Born in Hillsboro, Texas, Kile Bateman is a noted pastor of the Evangel Temple Church in Wichita Falls, Texas.
His grandmother, Ann Browning had passed away in 1993. Her name at the time of the Bucher killing, was Ann Pritchitt.
Ann started working at the Bucher home a few short weeks prior to the murder. Ann was upstairs in the bedroom part
of the pawn shop on the night of the Hillsboro, Texas murder of Mr. Bucher. She was staying with the Buchers daughters
who had required constant supervision because they suffered from severe retardation.
Pastor Bateman remembers back when his grandmother spoke of the young men's very late arrival, which awakened everyone at
the Bucher residence. She had known Clyde Barrow and had met Raymond Hamilton. She described Mr. Bucher's son as "nerd"
who tried to fit in with any group that would have him. Ann contended always that Clyde had nothing to do with the murder
and that in fact, when the shots were fired, Clyde who knew that she was with the Bucher girls, ran and knocked on their
bedroom door. Ann had moved the girls to a corner of the room and huddled there with them as Clyde began knocking.
Ann was terrified and yelled that she had a gun. She didn't. Clyde, who was just as terrified, replied
"Annie, I'm just makin' sure ya'll are ok, somethin' terribles happened."
and that was all he said before running off. Ann told this account to the police at the time and to her family for
decades later, but not to the newspapers. She contended her whole life that a man named "Rogers" had killed Mr. Bucher
and it was no accident! (Hideout note: Barrow associate Ted Rogers confided to a fellow inmate that he was the killer)
Ann always told her family that Clyde Barrow was a frightened kid on a night of petty theft gone terribly wrong.
That story has been a part of Pastor Bateman's family for as long as he can remember, and he had not thought about it for
decades, until he came across the story about the Bucher incident in the Hideout website. Pastor Bateman's grandmother had
described Mr. Bucher as a kind man who only went to open the shop so late, not to make a late night sale, but because he
had thought the boys needed help, Pastor Bateman was always told by his grandmother, that Clyde Barrow was a misunderstood
young man, who let the spotlight, the prison system, and Bonnie turn him into something he was not. Portrayals of him as
an arrogant, attention-seeking killer were always laughed at by Ann who remembered Clyde Barrow as a born leader who simply
had nowhere to go.
The Buchers had pretty much disowned their son Oscar, who was the only child they had without some kind of retardation.
There was suspicion that Mr. Bucher's own son did the killing, and that Mrs. Bucher wrongly fingered Raymond Hamilton in
order to protect her son, and also because she detested Hamilton. Raymond Hamilton had known Ann and had even asked her
for a date. Mrs. Bucher pretty much told Ann that Hamilton was the devil himself. Pastor Bateman's mother said that Hamilton
was very short and so was Ann, his grandmother. He's glad that love connection never happened! Ann and her sister Ruth even
went to identify Hamilton in jail, as being one of the participants in the Bucher robbery. One thing seems very clear, and
that is that Clyde Barrow did not kill John Bucher. Mr. Bucher knew Clyde and thought very highly of him. He probably worried
more about (his) son's influence on Clyde, than vice versa. Clyde was no doubt torn up over the incident, but he had already
been convicted by public opinion and just kept running. He was no angel, but he was no monster either. Ann stayed very close
to Mrs. Bucher and one of the daughters that Pastor Bateman's mother, Betty believed was named Violet.
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