MO - Dr. Tatjana Kopric, 35, Kansas City, 18 September 1980

mothwings

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Hoping that this link is fine, otherwise it is difficult to find information for this case.
Very interesting that the ex bf was believed to be in Manitoba, Canada -wonder what drew him there and if one should keep eyes open for any uid persons that match his description? imo, speculation.


Richard Bocklage is wanted for the murder of Tanya Kopric
Missing Since: September 1980


Tanya Kopric

Details: Richard Bocklage is a pharmacy student wanted for the murder of his ex-fiance, Dr. Tanya Kopric in Kansas City, Missouri, on September 18, 1980. Bocklage was ten years younger than Tanya and had grown up in St. Louis. He studied pharmacy at the University of Missouri. Tanya was from Yugoslavia and had immigrated to the United States in 1975. The two had started dating in March 1980; a few weeks later, he moved into her apartment. Six months later, they were engaged. However, her friends did not like him and felt that he was just using her for money.
Bocklage began spending more time with Tanya and less time in class. Midway through his sophomore year, he fell behind in his studies. At certain points, he became close to dropping out of school. On July 19, 1980, he was notified by administrators that he was academically ineligible. He demanded that Tanya use her connections in the admissions department to get himself re-enrolled. However, she refused to help him. Soon, he began to exhibit wild mood swings. Three weeks later, on September 2, she broke off the engagement and kicked him out.
" He roamed the hallways, searching for the dean of admissions. He carried a manila envelope; some believe that it contained a handgun. Three hours later, Tanya returned to her apartment. As she exited her car, Bocklage appeared and shot her three times in the head with a .45 automatic pistol. A witness identified him as the shooter. Investigators learned that he had purchased the weapon just weeks prior to the murder."
"Six days later, his car was found abandoned in Thompson, Manitoba, Canada six days after the murder - 900 miles away. He was seen by two local residents. However, investigators believe that he has since returned to the United States. Two months after the murder, Tanya's parents received a letter from Bocklage, postmarked two days before the murder. In the letter, he stated that Tanya had been executed and that her death was necessary and "inevitable". Bocklage has never been found. He is 6'0" tall and weighs 175 pounds. He has brown hair, brown eyes, and vertical scars under each armpit. Today, he would be fifty-nine-years-old."
rbbm
 
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Well, he was in pharmacy school, but maybe he went to seminary?

Rev. Richard F. Bocklage S.J.'s Obituary on St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The St. Louis tie is intriguing. Also, in literature many sinners head for religious orders.

No date of birth provided, maybe one of us can rule him out.

ETA:

Rev Richard Ferdinand Bocklage, Jr (1922-2010) -...

Well, not this Richard Bocklage. The surname is not common -- off to look for Vincent's sons.
Speculation, imo. from what i gather, the suspect's middle name might be Gerard.
 
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Richard Gerard Bocklage
DATE OF BIRTH: 7/12/1957
PLACE OF BIRTH: St. Louis, Missouri
HEIGHT: 6'2''
WEIGHT: 190 pounds
BUILD: Medium
HAIR: Brown
EYES: Brown
COMPLEXION: Medium
RACE: White
NATIONALITY: American
SCARS AND MARKS: Long surgical scar running vertical under each armpit

He has family and friend ties to St. Louis and Minnesota. He is reportedly an avid outdoorsman who could survive in the wilderness for long periods of time. He may be working in medicine or the mining industry.
 
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This is awful. I've never heard of this case before now.

Have you watched the Unsolved Mysteries episode yet?

There is supposedly a new age progression coming out and appeal for info on this case.

I will be happy for a new age progression as the original 1991 age progression is not the best.
 
Have you watched the Unsolved Mysteries episode yet?

There is supposedly a new age progression coming out and appeal for info on this case.

I will be happy for a new age progression as the original 1991 age progression is not the best.

I forgot the link to the 14-minute segment:
 
Dr. Tatjana "Tanya" F. Kopric's date of birth is 6/30/1945.

A letter arrived at the Kopric home in Yugoslavia.

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"Dear Kopric Family,

Please realize it is most difficult for us to write this letter. However we feel you deserve a complete explanation concerning the following events.
Your daughter, Tatjana Kopric has been executed in Kansas City, MO. She has caused so much grief, turmoil and anguish to so many Americans that this act was necessary. Tanja had lost all sense of her parameters – She mocked our nation, She mocked our people, She mocked out culture. She attempted to dictate her perversive will on everyone. She had been asked to leave our country and she refused. It became clear that her only motive for being in this country was to become wealthy at the expense of anyone or anything. I hope you can begin to understand why her execution was inevitable.
Please understand this act was performed by professional assassins and that no acts of revenge are possible.
Sincerely the People of the United States of America."

I always thought the three shots in the face was because he probably didn't want to see her judgement.
 
