Kern County Obituaries

Ralph "Ray" Dirksen

Submitted by Don Stowell; 13 Feb 2008

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Mojave Desert News; 20 May 1948 

Bodies Found Near Conklin Ranch Road
Monday of this week saw the invasion of Mojave by numerous deputy sheriffs 
of Los Angeles County under the command of Lieut. Garner Brown of the Sheriff's 
office accompanied by representatives from every Los Angeles newspaper who were
hunting for the headless and armless bodies of Ralph "Ray" Dirksen, 35, and his 
wife, Olga, , 30, who were alleged to have been murdered and mutilated by Robert 
H. Hansen, ex sailor and employee of the Dirksens alleged to have confessed to 
the crime. 

Hansen had told the officers that he didn't know where he had left the bodies 
but believed he could guide them to the spot, so upon reaching Mojave the party 
had lunch at the Montmartre Cafe, alleged by the prisoner to have been the 
place where he had stopped for a meal upon his ~ former trip north.

Bodies Discovered	.
Following directions as given by Hansen, the bodies were discovered near the 
Conklin Ranch Road, six miles north of Mojave on Highway 6 and then five miles 
out said road. The couple had not been buried but were each wrapped in a blanket 
and then in a white sheet and hidden behind the brush. Decomposition had not set 
in, which probably ac. counts for the fact that they had not been bothered by the 
buzzards or ravens which are usually attracted to dead bodies in the desert, 
according to Lieut. Brown who was interviewed by your reporter.

Hansen had been arrested after two human heads and two pairs of arms were 
discovered burning in an incinerator in the rear of the Dirkens' radio shop and 
home at 5619 East Beverly boulevard late Sunday afternoon. The couples' three-
year-old son, Ralph, was found at a nursing home where Hansen had taken him after 
the killing, unharmed.

Hansen's story is that he can not remember why he did it, save that he heard the 
couple quarreling and came into their room to find the husband beating the wife with 
a hammer and wrestled with him. During the fracas a gun was discharged, but officers, 
do not put much faith in his story since both victims heads showed wounds where 
bullets had entered the right temple and the eye of each.

The fact that both bodies were mutilated in the horrible manner in which they were 
found testifies to the sadistic tendencies of the killer. He is being held in the 
county jail in Los Angeles under a charge of first degree murder.

NOTE: Photo At: http://www.calarchives4u.com/photos/kern/