Bad Boy from Rosebud: The Murderous Life of Kenneth Allen McDuff

6 An Absence of Beauty

79 An Absence of Beauty 6 “You look out the window and wonder and say, ‘Somebody ought to neuter all these people.’” —J. W. Thompson, Austin Police Department I Interstate Highway 35, the major artery for Central Texas, connects San Antonio, Austin, Belton, Temple, and Waco. Around Austin, the highway runs along the Balcones Fault, separating alluvial bottoms and agricultural lands to the east, from the rocky sediments of the Hill Country ranches to the west. In his biography of Lyndon Johnson, Robert Caro called the Hill Country “The Trap,” which accurately contrasts its mesmerizing beauty with the hardiness it took to tame the area. San Antonio and Austin are splendid examples of the power of multiculturalism, and monuments to cooperation among diverse populations . Further north, the hamlets of the Blackland Prairie surround the larger cities of Belton, Temple, and Waco. Baylor University in Waco, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Southwestern University in nearby Georgetown, and other colleges and technical schools in the area provide splendid educational opportunities to the people who live here. The hard-working, conservative, largely religious people help contribute to and take pride in their neighborhoods and schools. Throughout the area, man-made lakes provide water, recreation, and breathtaking scenery. Central Texas is a beautiful place to live. Central Texas also holds beauty in the quality of its people. Families dressed in their Sunday best visit places of worship in the belief that their faith in God makes them better people. Proud homeowners mow their lawns and wipe their brows in the unrelenting Texas heat. Mothers 80 Bad Boy from Rosebud and fathers walk with children they love more than life itself. These parents ease the pain of a bruised knee, cheer their children at concerts and football games, encourage them, and instill in them an appreciation for the beauty in their lives. Friendly strangers smile and welcome one another . In Temple, Belton, and Waco, indeed, in all of Central Texas, the prevalent culture is one of honor, morality, and scholarship. In all such things, there is beauty. For visitors and for many residents, it is hard to imagine the existence of anything in Central Texas but this beauty. But there is another side to the region—a subculture with an absence of beauty—the side of Central Texas in which Kenneth Allen McDuff chose to spend his time. Those who populate this subculture live in a world of their own— largely unknown to the rest of Central Texans. At first glance, the major difference between the two cultures appears to be monetary; a closer look reveals more than poverty. It reveals an absence of pride of any type and the complete lack of social graces and any moral base upon which to gauge appropriate behavior. Hope, requiring an investment in deferred gratification, cannot be found. For some, beauty is a twelve-pack of beer and a carton of cigarettes. Others find fleeting satisfaction in harder, more dangerous highs. Some of the inhabitants of this beauty-less culture live in trailer homes like those found in the S&S Mobile Home Park outside of Belton. The S&S Trailer Park shows no evidence of a lawn mower. Many of the “homes” straddle rough gravel pathways. Some trailers are empty shells, abandoned by former inhabitants fleeing a bill collector, parole officer, or creditor /drug dealer. Other rotted single or doublewides only look empty; in time, dwellers emerge with children following because they have no where else to go—and nothing else to do. Too many of these children are growing up believing that what they see is normal. Parked outside some of these dreary shacks are Harley-Davidson motorcycles or shiny, spotless pickup trucks—worth a block of those mobile homes. Sometimes, members of this subculture become “friends” for years without ever knowing each other’s names. During the early nineties, Alva Hank Worley knew Kenneth McDuff for well over a year without ever knowing that his name was either Kenneth or McDuff. He was “Big Mac.” Area prostitutes lose their real names, and with them any sense of humanity . Diana was “Little Bit,” Jean was “Duckie,” and Donice was “Little An Absence of Beauty 81 Run.” There was a “Black Jennifer” and a “White Jennifer,” and not even the police ever knew White Jennifer’s real name. Two men named Harrison and Frankie, and maybe a few others, were called “Indian.”1 Buddy, a resident...