MURDER
CASE #: 1968-5
Rose Bresoff Busch
Status:
Open
Date of Offense:
Date of Offense:
Jurisdiction:
Offense Location:
Knoxville, Tennessee
Summary:
A 68-year-old wealthy Knoxville jeweler's wife, Rose Busch was stabbed eight to 10 times with a paring knife, hit over the head, and shot at least once with a 22-caliber pistol on November 19, 1968, in her Sequoyah Hills home. No one was ever charged and it is doubtful anyone ever will be.
Vital Statistics
Circumstances of Offense:
On the afternoon of November 19, 1968, in the Busch home at 1026 Kenesaw Avenue, it was unseasonably cold and Rose was icing a cake in the kitchen. The maid finished around 4 p.m. and the gardener left about an hour later. Harry Busch telephoned his wife around 5:25 p.m. to let her know he was heading home from downtown. Before Harry could make it very far, the valve core and stem of one of his car tires had been removed, giving him a flat tire and requiring a ride home. Police theorized the attacker entered through the carport and quickly turned on Rose in the nearby kitchen. Someone hit her in the head with a pistol, at least one shot went off, and the attacker then grabbed a paring knife with white tape on the handle from the kitchen, stabbing her repeatedly until the blade broke off in her chest. Harry Busch found her lying dead on her back on the hallway floor when he got home about 6:10 p.m. They had been married 44 years and the only thing missing appeared to be her wedding ring.
Additional Details:
Knoxville Police Department officers and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation joined the case. The next morning, a brush crew found a jammed pistol in the grass along Cherokee Boulevard, which had jammed on the first shot and grazed Ms. Busch's hand, forcing the killer to improvise with a knife. Investigators recovered a discarded police uniform, bloody white gloves, uniform raincoats, and a broken silencer, and both the weapon and uniform were traced back to Cleveland, Ohio. Police quickly surmised that the murderer was likely hired. Mr. Busch had been having an affair for several years with Knoxville madam Hazel Davidson. Hazel Davidson was quizzed by police after Rose Busch was murdered but was never charged and died in 1999. Harry passed a polygraph exam. Police theories persisted that Davidson may have hired someone to kill Rose so she could have Harry to herself, or that Harry had hired someone for the killing. Harry Busch left Knoxville and moved to Miami, where in 1969 he married Sadye Tisch, the very wealthy mother of Laurence Tisch, who ended up running CBS Inc. Harry died in June 2002 at age 103 in Miami Beach. When retired News Sentinel reporter Jim Balloch began investigating the case for a 40th anniversary retrospective, KPD told him the police file appeared to be gone. Lead investigator Bob Chadwell eventually moved away to Virginia and then died. Balloch stated the available pieces of the puzzle pointed more to Hazel Davidson being behind the case than Harry Busch, but there was no proof that either was involved.
Case Last Updated:
Timeline of Events
Police discovered discarded murder weapon, police uniform from Cleveland Ohio, bloody gloves, and silencer in Sequoyah Hills neighborhood
Rose Busch stabbed, beaten, and shot during home invasion at 1026 Kenesaw Avenue in Sequoyah Hills; found dead by husband Harry around 6:10 p.m.
Associated Persons
Bob C. (Other) - Deceased
Hazel D. (Person of Interest) - Deceased
Harry B. (Spouse) - Deceased
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