Charles Rogers (murder suspect)

Charles "Chuck" Rogers, (born December 30, 1921 - disappeared June 1965, declared legally dead July 1975) was a United States geologist, pilot, and suspected murderer.

Born and raised in Texas, Rogers served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and received a degree in nuclear physics at the University of Houston. He became a petroleum geologist as well as a licensed pilot in the Civil Air Patrol. While a member of the Civil Air Patrol, Rogers became a friend of David Ferrie. After graduating from college in 1947, Rogers worked as a seismologist for Shell Oil Company until resigning in 1957. Following this, Rogers had no known source of income until his disappearance. It is believed that in 1956 Rogers joined the Central Intelligence Agency.

Rogers's life was documented in The Man on the Grassy Knoll, a non-fiction book researched by John R. Craig and A Rogers Philip. According to this work, Rogers was a brilliant recluse who lived with his parents, Fred and Edwina Rogers. On June 23, 1965, Rogers's parents were found murdered in their home, their bodies dismembered and stored in the family's refrigerator. Rogers was never located for questioning in the case, although he was a prime suspect at the time, and Rogers remains the prime suspect in what Houston residents refer to as the "The Icebox Murders." Rogers is believed to have murdered his parents on Sunday, June 20. It is also believed that Rogers stayed at the house for several days following the murders, even answering a phone call on the morning of the 23rd, only leaving through a back exit after the police arrived at the house. The book alleges Rogers's involvement in the John F. Kennedy assassination; authors Craig and Philip charge that Rogers murdered his parents because his mother became suspicious of his alleged involvement in the Kennedy assassination, and threatened to bear witness against him.

Rogers has been identified in some Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory forums as one of the "three tramps" arrested near Dealey Plaza on the afternoon of Kennedy's assassination, along with E. Howard Hunt. According to Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt's posthumously released confessions, a gunman nicknamed "Frenchy" had been a trigger man in the assassination, and "Frenchy" was alleged to be one of Rogers's CIA code names, alleged by Craig and Philip in their book.

Rogers disappeared subsequent to the discovery of his parents' remains in the family's refrigerator in 1965. According to Craig and Philip's book on Rogers, Rogers was last seen piloting a light plane from Houston, in the direction of Mexico and Central America. Rogers has not been seen or heard from since, and is still a wanted fugitive in the United States today.

Charles Rogers is featured in two fictional novels by James Ellroy, American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand.