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WILLIAM R. LEVESQUEHe was never charged with killing a business partner, but insurance arrangements made him a target.
Russell Kenburg was killed in 1985 with a few dollars in his wallet and a watch on his wrist. This wasn't a botched robbery. Police in Texas wondered if Kenburg knew his killer.
Kenburg's friend, Ed Bowler, was called to identify the body and found himself grilled by police as a suspect.
"I can save you a little time," Bowler told investigators. "I can tell you who did this."
He gave them the name of William James Deparvine, the prime beneficiary in at least four of Kenburg's life insurance policies.
Deparvine, 51, is being held without bail in the Hillsborough County Jail, charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the Nov. 25 deaths of Richard and Carla Van Dusen of Tierra Verde. He has declined requests for an interview since his arrest. Police say they are investigating whether Deparvine has ties to five other unsolved Florida murders.
Nearly 20 years before Deparvine was charged with the Van Dusen murders, he was a suspect in Kenburg's death after investigators learned he and Kenburg had taken out $2.5-million in life insurance together.
Police never charged Deparvine. But court documents in Texas show some insurance companies were convinced Deparvine killed Kenburg and refused to pay him. In the court fight that followed, Deparvine was accused in court papers of insurance fraud and murder for profit.
During the fight, an insurance company employee accused Deparvine of firing a shotgun at his house.
That court battle began within weeks of Kenburg's death.
Kenburg and Deparvine had known each other in Michigan in the 1970s, Bowler said.
Deparvine moved to Texas about 1984. Kenburg, Bowler said, visited the state on a vacation and decided to stay.
"He lured him to the state," said Bill Gunn, a retired Texas Ranger who investigated the case. "He told him to come down because there was plenty of work."
In 1985, Kenburg and Deparvine prepared to start an RV rental business called Lone Star Recreational.
One of the first things they did was find life insurance.
"It kind of struck me funny," Bowler said.
Deparvine and Kenburg later told insurance agents they needed the policies to get loans for the business, and to allow the business to continue if one of them died.
They got far more insurance than they needed, insurers said.
In a two-month period in early 1985, court documents show, the pair obtained six policies from six different companies. Kenburg made inquiries about getting life insurance from seven others.
When they applied for insurance, the pair failed to disclose that they had obtained life insurance from other companies, a requirement to get coverage.
Lt. Kent Head of the Hill County Sheriff's Office said agents talked Kenburg into naming his sister as a beneficiary in one policy.
Insurance companies later said Deparvine and Kenburg misrepresented themselves.
Deparvine, records show, told insurance agents that the fledgling company had $500,000 in assets. Deparvine claimed a net worth of $500,000 and said he and Kenburg had each put $250,000 in capital into the business.
None of that was true, insurance companies said.
Oddly, Deparvine also told at least one insurance agent that he was a lawyer with a Dallas-area law firm, though he was just a law clerk there.
And Deparvine failed to disclose his criminal record to insurers, according to court documents. The charge he didn't mention: a 1981 insurance fraud conviction in Michigan for which he was sentenced to a year's probation.
Kenburg disappeared in early April 1985 after telling his girlfriend he was headed to a meeting with Deparvine to talk to an accountant about the business, Gunn said. Kenburg's body was found by the side of the road about 30 miles north of Waco. He was killed by a shotgun blast to the back.
The investigation almost immediately focused on Deparvine. He talked to police. But Gunn said he denied any meeting with an accountant.
"He told us Kenburg visited him the night he disappeared to borrow (Deparvine's) car. But Deparvine said he refused," Gunn said.
The Texas Rangers wanted to present the case to a grand jury to get a murder indictment of Deparvine. But Gunn said the local prosecutor's office didn't think there was enough evidence and refused.
Three weeks later, Deparvine contacted an insurance company with a demand for payment.
Joe Smith, the Dallas attorney who represented Kenburg's mother, said the insurance companies thought Deparvine killed his friend.
"The problem was, the Texas Rangers had lots of motive, but that was about it," Smith said.
At least a half dozen lawsuits were filed in state and federal court. Deparvine sued insurance companies. Insurance companies sued him.
Some of the insurers accused Deparvine in court papers of killing his friend, sometimes couching the accusation in legal language by saying he "voluntarily matured the risk" of the policies.
Kenburg's mother, Mildred, soon hired Smith to get involved in extensive litigation that involved up to a half dozen insurance companies.
"She was very specific," Smith said. "Her primary goal was to keep Deparvine from getting anything because she was convinced that he killed her son. She didn't want him to profit from her son's murder."
In late 1985, the litigation may have taken a violent turn.
Scott Thompson, supervisor of life benefits for Employers National Life Insurance Co., told a court that he believed Deparvine began making harassing phone calls to his home.
On the night of Oct. 17, 1985, at 3:45 a.m., a shotgun blast was fired at Thompson's home from an alley out back.
A month later, a vehicle was seen moving slowly in the alley behind Thompson's house at 2:45 a.m. This time, Thompson was being guarded by a private security company. A guard shined a light in the driver's face.
The guard identified Deparvine as the driver.
Eventually, Deparvine agreed to a restraining order forcing him to keep away from company employees.
The employee wasn't the only one to have a shotgun blast fired at him. Someone fired a shotgun at Bowler after he began cooperating with police. And a private detective hired to investigate the killing had a shot fired at his car, Gunn said. Neither man was hit.
By 1988, as the insurance battle headed to trial, the sides decided to settle. Deparvine accepted a $75,000 settlement. Smith said he believes Deparvine split the proceeds 50-50 with his client after she agreed to the settlement.
"Ultimately, the lesser of two evils was him to get substantially less than he hoped," said Smith, saying his client was reluctant to settle at all.
The settlement involved just Employers National Life Insurance. Court records do not clearly show how other cases were resolved. Smith did not know. And lawyers representing insurance companies did not return calls.
Head, the Texas sheriff's investigator, said Deparvine is still the only suspect.
"The case is frustrating," Head said. "I've tried to send it back through, but I don't know if I'll ever get it to a grand jury. Just knowing who did it doesn't always get you there."
- Times staff writer Chris Tisch and research John Martin contributed to this report.