On May 31, 2009, Scott Roeder calmly walked into the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, placed the barrel of a handgun against the head of Dr. George Tiller and shot him dead.
The murder of one of the most controversial abortion providers reverberated throughout the country and has shaped both sides of the abortion debate ever since.
It was a fitting topic for author Stephen Singular, who is not the kind of writer to back away from difficult topics. The Colorado-based journalist wrote “Talked to Death,” about the assassination of radio-show host Alan Berg; “When Men Become Gods,” on cult leader Warren Jeffs; and “Presumed Guilty,” an investigative look at the JonBenet Ramsey case.
Though well-written, “The Wichita Divide” is not an easy read. There are no victors in the story of Tiller. There is little joy. But Singular does a thorough job examining the roles played by politicians, the legal system, talk radio and religious leaders.
Q: Why was this book so important to write?
A: In my first book, “Talked to Death,” we showed how a small group of fringe white supremacists plotted and killed Berg to try to start a white-power revolution. What was very different about the Tiller case, though, was that for many years he’d been targeted and demonized not by a fringe group but by people at the very top of American religion, the media and politics.
Bill O’Reilly repeatedly called him “Tiller the Baby Killer” on national television.
But what really shocked me was how far the Kansas attorney general had gone to try to stop Dr. Tiller from performing a legal medical service. The attorney general, Phill Kline, was willing to use his religion to override the rule of law in the United States.
As his efforts to do this failed during the trial of Dr. Tiller in 2009, Scott Roeder sat in the courtroom and watched. After Tiller was acquitted, Roeder bought a gun and began taking target practice.
Q: So you see a thread running from your previous books to “The Wichita Divide?”
A: Yes, the common thread is that once people begin to believe that their religious beliefs are more important than the law or other people’s rights, trouble will follow and often bring violence with it.
O’Reilly and Kline are not just talking to regular folks out there. They’re also talking to some very disturbed people.
Q: You voice concerns about talk radio personalities.
A: In case after criminal case, I’ve watched people come forward on talk radio or talk television and accuse people of the worst things — like murder — when they simply don’t know the facts or evidence of the case.
For example, in the Ramsey case, after the Boulder DA acquitted the Ramsey parents of murder based on new DNA techniques, the talk radio personalities didn’t come forward and amend what they said before.
Q: Can you share how you began to gather the facts for “The Wichita Divide?”
A: I always say that in writing a nonfiction book, you need at least one person who will sit down with you, talk in depth, truly has something to say, and will do so without fear. In this case, it was Lindsey Roeder, Scott’s ex-wife, who described to me in great detail what it was like to marry him in the mid-1980s and watch him evolve into an American terrorist. If you have this one person to open up the right doors, you can build a full story.
Q: Do the people you interview often try to draw you into their point of view?
A: When I wrote the Alan Berg book, I received some direct threats from people who supported those who’d killed Berg. With “The Wichita Divide,” Scott Roeder, the man who murdered Dr. Tiller, let me come into the jail and speak with him at length on two occasions, somehow thinking that I held his point of view, or that I was going to make him look good.
After the second visit I think he figured out that I didn’t share his beliefs, or some of his supporters told him that, and he wouldn’t speak with me again. But by then, I had what I needed, a first-hand impression of him within a few weeks of the murder.
The key to all journalism, of course, is that most people enjoy talking about themselves.
Q: Doesn’t it seem as though Colorado has seen its share of national stories?
A: Some of that is just happenstance, but Colorado had been a major player on the national scene with Berg’s death, Columbine, the Ramsey case and the Tim McVeigh trial.
For me, I just love to write about the West, the people and the landscape and the light and color of the dirt and the big views everywhere. There’s something about people living in this huge open country and trying to find meaning in their lives that’s always appealed to me. Some of those people are criminals, some are victims, but setting big American stories against this natural beauty and backdrop has always stirred me. Fiction writers talk this way about the West but it applies to nonfiction too.
Meet the author
Stephen Singular will talk about “The Wichita Divide” at The Denver Press Club’s Bookbeat Luncheon Monday. Buffet opens at 11:30 a.m.; program at noon. For tickets, $16, register at ; click on June 13.
