In
his twenty years as sheriff, 1933-53, Goad participated is some pretty amazing cases. The Capper
though, occurred on September 26, 1941. Cora Tokin, her son Kenneth Gorsuch, and nephew
Marvin Adams were found slain on their ranch near Hermiston, Oregon. A neighbor, Edna
Mulkins, had come by looking to borrow some eggs. She couldn't find the friendly Tokin
anywhere, nor could she locate Kenneth or Marvin. Their beds were made and the house was
in order - so she wandered outside to look around. That's when she found Kenneth behind
the pig-pen shot in the back of the head. Goad and other law-enforcement people arrived,
and Bob was uneasy. The murderer probably wouldn't have stopped there, he reasoned, and
shortly thereafter they discovered the other two - also single-tapped to the back of the
head. Burglary and robbery were not suspected, for their valuables and everything else
were still there at the farm with the exception of a 1929 automobile owned by Kenneth.
Goad went into action. The Dept. of Motor Vehicles provided the license number 330-741 to
the subject vehicle, and Goad put out an APB for Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana.
Hermiston was a small, quiet town and a triple murder splashed onto the front page of the
daily out there, the "East Oregonian."
Later that night, Goad got the call from the enforcement people in Kennewick, Washington that the car had been spotted. I'm sure with Thompson in hand, Goad and his men piled into their patrol cars and sped to Kennewick. Staking out the car and nearby hotel, 16 year old John Sota sauntered over to the car to get in. As he approached the vehicle, he was detained. Once in custody, Goad and his minions took Sota back up to his room, and discovered a 9 shot .22 revolver before Sota could retrieve it. He later confessed to the triple murder, and gave as his reason that they "knew too much". On October 6, 1941, Sota was indicted by the Umatilla County Grand Jury on three counts of First-Degree Murder. The "posse" had managed to hunt him down and catch him before he could kill anyone else. The high-speed run from Pendleton to Kennewick, armed to the teeth and loaded for bear had ended peacefully. Goad had his "edge" with him that night.
