Two months ago today police dispatcher Dawna Natzke of Hot Springs Village attended a Christmas party at a pal's home. The pal was Hot Springs Village general manager Scott Randall.
Natzke left the party abruptly with boyfriend, Kevin Duck. She was never seen again by any of her family or friends.
During the search for Natzke her car was found in the Ouachita National Park area. The car was burned out.
Natzke's body was not found until New Year's Eve. It had been emerged in a pond in Garland County and had been feasted on by wild animals. The remains were autopsied to find out cause of death. It was determined she was murdered.
After being questioned repeatedly by the Hot Springs Village Police and the Garland County Sheriff's Office Natzke's boyfriend Kevin Duck fled the area and was later arrested in Lake Charles, Louisiana on probation violations.
Duck, a 28 year old white male, is currently sitting in the Garland County Detention Center serving out his prior sentence with the probation violation.
Since Natzke's body was found out in Garland County the Garland County Sheriff's Office is conducting the murder investigation. Duck is the person of interest in this matter. Duck has not been charged in Natzke's murder.
Unfortunately, it is possible Duck may walk if charges are not brought against him in Natzke's murder. Garland County has just four more months to make its case against Duck. An alleged murderer may be out walking the streets because the police do not have enough evidence to pursue the case.
The investigation was hampered early on because the party Natzke disappeared from was at the big boss' home. Also, the Chief of Police was out of town. Natzke was taken by force according to at least two people. A scream was heard and yet the party was reported to have been sedate.
Evidence was hard to retrieve from Natzke's remains because of its time underwater and the damage caused by wild animals.
The clock is ticking.
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Thank you for the follow up on HSV Natzke murder. Information on this case has been slow or perhaps
ReplyDeletea lock down on it from the "Big Boss" as you state.
Who was attending the SEDATE party? Was it 5 people or 35 people? Who was in attendance, where did they come from?
Who @ the police station took the 911 call about screaming from the sedate party, since the dispatcher was @ the party.
where did the murder happen? Was it inside or outside the property?
How did a convicted felon get invited to the directors house?
How was a convicted felon welcomed within the HSV police dept?
All of these are unanswered questions that the need answers...Have a few more questions but will stop for now...
Again thanks to you for your update...
Officer resigns from Village police (from today's Village Voice)
ReplyDeleteTo: HSV General Manager, Scott Randall
All POA Board Members
Public Safety Director, Chief Cornett
Residents and Property Owners of Hot Springs Village
I have served as a Police Officer for almost 27 years. Twenty of those years were on a larger metropolitan Police Department with a rather significant violent crime rate. After moving to the Village four years ago, I proudly began serving as a Patrol Officer with the Village’s Police Department, seeking to give back to the community where I had chosen to make my new home.
Throughout these past four years, I have witnessed the offi cers of this Department deal with many frustrating, outdated and antiquated policies, procedures and administrative decisions.
These procedures and “past practices” would leave both officers and their supervisors feeling frustrated on a repeated basis. Recommendations or suggestions made by experienced officers were rarely acknowledged, and their ideas were never considered. Any attempts to improve procedures or outdated practices were not only discouraged, but met with resistance, extreme negativity, and even hostility on occasion. The statement, “If you don’t like it here, go get a job somewhere else,” was heard quite often. Officers were also subjected to working within the most “hostile work environment” I’ve ever experienced.
As a property owner and resident of the Village, I am entitled to an opinion and have the right to express that opinion.
Unfortunately, as a POA employee that right is basically forfeited. As a direct result, I have been unable to share or expose the many issues and problems that plague your police department.
A recent incident and subsequent investigation, has caused many Village residents to question the competency of their police department’s leadership. There also appears to be some type of official “gag order” surrounding this investigation. This has caused many questions to surface regarding the manner in which the current command staff handled this investigation, and why resources that were offered or made available, were never utilized. Based upon my experience and training, these concerns certainly appear justified and deserve to be addressed.
In light of this questionable investigation, and the “deafening silence” that has followed, I fear that appropriate accountability will never be sought, and that subsequent consequences will never be paid by those responsible.
