ENID, Okla. —
A former Los Angeles Police Department officer suspected of killing of three people, and now sought in an intense manhunt, spent at least two years in the Enid area more than a decade ago.
Christopher Jordan Dorner posted a manifesto online following his release from the Navy Feb. 1, related to his dismissal from the LAPD in 2008.
Dorner’s manifesto outlines his plans to kill LAPD members and their families, offering dire warnings to those he felt slighted by.
In the rambling manifesto, Dorner listed Enid as one of nine places where he’s “resided from childhood to adulthood.”
Dorner was featured in an Enid News Eagle article more than 10 years ago, about two men returning a bank bag containing nearly $8,000 in cash and checks to an area church.
The Nov. 5, 2002, edition of the Enid News Eagle detailed the story of a pair of good Samaritans, both student pilots at Vance Air Force Base. One of the men was identified as Navy Ensign Chris Dorner.
Enid Police Department Capt. Jack Morris said Thursday police had received a standard alert about the search for Dorner related to the California events.
He said a brief search of records found two reports with the last name Dorner. Friday, Morris said further search of police records showed a third report with a name of Dorner.
A collision report lists a Christopher J. Dorner as a witness to a traffic accident May 21, 2004, in the 2300 block of South Van Buren.
The witness information lists a Vance Air Force Base postal box as the address. The other reports also list postal boxes at the base. The collision report also lists the same date of birth — June 4, 1979 — as is listed on information released by authorities currently seeking Dorner.
“It appears to be the same person,” Morris said.
The other EPD reports, from 2003 and 2004, also with the name Dorner, no longer are kept in their original form and are not available, Morris said. None of the contacts with police were for criminal action by Dorner.
A Navy spokesman said Dorner served at various aviation training units from July 4, 2002, to June 15, 2004. A spokesman at Vance Air Force Base could not confirm Thursday that Dorner served at Vance.
In the 2002 News Eagle story, Dorner and Marine Lt. Andrew Baugher recounted how they turned the bank bag over to Enid police, and the money was returned to Enid Korean Church of Grace.
Dorner told the News Eagle he was raised in La Palma, Calif., by his mother.
He said he wanted to fly SH-60 helicopters in the Navy, according to the News Eagle story.
About returning the money, Dorner said: “I didn’t work for it, so it’s not mine. And, it was for the church. It’s not so much the integrity, but it was someone else’s money. I would hope someone would do that for me.”
Baugher told KOCO-TV on Friday he currently is a pilot in the Marine Corps, and had not seen Dorner since their time at Vance.
“I have not had contact with him, though, since our time in flight training at Enid …,” Baugher said. “My experience with him is 180 degrees from the events unfolding. It’s sad to hear.”
Dorner is listed as serving at Navy personnel command from June 16, 2004, through June 22, 2004, and in a Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Unit from June 23, 2004, to Feb. 28, 2006, the Navy spokesman said.
Dorner was stationed three times at a naval base in San Diego, from July 2006 through October 2006, before being listed on temporary-assignment duty at Coastal Riverine Group in Bahrain, from Nov. 3, 2006, to April 23, 2007, the spokesman said.
Dorner left the Naval Reserve Feb. 1.
Multiple calls to Enid Korean Church of Grace went unanswered Friday, and a message was not returned. No one was at the church when a reporter visited the church Friday afternoon.