LAWRENCE — A former director of the Kansas Bureau of iInvestigation has written a book about the KBI’s history. Lawrence resident Larry Welch, former KBI director, said the KBI has done some remarkable things but no one few have ever written about them. The KBI wrote a 50th anniversary history but it was never distributed publicly, he said. Welch offers a glimpse inside the 73-year-old agency with his new book, “Beyond Cold Blood: The KBI From Ma Barker to BTK.” The University of Kansas Press is releasing the book. Welch includes several cases, including the Clutter family murders described in Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood,” the Macksville bank shootout of 1941 between KBI agents and two escapees from the Lansing prison, and the disappearance of 78-year-old Goldie Millar from her Kiowa cCounty ranch. Although her body was never found, the KBI’s investigation helped convict her grandson, Mike Pyle, of her murder. Welch also mentions a 1969 case in which KBI agents found new evidence that helped clear two women who had been convicted of armed robbery.
Monday, Sept. 24, 4 p.m.