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Dr. Tatjana "Tanya" F. Kopric's date of birth is 6/30/1945.

A letter arrived at the Kopric home in Yugoslavia.

lkox6t.png


"Dear Kopric Family,

Please realize it is most difficult for us to write this letter. However we feel you deserve a complete explanation concerning the following events.
Your daughter, Tatjana Kopric has been executed in Kansas City, MO. She has caused so much grief, turmoil and anguish to so many Americans that this act was necessary. Tanja had lost all sense of her parameters – She mocked our nation, She mocked our people, She mocked out culture. She attempted to dictate her perversive will on everyone. She had been asked to leave our country and she refused. It became clear that her only motive for being in this country was to become wealthy at the expense of anyone or anything. I hope you can begin to understand why her execution was inevitable.
Please understand this act was performed by professional assassins and that no acts of revenge are possible.
Sincerely the People of the United States of America."

I always thought the three shots in the face was because he probably didn't want to see her judgement.

Has any DNA analysis been done on the letter and/or envelope? What a horribly cruel thing to do to her poor family. This is so awful.
 
2021 by By Susy Macaulay

Lengthy, detailed article.rbbm.
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Richard Bocklage as a teenager in 1972,1974 and 1975
1658924817129.png
1658925335677.png

''Hew’s reputation brought him to the attention of author and criminologist Logan Avalos who wants him to help him crack a 41-year-old murder mystery by creating images of the perpetrator as he would look now, aged 65, for a new appeal.

Pharmacy student Richard Bocklage went on the run in September 1980 after slaying fiancée Dr Tanya Kopric in a car park in Kansas City.

He was recognised by several eyewitness, and his abandoned car was found in Canada shortly afterward. He has a capital murder rap on his head- but where is he now?''


“Hew created the 65-year-old Bocklage using photos of Bocklage’s closest living relatives – mainly his sister who is a spitting image of him, his cousin and several other next-of-kin.”

Hew, who went to art school in Edinburgh and on to Dundee University to do an MSc in forensic art and facial identification, said: “One would take pictures of as many family members as possible throughout time to see familial traits, that being general appearance and how they themselves aged, then factor all of those things in.”


Richard Gerard Bocklage was born on July 12 1957 in the St Louis suburb of Alton to parents Patricia and Vincent Bocklage.

Logan says he and his sister, born a few years later, grew up comfortably in an ‘All-American’ family, with his first cousin remembering him as ‘a very sweet and precocious small child, very normal and kind’.

Bocklage attended a strict Roman Catholic school, was bright, played football, was well-liked and had many girlfriends.

Logan said: “His first cousin stresses that Richard was perfectly normal, grew up in a perfectly normal home with his sister and very loving, caring parents.

“She says if anything Richard was maybe slightly spoiled as there were only two children in his family and 11 in mine.”


“His sweat glands were removed and left vertical scars under his armpits, which would later be a pertinent detail in his identity.”

''Richard’s family takes issue with the schizophrenia theory.
His cousin told Logan: “I never believed that he had any kind of mental illness.
“We all felt possibly he was doing some sort of drugs – speed or whatever – because he did act odd the last time we saw him at the ranch, just before the murder.”


''But it seems the real source of his seething discontent was Tatjana, for whom he sacrificed his grades and was absent from many classes to be with, Logan says.''


He said: “We simply don’t know that much about where he has been or what he’s been up to, but looking into his psychology, behavioural traits and what not, he was a very vain, arrogant, self-entitled and narcissistic person.

“I personally feel this would not have changed, if he had the gall to do what he did, then write a letter to the victim’s family taunting them after the murder, I don’t think he would feel bad about carrying on as normal, only in a different location.

“He may very well have started a new life with girlfriends, even a wife and children.”
 
Can you link NAMus or Charley Project etc for these remains? Where are these remains?

The "Bow River John Doe" was found in Lake Louise, Canada so no NAMUS. According to Unidentified Wiki - Fandom:

The decedent was discovered in Bow River near Banff, Alberta. Little information is known about him. The only record of his case on the internet is the Doe Network, which claims the case was still unsolved as of 2017.

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There is speculation on this Reddit post that he could be missing person Thomas Marsden, 17, Summit Lake, BC, 7 July 1984. However, Bow River John Doe looks a lot like Bocklage.

Bocklage would carry a comb and NOTE he always was leaving notes so it would make sense that he'd have a pen on him.

Note the "Irly Bird" written on the pen is a hardware store in Lumby, BC, Canada since 1974.

Maybe Bocklage ditched his car in Manitoba, spent a few years in British Columbia working at a hardware store, then back tracked to Alberta where he drowned in the Bow River. I might try sending the owner a pic of Bocklage to check if he ever worked there and calling what is left for source on this UID as the agency contact. Definitely worth checking into.
 

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