TV Reporter Slain in Texas; Studied Journalism at CSUN

A former Los Angeles journalist working as a television reporter in Temple, Texas, was found beaten to death Thursday morning in her apartment, authorities said.

Kathryn L. Dettman, 36, who studied broadcast journalism at Cal State Northridge, apparently was getting out of the shower when she was attacked by an intruder, said Tony Hennes, a Temple Police Department spokesman.

A suspect was arrested, identified by neighbors as another resident of the apartment complex. The victim’s friends told police he “had been calling her a lot. But she seemed unconcerned about it,” Hennes said.

There was no sign of forced entry and no apparent motive for the slaying, Hennes said.

Dettman’s neighbors called police about 8:30 a.m. to complain of loud noises coming from her second-floor unit, Hennes said. Arriving officers knocked on the door, got no response, and an apartment manager let them in.

“They found a white male inside with blood splattered on his clothing,” he said. “There was a considerable amount of blood in the apartment. It was a pretty messy scene.”

Dettman’s body was found on the bedroom floor.

The suspect, who police would identify only as a man in his 20s, was arrested on suspicion of murder and taken to Temple city jail, Hennes said. Formal charges are expected to be filed today after the cause of death is determined by a medical examiner in Dallas.

Hennes would not say whether a weapon was found. However, he did say blood was found on several pieces of furniture that could have been used in the beating.

“This is becoming a very high-profile case and we are being very careful,” Hennes said. “We don’t want to say anything that would jeopardize the case.”

Dettman was single and lived alone in the Wildwood Apartments in Temple. According to colleagues and public records, she had a brother and sister living in Wisconsin. Co-workers said her parents are deceased.

Dettman earned degrees from Santa Barbara Community College and UCLA before attending CSUN as a graduate journalism student from 1989 to 1991. She left to take an internship and later a paid broadcast newswriting job at the Associated Press in Los Angeles, said Tom Reilly, chairman of CSUN’S journalism department. “Kathryn was highly intelligent, a fast learner and someone with a deep personal motivation to be a journalist. “It is easy to remember her because she was an excellent student when she was here.”

She later moved to the AP Broadcast News Center in Washington, D.C., before taking a television reporting job with KWTX-TV in Waco in July 1993.

Los Angeles AP Bureau Chief Andy Lippman described her as “a person determined to succeed, with the pluckiness to bounce back from any adversity. She was very goal oriented and approached it with a cheery determination to succeed, and was undaunted by any obstacles, either personal or professional.”

Dettman’s last day at KWTX-TV was to be today. She intended to start a new job as a general assignment reporter for KTVT-TV, a larger station in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on Monday, said Ray Deaver, vice president and general manager at the Waco station.

“I had an appointment to meet with her this morning to talk about her new job and about the opportunity she had here,” Deaver said. “She was a person who was full of life. She will be sorely missed.”