Two Arrested For Murder Of Henryetta Businessman

By Dan Bewley, The News On 6    

HENRYETTA, OK --  Two people are in custody for the weekend murder of a popular Henryetta businessman.

The sheriff's office says it was Linn Rodgers' girlfriend, Denise Mae Groff, and the man she was having an affair with, who killed Rodgers in his garage.

6/5/2010 Related Story: Henryetta Business Owner Shot To Death In His Home

Linn Rodgers was never afraid of work. From toiling on his former father-in-laws truck to running his own business.

"He was a hard working rascal," said Carl Dickey, Rodgers' former father-in-law. "He built this Oil Pit; this was a blank piece of property when he bought it fourteen, fifteen years ago.

Carl Dickey and Rodgers remained close even after Rodgers' divorced Dickey's daughter. Dickey even placed this wreath on the Oil Pit's door and he can't believe he lost a friend.

"It was devastating," he said. "I could not handle it."

Rodgers' was found shot to death in the garage of his rural Okmulgee County home this weekend. The sheriff's office says his girlfriend reported finding his body when she got home.

But as investigators looked deeper they zeroed in on Denise Groff and the man she was having an affair with, John Burgess, 36.

They say Burgess shot Rodgers three times with a .38 pistol.

Investigators aren't saying much about it motive just a press release indicating sex, drugs, and greed. But at a press conference the sheriff wouldn't elaborate, only saying that Rodgers wasn't involved in any of that.

His friends say Rodgers and Groff had been dating for close to five years. They also say she didn't make a good impression.

"My wife, she didn't like her," said Al Kessel, Rodgers' friend. "She didn't care for her at all. I tolerated her.

"Everybody I talked to that knew her said that she could have a dark side," Dickey said.

Dickey believes, regardless of his opinion of her, Groff couldn't have planned the shooting and feels her friend may have been the mastermind.

"The lady was not smart enough to pull off anything like this anyway and I don't care if she knows what I said," he said.

Investigators did recover a large sum of money that was taken from Rodgers home. Burgess is being held on a first degree murder charge and Groff is being held on conspiracy to commit murder and accessory after the fact.