As a result of this, I have decided to publicly resign from the Village Police Department. I have zero confidence in this Department’s current leadership, and I am unable to feel even the slightest amount of pride in any continued service. Therefore, I can not continue to serve under this department’s current command staff, or their direction. It is my hope that this action will provide further cause for residents to demand that their questions be answered, their concerns be addressed, and that appropriate action is taken to ensure that their police department undergoes a major restructuring.
Although this letter is an expression of my personal views and opinions, I can assure you that other members of both your police, and your fire departments, have shared similar viewpoints with me. Fears of retaliation and loss of their jobs have prevented them from openly expressing these concerns previously.
If asked individually in a private environment, additional officers and fire fighters will substantiate the views expressed herein.
In closing, I realize my decision will not be without consequences of its own. Attacks against my character, and attempts to discredit me may soon be forthcoming. My family’s personal finances will also suffer accordingly. I do believe however, that these personal sacrifices will be small in comparison to what the entire Village will gain by demanding change within its police department.
Respectfully Submitted
Dale E. Anderson
Hot Springs Village
To Mr. Dale E. Anderson:
ReplyDeleteThank you sir for your service to the Village. I applaud your courage to speak out and say what is absolutely on the minds of most caring Villagers! What this Village needs is more professionals like you - people with a conscientious, people that really care about this community. Most employees of the POA use the Village as their personal ATM machine - milking us for all we're worth - Randall, Cornett, Williams, White and all their cronies included!
Mr. Anderson - should you ever decide to go after the Chief of Police position, I dare say you'll have the full support of most Villagers. We absolutely need men of your caliper to take control of the chaos and mis-management that runs rampant in the POA!
You are indeed a hero for speaking out! Thank you!
Make no mistake; Mr. Anderson is not a disgruntled employee, which is how the political powers will try to spin this. At the POA every time the truth isn’t palatable to “the powers to be” the standard tactic is to discredit the messenger and put a gag order in place and hope that it blows over. They hope that the elderly population forgets about it and moves on to their latest issue of the day, such as what new golf fees are being proposed.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately his comments are accurate and indicative of the overall POA culture and practices, not just the Police dept. Although mistakes made by the police may have let Dawna’s killer walk, which is a big price to pay. Let’s not sit by and let it happen again.
The POA’s top down management style stifles communication, innovative ideas to improve efficiencies or resolve issues. Employees familiar with the day to day operational issues are not only are discouraged but often penalized for identifying problems and propose solutions. Lack of communication channels within the organization is a critical problem that isn't addressed. Having a viable "open door policy" requires more than saying you have one.
HSV residents it is past time to be very concerned, the future viability of the Village is at stake. We must stand up and take action and let our voices be heard.
Who besides us, the residents, are left to insure that appropriate action is taken to rectify the situation?
Not the board; they have their own agendas and their duties do not include micro managing the POA operations. (Yet they do!).
Not the GM; who isn’t in touch with nor cares about managing the operations to better the community. He perpetuates the status quo. Most Villagers are by now cognitive of his cold callused personality. Unless something is of political significant to his well-being he won't even give most people the time of day or acknowledge them. His personal conduct doesn’t help the HSV community.
Not from the managers; who see no need to change as they feel that business as usual is what promises them job security.
POA employees waited when Mr. Kosoglow was interim GM for him to evaluate the leadership team and clean house. It is disappointing that never happened despite his campaign promise to make management accountable. While he was there the management team was on their best behavior, fearfully anticipating their well-deserved departure. Included in those were those who on an ongoing basis barely make an effort to show up for a whole day, to those who spend their work day doing everything but POA business, to those who are incompetent and fail at whatever tasks they are assigned, the list goes on.
How long do we want to continue to line the pockets of folks who don’t contribute? We need to demand responsible change NOW! Let's not sit on the sidelines watching while the property values continue to dwindle as a
Now is the time to demand some housekeeping.
Now is the time for competent leaders who actually have management skills, vision and care about the future of the Village. We need leadership who embraces change and fix the problems rather than sticking their heads in the sand.
Most of the current management team has no long term vested interest in the Village (i.e. they don't even own homes in HSV) and are only there hoping to hold onto their paychecks long enough until they retire.
Let us not allow them to continue to embrace the "don't rock the boat" mentality?
Let us help them into retirement now.
Thank you again Mr. Anderson for encouraging all of us to get our heads out of the sand and save our precious Village.
Sometimes it takes a Village; this is one of those times.
It’s almost time to vote for our new Board members. It’s time to get to know and research the Board candidates. I encourage you to attend the candidate forum and ask some tough questions.
ReplyDeleteThe board members are the ones who drive what happens at the POA and in HSV. Don’t let another board member get elected who is there for their own benefit like one past board member who was using his powers at the board to benefit his own personal gain and lot business.
One candidate to be very wary of electing is Tom Elliott. He was personally responsible for both the Chelsea and Ithikon project failures and the resulting waste of significant amounts of our money.
Check out old issues of the Voice and Board minutes on the POA website and you will find his name associated with the project.
He was a paid consultant hired to manage the projects and deliver the software. Due to his political connections to previous board members and other powerful people, his name was carefully left out as the one responsible for the fiasco. Even when everyone within the POA recommended that the plug was pulled on the project Tom and it went to the board 3 times to ask for it to be killed, Tom wove a web of deception and convinced the board to continuing to fund the project. So good money went after bad.
The last thing the village needs right now is a slick talking sales guy who misrepresents the facts for his own agenda.
Mr. Elliott is looking for a free ride to power as a board member. Voters beware, be afraid, be very afraid.
A good candidate? I think not!
It’s up to you to take action now and take back the Village before it’s too late.
The power of your vote is one way to help achieve positive change.
It seems keeping the residents of HSV in the dark is the order of the day. Another example of that was on KVRE's Ask Your Neighbor" this week when a gentleman called in and asked Tom Nichols about the new music service the station has on now. Tom told the man it was the same just a different announcer. Tom must think his audience is stupid that we can't tell the difference. What ever happened to just telling the truth?
ReplyDeleteMr. Randall, in your weekly KVRE radio address, you sound like professional politician spinning your earlier conversation with Mr. Anderson as a threat. It hardly seems plausible for an officer casually meeting with his new leader and offering a threat. Although not privy to the actual conversation, I was with Mr. Anderson on the night in question and he in no way seemed interested in anything more than welcoming Mr. Randall to his new position. The meeting was not planned, as no one was aware Mr. Randall was even at the business until Mr. Anderson noticed him there. After introductions and some casual conversation, I left Mr. Randall and Mr. Anderson to their conversation. I did see when Mr. Anderson left Mr. Randall and returned to our table. When he left, they shook hands and appeared quite cordial. He desribed Mr. Randall as a "nice guy" and stated they had a pleasant conversation regarding issues he felt Mr. Randall should be aware of.
ReplyDeleteMr. Anderson is being painted as a disgruntled ex-employee, when in fact he is actually a disgruntled HOMEOWNER and RESIDENT, who happened to know the inner workings of the department. His resignation letter noted no issues with the many fine officers he worked with for four years, but highlighted obvious issues with the leadership of the department. These same issues have been presented to the rest of the United States thanks to heavy media coverage, primarily questioning the handling of the Dawna Natzke case. One of their own, who was found within thirty minutes by the good residents of HSV and Jessieville. Obviously, we the residents did our best for one of our own, once enough information was out for a credible search to be performed.
I have had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Anderson for a number of years and he has always exhibited the behavior of a true Christian gentlemen. In no way, the person being described by Mr. Randall in his latest KVRE interview. I have met many residents of HSV that have met or encountered Mr. Anderson through his years of service and have never heard anything other than high praise.
I am confident the lead Mr. Anderson has shown will not fall on deaf ears. The residents of HSV are knowledgable enough to see changes are needed. Mr. Anderson is not the only one with knowledge of the problems described. Let's hope their conscience allows them to overcome their fear of POA reprisals and share their experiences as well. The residents of HSV will not sit back and let the POA harass persons interested in protecting OUR future!