Kidnapped cattle hauler wants more lights on barn parking lots

By LORI COPE | East Texas Edition

July 26, 2001 -- The 51-year-old cattle hauler who was recently kidnapped at gunpoint says he will now be a lot more cautious, and encourages livestock sale barns to install more lights in the parking lot.

John Patterson of Forney, an independent truck driver with over 25 years experience hauling cattle, was kidnapped, along with a load of cattle, from the parking lot of Livestock Producers Sale Barn in Bossier City, La., in the early hours of Thursday, July 12.

The alleged attacker, 30-year-old Mark A. Ganske of Jacksonville, was captured and has now been charged with aggravated kidnapping, armed robbery, and theft of 51 head of cattle.

Patterson described the incident as a uniquely scary event.

"I didn't get to the sale barn until 10 or 11 that night to load the cattle," he said. "One truck had already loaded and left, and another was waiting to be loaded. I guess, though, those guys were asleep or something."

Upon completion of loading the cattle, Patterson walked to the cab area to put away an electrical device used to move cattle.

Patterson said it was dark on the side of the truck where the incident occurred. "I walked around the nose of my truck to put my hot shot up. I had just put it up and turned around and there he (suspect) was. He put a gun in my face and told me to 'get down, get down.' He got me down and tied my hands. It all happened real fast."

Ganske, who is 5-feet 10-inches tall and weighs 230 pounds, has three prior convictions for cattle theft and is currently on probation for those felonies.

"He told me he wanted my load and I told him to take them, but he said 'no, you get in.'" Patterson got into the truck's sleeper, as instructed by the suspect. The suspect bound his feet with duct tape and placed a strip of duct tape over his eyes.

"I just laid real still," Patterson said. "In all my years of doing this, I've heard of people getting robbed, but never anything like this. I didn't know why he was taking me."

The alleged suspect, Ganske, had prior experience hauling cattle in an 18-wheeler, according to the kidnap victim. "He'd worked around (other barns, cattle companies), but had been run off."

Patterson said he was later told by the owner of Livestock Producers that Ganske had been "at the sale barn all day."

Now bound and blindfolded in his truck's sleeper, Patterson said he could tell they were headed for Texas because he caught a glimpse of an Exit 5 highway sign while peeking under the duct tape.

When they arrived at the place where the cattle were unloaded, Patterson said he believes another person was there. "I believe it was a woman," he said. "When he (suspect) got out of the truck he told me 'if you move, she'll shoot you.' I heard him tell her to 'shoot him if he moves.' But I never saw anyone" because of his eyes being taped.

Patterson said after the cattle were unloaded, the suspect had "trouble getting the truck out. The truck was jumping" and giving other signs of rough driving.

Once on the road again, Patterson felt they were headed back to Bossier City. "We went a good ways, but by then I had been working to get my hands free," he said. "I was wondering what was going to happen (to me) now."

The results of the rough driving, a broken U-joint, surfaced around 7 a.m. Thursday, about six hours after Patterson was kidnapped from the sale barn.

Evidently, the suspect was headed back to a vehicle in Bossier City. While in rush hour traffic on Highway 71 South, the U-joint gave way and the suspect "rolled (the truck) off to the side of the road and he got out."

Now with his hands freed, Patterson laid on the air horn, and began communicating to nearby people to "call 9-1-1."

The suspect, who took off running, was apprehended in a nearby home that was under construction.

Patterson, physically unhurt in the ordeal, said his truck suffered the broken U-joint and bent stacks. "But all that can be fixed."

Patterson is already back to hauling cattle and said he won't let this event bring about a decision for a career change. "I just don't know what to think about it all. But it has taught me to pay attention, and I think I'll be carrying me a flashlight from now on."

(Cope is a staff writer in Country World's East Texas office.)