Police still have no one in custody for Portis homicide
By WILL MANLY
Hays Daily News
PORTIS -- This much was certain this morning in Portis, where resident Jeffery S. "Scott" Noel, 55, was found dead in his home Tuesday: Official details about what happened are limited, and people are scared.
The Osborne County Sheriff's office and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation are seeking public assistance with identifying the occupants of a vehicle seen driving near Noel's home just outside of town.
The vehicle was described as a blue or gray, four-door, mid-sized passenger car with an off-colored fender, and authorities say they want to speak with the occupants of the car.
Sgt. Jack Ennis of the Osborne County Sheriff's office said a vague description of one possible suspect is available: a white male, 5 feet, 8 inches to 5-10 tall, average build, with brown hair. Also, Ennis said another rural residence was burglarized in the area at about the time of the homicide.
Ennis said no other information about possible suspects is available.
With so little information available, Portis residents fear not much is known about the incident or the perpetrator.
As of press time today, that was about all investigators had released -- and Portis residents say it isn't much.
Even Brad Roadhouse, who manages Portis' grain elevator and said he was the witness who told police about the car, knows it might have been pure coincidence.
Roadhouse was driving down the highway, and the car caught his eye because he'd never seen it before and it looked like its bumper was a different color.
"It might have nothing to do with it," Roadhouse said.
That's what other residents fear, too. So they gathered at the elevator's lobby -- the town's only real meeting place -- to cross-reference rumors.
"There was more people in here this morning. They were waiting to find out if anyone had heard any news," said Alison Holt, who works at the elevator. "Basically, everybody's kind of sitting around here and speculating about what happened."
That kind of chit-chat is normal at the elevator. But participation spiked yesterday at around 4 p.m. when folks started hearing about Noel's death and seeing police cars lined up on the road outside his home southeast of town.
"In a town this size, when police start running around, you know something's wrong," Holt said.
Authorities in Smith County, just to the north of Osborne County, said they'd received a multitude of phone calls from people who have seen cars that might fit the description outlined by the KBI, but many of the callers say they only saw the cars several years ago.
"I'll be honest with you," Roadhouse said. "I really don't think they've got much to go on."
With little information available, folks have been left to wonder and worry. Holt said her husband heard rumors of a bank in Downs being robbed and multiple burglaries occurring in the area.
"As far as I know, none of that's true," she said.
A press release said only that a burglary and a homicide had taken place between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tuesday at a rural Osborne County residence, and authorities wanted to speak to the individuals seen in the blue car. At press time, officials still had not identified the victim, but residents of Portis all seem to know each other and know whose house was on lockdown.
That being the only thing people have to go on, folks aren't taking chances. Many have locked their doors for the first time in years.
"One guy said, 'I'm 70-some years old, and this is the first time I've ever locked my door,' " Holt said. "People are paying attention to where their guns are."
Anyone with information regarding the case is asked to call the Osborne County Sheriff's office at (785) 346-2001.
Reporter Will Manly can be reached at (785) 628-1081, Ext. 139, or by e-mail at