Detectives question man in 36-year-old murder

COWETA, Okla. — Investigators hope to continue an interview of a man arrested recently in Helena, Mont., in an attempt to solve a murder case from 36 years ago.

No one has been charged in the death of millionaire rancher E.C. Mullendore III, who was beaten and fatally shot at his home near Hulah on Sept. 27, 1970.

Two Osage County investigators and former Sheriff George Wayman, who held the office at the time of Mullendore’s death, interviewed former Mullendore bodyguard and ranch hand Damon “Chub” Anderson for four hours on June 21 after he had been arrested in Montana and returned to Kansas to face drug charges, Osage County Undersheriff Lou Ann Brown said.

Anderson was arrested in Helena, Mont., in mid-June after trying to apply for Social Security using the name of a dead man. He had apparently been living in Alder, Mont.

Anderson, 64, pleaded no contest to drug charges Wednesday in Chautauqua County, Kan., and is scheduled to be sentenced July 5, Brown said.

Anderson has claimed he was upstairs drawing a bath when two men entered the Mullendore residence downstairs and beat the 32-year-old rancher before shooting him between the eyes, Briggs said.