Dale Fosdick bombing murder of Kem Wenger

It was very interesting to consider how close to his own demise Kurt Simon came on the night of May 22, 1993. He had been the first to enter the house after the engagement party, and the reenactment indicated he had returned outside before Kem triggered the explosion. As her fiancé, I'm sure Kurt's mourning for Kem was immense. It does make one wonder whom Dale Fosdick was truly targeting. I suppose he saw the demise of either or both victims fortuitous. Overall, Kurt Simon was a wonderful interview for the show – his narrative carried the entire episode. As a minister, it makes sense that he was well-spoken. And it made his comments about Kem's mother Cricket entertaining.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Cricket Lewis seemed to be regarded by those who were close to Kem (at least those the show interviewed) as wicked. Her behavior described by Kurt at Kem's funeral was deplorable – no matter what Steve Arney said about different people internalizing grief in different ways. It was no surprise that Kem and her mother had a strained relationship. I wonder how Cricket felt about and interacted with her grandchildren – the home movie footage from the episode showed at least one family gathering with all members present.

The show spent a good deal of time entertaining the idea of the case having several suspects. In all, four different people were suggested before Dale Fosdick was even mentioned. Normally Forensic Files has a relatively cohesive narrative, but this episode's avoidance of the obvious suspect was apparent. Of course the police would and do investigate every possibility, but Dale Fosdick was such a likely suspect, it was hard to think even he thought he'd be able to avoid justice. An act such as his is typically not random – though regard James Genrich's bombing attacks in Small Town Terror (s11e34). But given the location of the bomb, let alone all of the additional evidence Fosdick left in Kem's house, it's certain the investigation didn't spend much time on:

• Kurt Simon: Kem's fiancé and presbyterian minister. It would've been difficult for Kurt to build and place the bomb, plus he had no known motive.
• Cricket Lewis: Kem's mother. It was thought the Cricket was depraved enough to be considered a suspect, but her motive was questionable as well. And like Kurt, police thought she didn't have the mechanical acumen.
• Paul Wenger: Kem's ex-husband and father of daughter Kelsey. With some dispute about custody and finance, Paul may've had some motivation. But his alibi was solid.
• Phil Hartman: Kem's ex-coworker who was ultimately terminated after being reported by Kem for sexual harassment. Phil had apparently indicated that he would "get even", but his alibi of working out of state was bulletproof.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Dale Fosdick was a machinist at the local Caterpillar plant, and he had the electrical and mechanical knowhow to build a bomb. His technical capabilities were further affirmed when police learned of his model airplane hobby. One would think he'd be clever enough to use this reason to explain why he owned all of the necessary tools to construct an explosive device. Instead, Dale placed the specific tools on the kitchen table with Kem's obituary for police when they showed up with a search warrant. This is downright stupid to me. Did he want to get caught? If you know investigators are looking for tools, get rid of them! Or at least leave them downstairs with all the others and make the police work for it.

Of course other evidence was stacked against Fosdick. He might have handed the tools over to the police, but regard that it was the tools' markings matches found by ATF expert John O'Neil that were essentially the only hard evidence against Fosdick. The lack of forced entry into Kem's house, the evidence of the bomb's final assembly, and the Wal-Mart receipts were circumstantial. But when everything is considered, Dale Fosdick made too many mistakes. He'd built a powerful bomb, but he couldn't have actually thought the entire house would be destroyed, eliminating the battery package and gloves he'd left in the kitchen trash, let alone the gun powder and fuses in the basement.

To himself, Fosdick has justified killing his ex-girlfriend. He may have disliked Kem moving on with her life without him. He may have wanted a different custody or financial resolution with their child. But his callous act shows a sociopathic disregard for his own son Logan. Even in his perfect world of not getting caught, he still murdered his son's mother. I hope he has spent many sleepless nights thinking about this – if he's capable.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

As usual, the episode's vagaries left me to wonder about additional items:

• It was said that ex-husband Paul had their daughter Kelsey the evening Kem was killed. If the soon-to-be-Simon's were out at an engagement party, who was looking after the younger Logan? Might it've been Cricket? Was it possibly Dale Fosdick? Is this how he knew of the couple's "surprise" evening event?
• ATF special agent Paul Vido indicated that Fosdick's use of two different types of gun powder may have been intentional and may have increased the explosive's power. One wonders how this might be, and how Dale Fosdick would've known. Is there a configuration of the powders in the pipe that would cause it to detonate with more force?
• One had to be particularly unstable to take the time (and invite the danger) to construct and deliver a bomb. You'd think a character such as Dale Fosdick may have shown other warning signs that escalated to his final, heinous act. Were Kem or Kurt aware that Fosdick was transitioning from angry to dangerous?
• Look closely in the episode where the Wal-Mart receipts are sown, around the 13:25 mark. Is that Fosdick's actual Discover card number on them? I know that Discover cards start with ‘6011', and perhaps stores didn't mask these in 1993?

Where is Dale Fosdick now in 2024?

Dale Wayne Fosdick was sentenced to 55 years in prison in 1996. On September 21, 2010, Fosdick died after a "sudden illness" at the age of 48.