10 Million Rumors
and nothing turned up. Still, it seemed suspicious that he had stalled on such an important matter. It also smacked of a setup.
In 1953 Leonard Kirkes was acquitted of Margaret Senteney’s murder and returned home to Carpinteria a free man.
WHO KILLED MARGARET SENTENEY? Leonard Kirkes was remembered as a friendly man about town, no more suspicious than the average stranger.
“Nobody seemed to be afraid of him,” said resident Bonnie Milne, 81. “He was really a nice guy. I remember saying to my mother, ‘Gee, he’s a nice guy,’ and she would say, ‘Would you get in a car with him?’ I guess not.”
Milne said Kirkes was a hunter and would have stored fresh game in his trunk, a valid explanation why the patrolman, before the age of DNA testing,
of a Carpinteria urban legend. One popular theory suggested that Kirkes was, in fact, put up to the task. Rumor had it that a roadhouse or bordello-type destination existed on Carpinteria’s eastern end near the former “Thunderbowl” drag racing strip, where the elite attended secret parties filled with sex, gambling and assorted illicit behavior. Stories circulated that some noted public officials were known to show their faces there and would have done—or paid—anything to make their presence unknown should something criminal happen. Senteney, according to sources, was easily trusting of others and was even said to be developmentally impaired, suggesting that she was lured to one such party and killed, or maybe died accidentally by a fall. Notable citizens seeking an escape plan, according to rumor, paid off Kirkes handsomely to take the blame and go to prison, swearing to silence.
“I REMEMBER SAYING TO MY MOTHER, ‘GEE, HE’S A NICE GUY,’ AND SHE WOULD SAY, ‘WOULD YOU GET IN A CAR WITH HIM?’ I GUESS NOT.”
may have scrambled to clean out his car. The consequence: pig’s blood mistaken for that of a human’s. That was only one argument out of several, and given as testimony by a man named Maddox, who confirmed that in the summer of 1942 Kirkes carried two pigs in his trunk en route to a barbecue. “There were 10 million rumors, and most of them went away,” Milne noted. But for many years the rumor mill grinded away and became the equivalent
Altering the scenario a bit, there was implication that Kirkes was wrongfully accused, his car stolen and then used as storage for cargo in the murder, another reasonable answer to why the top cop, under duress, would bungle his efforts in a panicked attempt to avoid being framed. This could also explain the possibility that Senteney’s body was moved to a different location after she was killed. Still, more theories hinted that a local bus driver with a sordid way around children was the culprit.
ABOVE:
Margaret Senteney at her high school graduation circa 1940.
RIGHT: Carpinteria
Community Church circa 1940s.
34 CARPINTERIAMAGAZINE
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