After 40 Years, Still No Leads On Famous El Pasoans Murder

In 1981, an El Pasoan who developed a gadget that allowed vehicles to get 160 miles per gallon of gasoline was murdered. Over 40 years later, there are still no answers.

Who Was Tom Ogle?

Thomas Venor Wolfgang Peter Dinglestaedt Ogle was born in Germany and moved to El Paso as a young man with his Mom and Stepfather, Lieutenant Clarence Ogle.

Ogle's natural father, an electrical engineer labeled as "brilliant", "inventive", and "near genius", left the family while Ogle and his siblings were pretty young.

Ogle's Stepdad was in the army which eventually brought the family to Fort Bliss. Tom went to Irvin High School where he earned a GED.  

Ogle loved working on all kinds of small appliances and electronics. One day, he poked a hole in the fuel tank of a small lawnmower. Following that:

Ogle removed the carburetor from the mower, out of curiosity, and placed a hose that connected the fuel tank to the carburetor intake jet, allowing the mower to run off gasoline vapors. He claimed that the mower ran for 96 hours. - epcc.libguides.com

Ogle tried his idea on his own car and, after several failures, "racked up 60,000 miles" ... while getting over 100 miles per gallon.

Around 1978, he used his "fuel vaporizer" to drive that heavy - ass, 70's era car from El Paso to Deming and back on only 2 gallons of gasoline.

The gizmo never saw mass production and many, (like me), suspect the oil and gas industries of "hiding" it along with other ideas, similar ideas.

What Happened To Tom Ogle?

In early 1981, he was shot outside the Starburst Lounge in Northeast El Paso. He lived but the shooter was never ID'd.

A few months later, he was dead from an apparent overdose of a drug he'd been prescribed to help him curb his drinking.

Toward the end of his life, he was drinking heavily and very paranoid. Even though his share of the rights to his invention had already been lost.

He still had the knowledge though ...

What Happened To Tom Ogle's Invention And Interests?

Pool "hustlers" got him drunk and led him to rack up huge gambling debts.

His share of his own device was given to them to square everything up.

He's gone and so, it would seem, is his device. The question(s) of who killed him and why he had so much of that drug in him the night he died, remain unanswered.

How Can I Learn More About Big Oil And "Hidden Fuel Technologies"?

GasHole, a documentary about America’s use of fossil fuels and oil companies reluctance to pursue "high mileage" technology made mention of Tom Ogle’s invention.

You can watch it here ...