WWW arkcity.net

By DAVID A. SEATON
Traveler Staff Writer

The suspect in the Jodi Sanderholm killing wrote a letter to the Traveler in March stating that if the newspaper would "start printing the truth" about him, he would answer questions about the Sanderholm case.

In the letter, Thurber neither admits nor denies involvement in the Sanderholm case. He sometimes refers to himself in the third person.

"All I am asking is for you to start printing the truth about Justin Thurber, and I try to answer some of the Questions over the Jodi Sanderholm case if you print the truth," he writes.

Thurber, 24, faces charges of premeditated murder, rape, kidnapping and sodomy in the Jan. 5 disappearance and death of Sanderholm, a 19-year-old Cowley College student.

A preliminary hearing starts Wednesday for the court to decide if there is enough evidence to hold a trial.

Thurber has not entered a plea but could soon after the preliminary hearing is over.

The letter is postmarked March 17 and stamped as correspondence from the Cowley County jail.

It consists of two, hand-written pages and is addressed to James Jordan, the Traveler's managing editor. Capt. Steve Roberts, who supervises the jail, confirmed on Tuesday that jail records show a piece of outgoing mail from Thurber addressed to James Jordan on March 16.

In response to the letter, the Traveler attempted to interview Thurber in several ways. His attorney, Tim Frieden of the state's death penalty defense unit in Wichita, was contacted but told a Traveler reporter he would prefer an interview not take place.

Calls to ask Frieden about the contents of the letter in recent days were not returned.

In early May, the Traveler wrote Thurber a letter asking whether he would be willing to be visited in jail by a reporter. There has been no response.

On Saturday, a Traveler reporter attempted to visit Thurber in jail and was told by a jail worker that Thurber was seeing only family members.

In the letter, Thurber seems to want to polish the image created of him by media reports about his extensive arrest record prior to the Sanderholm case.

Starting in 2004, he was arrested several times and faced more than 10 charges including possession of drugs, theft and impersonating a police officer. Also, two women accused him of stalking and filed for protection orders after he had been taken into custody on the Sanderholm case.

However, some of those charges were dismissed or he received diversion as a first-time offender. He states in the letter that he has only been convicted of three things -- criminal damage, attempted criminal trespass and "eluding."

"Maybe Mr. Thurber not the hardened criminal they say he is," the letter states.

Thurber asks that his name not be used in connection with the information being provided, but that he might be willing to have his name released "once I see you start printing the truth."

Thurber states that there are a lot of things that the police have not told the media.

"Did you no the police said to me that a lot of things don't add up to me about the Jodi case and said that the killer still might be out there," he wrote. "God bless Sanderholm family and my prays are with them."

He goes on to say that it could be related to the Olivia Marie Mena missing person's case. Mena is a teenager who authorities said ran away from her mother's home in Arkansas City Feb. 28 of this year.

She was located in Los Angeles a few weeks ago and was in custody of California child welfare, police and her mother told the Traveler.

"That's totally unrelated with anything to do with Jodi Sanderholm, because (Mena) was a runaway with her boyfriend," Ark City Police Chief Sean Wallace said. "She was intentionally gone on her own volition."

Wallace said he doubted that his investigators would have told Thurber the killer was still out there.

"I don't know that we said that at all," Wallace said. "The lead detective said that's not something we would have said."

Police try to let a suspect know they are exploring all avenues and that they need his or her help, he added.

Wallace said police do not believe another person was involved but "we won't close our eyes to the possibility of some new evidence that might point to him having an accomplice."

Thurber devotes several lines to his arrest for impersonating a police officer, which occurred five days before Sanderholm disappeared.

Thurber writes that he was a bounty hunter trying to pick up "Claude Bernard Mengal Jr." on a felony warrant.

Court records spell the last name Mangel. They also show that Mangel was charged with DUI, fourth conviction in September. Thurber was asked by Morris Bail Bonds to find Mangel after he didn't show up in court.

Thurber, in the letter, said that Mangel lied and told police that Thurber identified himself as a police officer. Thurber said the police trusted a wanted man instead of him.

But Wallace said Mangel was not at the house where Thurber went. The homeowners of the house, and somebody working with Thurber, told police that Thurber identified himself as a police offer, according to Wallace.

Roger White, owner of Morris Bail Bonds, said he also received a letter from Thurber. It basically said that he could help White find Mangel if he were out of jail. White said he did not respond to the letter.

At the request of police, the Traveler gave the original letter to authorities, who wanted it for evidence in the case. County Attorney Chris Smith said Monday he had seen the letter but did not wish to comment about it. He said it might have some value as evidence.