killed his son.
The lack of evidence and his own unanswered questions sparked Dom Bread's own doubts about the investigation.
This March, when then Lawrence police representative Chris Mulvey made light of a Wall Street Journal article about the four Indian deaths by writing that the only "serious" malt beverage, "the American Indian community and Lawrence's minority community were outraged."
For them, Mulvenon's article cemented the belief that the police did not care about solving the deaths of black men and saved the American Indians as drunks.
"My son's life and the lives of those others were significant." Bread said.
scene where his son was found dead. The visits are a significant part of his life. He feels closer to Chris.
When the police markers that surround the ditch started to fade about four months ago, Don Bread repainted them in red.
"I never want to forget," he said as he stared down at the road.
Don Bread does not want anyone who drives along that road to forget.
Last Christmas, he carved a wooden cross and painted "Chris" on it.
It hangs about 15 feet up a telephone pole a few feet away from the ditch. A Christmas wreath hangs below.
Don Bread stands on the edge of the ditch. "This was the last place he
So many unanswered questions go through his mind, although more than a year has passed.
was alive. Maybe."
"With all the technology we have and not to be able to find a car," he
But he is not bitter. His belief in God allows him not to be.
The "maybes" continue to bother Don Bread.
said.
"We believe in life after death." he said with a half smile. "We are going to see him again."
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