A Knock On The Door

Detectives Revisit 1982 Murder Mystery

(CBS) 
As word of David's murder spread, it stunned Olathe's Nazarene community.

"It shook us deeply because here was a young man who is - who was exemplary of everything that - that the church and the community stood for. And he’s gone, his life snuffed out," says Stelting.

David's co-workers at the Patron's State Bank were shocked. "We didn't have murderers in Olathe. And then, to have it happen to a person that you worked with everyday? It was very scary," recalls Hazel Hendricks.

"At first, everybody bought the story. And I think everybody thought, 'Gosh, this is just a horrible home invasion thing here. And we've got to find these guys because they’re obviously extremely dangerous,'" recalls Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison, who was an assistant DA in 1982.

Police immediately staked out the bank in case anyone tried breaking in, but that never happened.

"If they got inside the bank with the keys, all they would get would be pencils, erasers and paper clips. You couldn’t get in the vault. It was on a timer," explains Joy Hempe, a fellow employee and friend of David Harmon.

It didn't take long for investigators to realize the pieces of the puzzle just weren’t adding up.

"No forced entry to the house. There was nothing else taken. Plus, the person that's able to get them access to the bank they kill immediately," says Morrison. "I don't think anybody was comfortable saying that first day 'We don’t believe it.' But there are eyebrows beginning to be raised about this story."

As doubts grew about Melinda's story, the focus of the investigation shifted.

"And I'm sure some of those detectives back then were thinking, 'Hey, this is not right. There is something more here,'" says Det. Wall.

Asked whether police suspected Melinda was involved in her husband's murder, Wall nodded. Investigators suspected she had help.

"They were focusing on Mark. He was being suspected for such a horrible thing," recalls Pam Stelting. "I just knew it wasn't possible."

Pam and her husband, Don, still can't believe Olathe police suspected Mangelsdorf was involved in Harmon's murder.

"It seemed to be an indication of very bad judgment on the part of the police in our minds there's someone out there who had really done this horrid murder. And why aren’t they looking for them instead?" wonders Don Stelting.

But police and prosecutors say there were no signs of intruders. Instead, all the evidence seemed to point to those closest to David - Melinda and Mark. What's more, investigators believed they knew the motive.

"No one was talking on the record. Everyone in the community was talking about it off the record," recalls Hoffman, who has covered this case for more than two decades.

What were they saying?

"It's the Nazarene divorce," says Hoffman.