PHOTO: Fulton County Sheriff Al Roork
Fulton County Sheriff Al Roork announced Friday that a 19-year investigation into the disappearance of a mother and her child has been declared a double murder.
Authorities believe Angela Mack and her 4-year-old son, Thomas Michael “Mickey” Rettew, were killed by Clarence Krusen at his Alton, Missouri, farm in December of 2002.
Clarence Krusen and his wife, Barbara, had been caring for Mickey Rettew while his mother was in California. Clarence Krusen allegedly killed both Angela Mack and Mickey Rettew when Mack returned to the farm to pick her son up, authorities said. Clarence Krusen then destroyed their bodies in a furnace attached to the farmhouse, authorities believe.
Clarence Krusen was shot and killed in Laredo, Texas, on Feb. 17, 2012. Information about the killings and how the bodies were disposed of came from a recent interview with Barbara Krusen, who told authorities that she did not come forward because she feared for her life.
“It is my hopes that this will being some closure to the friends and family of Angela and Mickey,” Roork said in a news release announcing the results of the investigation. “My thanks to Investigator Dale Weaver and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who gave us two of their best agents to help resolve this case.”
Mickey Rettew was reported missing on Sept. 1, 2002 by his father, Tommy Rettew.
Angela Mack was reported to be working on the Krusen’s farm in the fall of 2002, and left Mickey in their care while she traveled to California.
In an October 2020 interview with investigators, Barbara Krusen said that in December 2002 she had picked up Mack at the bus station in Springfield and brought her back to the farm, where Mack and Rettew stayed for the evening. The following morning both visitors were gone, Barbara Krusen said, and Clarence Krusen told her that someone had picked them up.
Angela Mack’s mother, Lorna Pool, filed a missing persons report with the Poteau, Oklahoma, Police Department on May 25, 2004, reporting that she last spoke to her daughter on Dec. 11, 2002.
After interviewing numerous people, authorities were unable to find anyone who had seen or talked with Mack or Rettew from the time Angela Mack arrived back at the Krusens’ farm in early winter 2002. Authorities then zeroed in on Barbara Krusen as the link to find out what exactly happened.
On April 2, FBI agents interviewed Barbara Krusen, now living in Portsmouth, Virginia. Krusen failed a polygraph exam in reference to knowing what happened to the missing mother and son, authorities said.
In a post-polygraph interview, Barbara Krusen told agents that Clarence Krusen had told her that he “had done away” with both Angela Mack and Mickey Rettew by killing them and destroying their bodies in the outdoor furnace.
On April 7, lead investigator Dale Weaver interviewed Barbara Krusen, who reiterated what she had told investigators on April 2.
“This case could have never been solved without Dale Weaver and the Federal Bureau of Investigation as it was very technical and there were so many stories being told that had to be filtered to get what really happened,” Sheriff Roork said. “The Fulton County Sheriff’s Department spent thousands of dollars on this case and I am glad that we were able to close this case as of April 7, 2021.”
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