On June 24, 1994, thirty-year-old Tina Marcotte disappeared after completing her work shift near Rapid City, South Dakota. Four days later, twenty-nine-year-old Tom Kueter, the last person believed to have seen her, was found dead at his place of employment, also on the outskirts of Rapid City. A-year-and-a-half later, the remains of Tina were found buried on the grounds where Tom had worked.

In 2016, Rapid City police officially closed the case on the deaths of Tina Marcotte and Tom Kueter. The official determination makes for one of the more unique murder-suicides.

                                         Tina Marcotte      Tom Kueter

Tina Marcotte and Tom Kueter were described as casual friends.

Tina worked for Black Hills Molding, a company on the edge of Rapid City, which made and supplied kitchen cabinet parts to manufacturers.

Tom Kueter was a forklift driver for Forest Products Distributors, a wood processing plant southeast of Rapid City, who had previously worked for Black Hills Molding. He had a checkered past, having been convicted of simple assault and burglary, in addition to having previously abused alcohol and drugs.

Former Coworkers

After completing her late night shift at Black Hills Molding on June 24, a distraught Tina phoned her friend, Vicky Riddle, at 12:30 a.m. She apologized for waking her but asked her to pick her up at the plant, saying she had a flat tire.

As Vicky agreed to do so, Tina told her someone had driven to the factory door and she was going to see who it was. When Tina returned to the phone, she told Vicky it was “Tom,” who used to work at the plant, and that he had offered to give her a ride home. Tina again apologized for disturbing Vicky, thanked her, and hung up.

Tina Disappears

When Vicky awoke later that morning, she called Tina’s home to inquire about her friend. Tina’s live-in boyfriend, Patrick Gleason, who had also just awoken, told Vicky that Tina had not come home. Vicky told Patrick about the early morning phone call.

Patrick also worked at Black Holds Molding. The only former coworker named Tom either he or Vicky knew was Tom Kueter. After Patrick called him to inquire of Tina’s whereabouts, Tom agreed to meet him at Vicky’s home.

Both Vicky and Patrick said Tom became defensive when Vicky implied that it was he who Tina had referenced in the phone call. Tom denied being at the factory and giving Tina a ride, but he agreed to accompany Patrick to the police station to report Tina as missing.

                                          Vicky Riddle     Patrick Gleason

Tina’s car, a 1984 Dodge K series, was still in the Black Hills Molding parking lot. The left front tire was flat, likely having been slashed with a knife.

Tina’s Car Is Knifed

When police questioned Tom, he told them he had given a friend a ride home after playing in a softball game the previous evening, but that it was not Tina. After dropping off his friend, Tom said his car, a 1975 Pontiac Le Mans sedan, had broken down behind the Sooper Duper Grocery store. He claimed he had spent nearly three hours under a street light fixing the carburetor and engine.

Tom said he did not call his wife, Nancy, to say he had been delayed because he did not want to awaken her or their children, daughter Jessica and son Dustin. Upon arriving home at approximately 3:30 a.m., Tom also told Nancy his car had broken down. Per his custom, Nancy says, he then washed all of his softball clothes, including his shoes and shoelaces.

The Kueter Family

Fellow softball players confirmed Tom had played in a game that evening and his friend confirmed he had taken him home after the game ended shortly before 11:00. The friend said Tom dropped him off at his home at approximately 11:30.

Tom pinpointed the locale where he said his car had broken down, but police found no one who recalled seeing him fixing the vehicle. Even during the late evening/early morning hours when traffic was scant, authorities believe someone would have noticed him during the nearly three hours he claimed to be doing so.

Growing more suspicious of Tom, police scheduled another interview with him.

Suspicion Falls On Tom . . .

Shortly after the 8:30 a.m. shift change at the Forest Product Distributors lumberyard on June 28, three days later, two employees discovered Tom’s body in the plant’s yard. His chest and head had been crushed beneath the rear wheel of his forklift.

An investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found the forklift parking brake inoperable and fined Forest Product Distributors $1,750 for several safety violations.

Despite the malfunction, officials believe Tom’s death was not accidental, determining the forklift would not have rolled fast enough down the incline to crush him.  Furthermore, Tom was adept at operating the forklift and had recently undergone special training with the equipment.

. . . Who Is Soon Found Dead

On October 11, 1995, sixteen months after Tina Marcotte’s disappearance, a decomposed body was found buried beneath wood piles on a seldom used back portion of Forest Product Distributors. Clothing items were consistent with what Tina was last seen wearing, and dental records confirmed the remains were hers.

An autopsy found she had died from blunt force trauma to the upper left side of her head.

Tina’s Remains Are Found

At Tom’s Place Of Employment

Police believe on the night Tina disappeared, Tom slashed her car tire with a knife in the Black Hills Molding parking lot in order to prevent her from leaving. Tom then offered to give Tina a ride home. Once she was in his car, police theorize he made sexual advances told her, was rejected, and murdered her in a rage.

 Tom Is Believed To Have Killed Tina And Then Himself

Tom could not have anticipated Tina’s calling Vicky and mentioning his name to her, which ultimately led to his being a suspect in her disappearance. Police theorize that, as the net was closing in on him, Tom killed himself in a bizarre manner in an effort to make his death appear accidental.

After being told that blood found in his car was being tested to see if it was Tina’s, authorities believe a panicked Tom committed suicide because he feared he would soon be arrested and, potentially, spend the rest of his life in prison. His life insurance policy would pay a substantial amount to his wife, Nancy, if his death were accidental, but it would pay nothing if he committed suicide. Therefore, police believe Tom attempted, in a most unusual and extraordinary fashion, to make his death look like an accident.

It is believed that Tom loaded at least a ton of lumber onto the forklift which he set on an incline in an effort to make it appear it had fallen on him accidentally. Instead, police believe he jumped from the cab and positioned himself in the machine’s path.

Investigators agreed with OSHA’s findings that Tom’s death was not an accident because nothing was found indicating a struggle and because the absence of drag marks indicated he purposefully placed himself in front of the forklift. Pennington County Coroner Mike Jacob concurred, officially ruling the death of Tom Kueter as a suicide.

Tom’s Death Is Ruled A Suicide

A judge, however, did not support the finding, ruling the evidence was insufficient to prove Tom had committed suicide. In 2000, four-and-a-half years after Tom’s death, his widow Nancy was granted insurance death benefits.

Nancy Kueter

Tom’s Widow

Many who worked with Tom, both at Black Hills Molding and Forest Products Distributors, described him as hot-tempered.At the former, he had clashed with several employees, often yelling at them and criticizing their work.

At the latter, a coworker says he was offered $500 to break Tom’s legs by another coworker involved in a work-related dispute with Tom and that the angered coworker later boasted of knocking him unconscious and placing him under the forklift. Investigators, however, do not believe the incident occurred, saying the coworker’s contentions cannot be corroborated.

Was Tom Framed For Tina’s Murder? . . .

The Rapid City police closed their investigation into the deaths of Tina Marcotte and Tom Kueter in 2016. Tom is declared a murderer but not a murderee.

Law enforcement’s official finding is that Tom Kueter killed Tina Marcotte and then killed himself.

The Tangled Tale Of Tina And Tom

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/169082669/tina-marie-marcotte

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/82955395/thomas-anthony-kueter

SOURCES:

• Argus-Leader
• Omaha World Herald
• Rapid City Journal
• Sioux City Journal
• The South Dakotan
• Unsolved Mysteries