Merriam man in jail after abortion doctor killed

Sedgwick County officials are expected to charge a 51-year-old Merriam man this week with two counts of aggravated battery and the murder of Wichita abortion provider George Tiller, 67.

Scott P. Roeder, 5044 Knox, Merriam, is accused of fatally shooting Tiller Sunday morning in the lobby of the Reformation Lutheran Church where Tiller served as an usher.

Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston said the case is a state rather than a federal matter.

Roeder is held in the Sedgwick County Jail. Foulston said officials have 48 hours to determine whether to charge a person in custody or to request an extension.

Johnson County sheriff's deputies stopped Roeder on Interstate 35 in Gardner nearly four hours after the shooting. They held him in the adult detention center at New Century AirCenter until authorities took him to Wichita.

Roeder reportedly had ties to the Freemen movement, a group that lives under its own form of government and judicial system. He also is avidly against abortions.

Mary Kay Culp, state executive director for Kansans for Life, said the killing shocked her.

"I was literally shaking when I tried to write the statement (for the KFL Web site)," she said. "I was in complete and total shock."

The statement reads: "Kansans for Life deplores the murder of Dr. George Tiller, and we wish to express our deep and sincere sympathy to his family and friends. Our organization has a board of directors, and a 35-year history of bringing citizens together to achieve thoughtful education and legislation on the life issues here in Kansas. We value life, completely deplore violence, and are shocked and very upset by what happened in Wichita today."

Culp said Roeder's name and address were not on the mailing lists for two recent newsletters sent to more than 4,300 homes in Johnson and Wyandotte counties.

"Here's what I think," she said. "Here's a fella we're seeing from the news reports that he has an anti-government streak, and everything we (KFL) do has everything to do with government; we educate, we legislate, we get involved in the political process; we believe in government.

"Sometimes it's not easy, sometimes there are some setbacks, but we always believe in going through the system. I don't think (Roeder's) a guy that was attracted to that way of doing things."

Roeder's neighbors said they did not know him.

Lorenzo Rodabaugh said he has lived for 20 years across the street from the house where Roeder rented a room. He said he had talked to the house's owner in the past but had never spoken to Roeder.

"I don't even know who Scott Roeder is," Rodabaugh said. "I've been trying to look at news (reports) to see if they show a picture, trying to see if I've seen him. Maybe I know him (by face) but the name doesn't do anything for me."

Another neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said he had never met Roeder.

"I've seen him come and go, but never talked to him," the neighbor said. "There was no unusual activity; it's always very quiet (at the house). The owner, who is not the suspect of this (murder), has different people living there at different times. Every three, four, five, six months there would be someone new come and someone else would leave.

"(Roeder) has lived there a little over a year at least. Other than that I don't know anything about him."

Culp said she did not think Tiller's murder would affect KFL or its mission.

"What we've concentrated on in the last few years is not to stop legal abortions but to stop illegal abortions of the babies in the latest stages (of pregnancy) that are only supposed to be aborted under certain circumstances," she said. "We've tried to work through the system to do that. It's not going to change anything we do because we don't do anything that encourages these kinds of acts.

"We have hopeful signs and one of the most hopeful is we have a new director over our Board of Healing Arts who believes in transparency and the board was on the verge of taking Dr. Tiller's license."

Had Roeder received KFL's latest newsletter, he would have realized that, she said.

Culp said she would tell Tiller's widow, Jeanne Tiller, their four children and 10 grandchildren, that she is sorry that somebody had killed him.

"That this is tragic for them and that this was a heinous act that never should have taken place," she said.

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