As the Holiday Inn was an estimated 270 miles away from Roger Atkison and Rose Burkert’s hometown of St. Joseph, Missouri, the murders sent shockwaves across two different states. In addition to the sheer brutality of the murders, the lack of suspects made residents in Williamsburg, Iowa, fear for their lives. Back in Missouri, Atkison’s wife, Marcella, had to face the fact that her husband was having an affair in the midst of mourning his shocking death.
According to OneNie, Atkison lived with his wife and daughter and worked as a telephone installer and repairman. Although he was married, Atkison was known for flirting with other women, including his female customers. Burkert, who was a single mother attending classes to become a nurse, was one of Atkison’s customers. As the two became close, they eventually began having an affair.
According to the hotel records, Atkison and Burkert checked into the Holiday Inn at 7:40 p.m. The records also indicate three phone calls were made to the room that evening. Although two of the calls were confirmed to have been made by Burkert’s babysitter, OneNie reports authorities were unable to identify the source of the third call.
