Twelve Days of Christmas, Part X: A book excerpt on Brenda Keller and her late grandmother

Note: This excerpt is from the true crime book I’m writing about the shocking murder of Brenda Michelle Keller on Oct. 19, 1991. Just 12 years old, Brenda was riding her bike in tiny Dover, Kansas, when she was abducted. You can read more about the book and how I started on this journey in this blog.

When Brenda didn’t babysit the Buchmeier kids or watch “Scooby Doo” with her brothers at the Baldwins, she played with several girlfriends. Jill Wilson’s parents drove her from the tiny town of Keene, about five miles west of Dover on K-4, to the Kellers’ home, where she and Brenda spent long summer days together. The best friends rode their bikes to the Somerset Café every afternoon for soda.

“I’d leave Jill there at the Kellers when I worked during the summer, and they did everything together,” Judy Wilson said. “I remember Brenda loved dolls. Jill couldn’t care less about dolls, but Brenda always took her Barbies with her and Jill would play along. The kid next door had a trampoline, and they’d jump on that.”

By the late 1980s, Brenda’s group of closest friends included Misty Lange, Amy Best, and Amber McGhee, who lived two doors to the east of the parsonage. Living directly across the street, the Langes and Kellers were close. Misty Lange’s grandparents, Glenn and Ruth, moved to Dover from Corning, Kansas, a tiny town in the northeast corner of the state near the Nebraska and Missouri border.

The Langes came to Dover in 1969 when the principal’s position at the junior high and grade school opened. Glenn Lange served in that role for 20 years, while Ruth worked as a school librarian for several years and in other jobs in the district for more than 30 years.

“God sent Brenda to us for Misty to have a playmate,” Ruth Lange said. “Brenda would lie down on the floor and watch TV with Glenn. We had a nice neighborhood. One of them across the street had a swimming pool, and we’d have some memorable summer evenings.”

The Langes took their granddaughter in 1978, so Misty Lange arrived in Dover a year before Brenda was born. In 1984, she and Brenda were the only girls living in the neighborhood, and they were together virtually every day. Within a few years, Brenda, Misty Lange, Jill Wilson and Best were spending many of their days playing in the Kellers’ old Victorian house. As they approached their teen years, riding bikes was the mode of transportation.

“She didn’t used to ride a bike, then in the sixth grade, she had gotten kind of chubby and decided that she was going to lose weight,” Misty Lange said. “That’s why she started riding a bike, and she rode all the time, miles.”

By the time Roy and Jean moved to Topeka, where Roy pastored the First Free Methodist Church from the late 1980s to mid-1990s, Brenda was addicted to cycling. She routinely rode 20 miles a day, especially during the summers, and enjoyed the exploring nature with her friends and by herself.

In the days leading up to the volleyball tournament, Jean drove to Dover and picked up Tracy, Brenda, and Pat to take them to a game. On the way home, Brenda sat next to her grandmother in the front seat.

“Brenda always had to hold Grandma’s hand, and she was holding my hand,” Jean said with tears welling in her eyes. “We were coming back, and she’s talking about going bike-riding. And I said, ‘Oh Brenda, Grandma doesn’t want you going by yourself. You be sure there’s always somebody with you.’ She just patted my hand and said, ‘Grandma, you worry too much.’”

TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS SERIES 2022

Part IX: Fast times at Maplecrest Elementary

Part VIII: Dad and St. Charles, my favorite craft show

Part VII: Coming home from K-State

Part VI: Going back to the well

Part V: Bloomer where you’re planted

Part IV: How the heck did I misspell that?

Part III: A partridge and an electronic sign

Part II: Dad and Baldwin City, where the crime started

Part I: Yes, I almost flunked kindergarten