Kansas Cold Cases: Arthur Goebel
(WIBW) - A shooting death in the summer of 2017 hit close to home for Wichita police. The victim, Arthur Goebel, was the father of one of their officers, Kathy.
She’s retired now, but told KWCH-TV she’d wanted to be a police officer since she was a little girl, and bonded with her father over that dream.
“I told my dad I wanted to be a cop, so every Saturday we’d watch (the tv show) Cops together,” she said. “The funny thing is I’d been on Cops several times and he’d never seen any of my episodes.”
The last time Kathy saw her dad was in July 2017. It was her birthday, and she brought recordings of her appearances on Cops for them to watch together.
“He was so proud,” she said.
Three days later – just after 2 a.m. July 16th, 2017, Kathy got a call from one of her fellow officers.
“He was like, ‘Hey, there’s been a shooting at your dad’s house,’ and I was like, ‘Who did he shoot?’ because he’s a veteran,” she said.
They told her that was not the case. Instead, someone broke into Art Goebel’s” home while he and his wife slept. When he confronted them, they shot and killed him.
“My birthday will never be the same because that’s the last time I talked to him,” Kathy said. “They took they took my hero away from me.”
Who did it and why are questions Wichita Police detectives can’t seem to answer. WPD Det. Tim Relph said they don’t believe he was specifically targeted.
“There’s no reason someone would come after Art Goebel,” Relph said. “(He was) a family man, devoted to his community and his church. He served his country, was just a solid, solid guy.”
The search for answers next will take authorities behind bars. Art Goebel’s picture is on the four of diamonds in the Kansas Cold Case deck, special playing cards being distributed in the state’s prisons and jails in hopes of heating up cold cases like Goebel’s.
“(We want to do) anything to keep these cases alive,” Relph said.
Kathy is clinging to hope for any new lead in her father’s case.
“There’s always hope,” she said. “I pray that that somebody says something, You know, and then I wonder, ‘Will I be able to forgive them?’ I would at least know that person’s not out here, hurting other people.”
Anyone with information about Arthur Goebel’s murder - or any cold case - should call the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at 1-800-KS-CRIME.
Note: Additional reporting on the Arthur Goebel case from KWCH-TV.
Prior KS Cold Case Profiles:
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