Those who remember Terry Rapp from years ago as a Kansas University student athletic trainer were shocked to learn he is at the center of a high-profile Florida murder case.
"He was just a very nice, pleasant guy," retired Lawrence Police officer Don Gardner said of Terry D. Rapp, who is charged with killing his wife.
Gardner also was a student trainer at KU and worked alongside Rapp, 57, in the early 1960s.
Rapp is being held without bond in the Orange County Jail, Orlando, Fla., on suspicion of beating his wife, Terri Rapp, to death on Jan. 8 at their time-share apartment near SeaWorld Orlando. The case has not yet been before a grand jury.
Harley Catlin, a Lawrence stockbroker, knew Rapp when both attended Wichita West High School in the late 1950s. Catlin played guard for KU's football teams from 1961 to 1964. All the players who knew Rapp when he was a trainer liked him, Catlin said.
"He was an all-around regular guy," said Catlin, who learned Thursday about Rapp's arrest. "He was very bright. I'm truly shocked."
On Jan. 9, Terry Rapp reported his wife missing. Terry Rapp and friends placed posters about his missing wife throughout the Orlando area.
"It got a lot of media attention," said Jim Solomons, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office. "Whenever someone is missing like that, it causes a lot of concern."
But on Friday, Jan. 18, after questioning by Orange County detectives, Rapp said he had killed his wife. Her body was found buried in a wooded area near DeLand, Fla., Solomons said.
KU records show Terry Rapp graduated in 1966 with a bachelor's degree in physical education.
"There was nothing to indicate then that he would ever do anything like this," Gardner said. "I was shocked."
Terri Rapp is to be buried today at a Kansas City, Mo., cemetery. She grew up in Kansas City, Kan. Earlier this week, her grown children, Kristi Davis, 30, and Jason Davis, 25, Austin, Tex., went to court in Orange County to stop their stepfather from obtaining money in bank accounts the couple had shared.
Terri Rapp's assets are valued at $300,000, court records showed. There are additional assets in other trusts she or her late mother established. Records of those assets are not public.
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