Victim's father: World shattered for family of couple, described as loving, centered in community

By Erin Adamson and Chris Moon

The Capital-Journal
Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Jul 9, 2002

Harold Worswick said his world fell apart Sunday afternoon when he drove to his daughter's house for a fish fry.

It was a typical family get-together with his daughter, Karen Harkness, 53, and her boyfriend, Michael Sisco, 47. The two liked to cook and liked to host dinners for their families, Worswick said.

But when Worswick and his wife got no response at the door of Harkness' home at 2231 S.W. Westport Square shortly before 2 p.m., they went inside.

"Unfortunately, that's when the world collapsed," he said.

According to police, Worswick found Harkness and Sisco shot to death in the house. On Monday, police were calling the deaths homicide.

"We currently have a long number of leads and we're chasing those leads," said Lt. John Sidwell, spokesman for the Topeka Police Department. He declined to elaborate.

The Shawnee County coroner conducted autopsies Monday. Sidwell said results of the autopsy wouldn't be available for several days.

Worswick declined to talk about what he found when he went into the house after not receiving an answer at the door. He said police told him not to say anything.

The news stunned many of the residents along the cul-de-sac southeast of S.W. 21st and Wanamaker.

Neighbor Loretta Moore, who has lived there for 11 years, said the only time fire trucks and ambulances drive down the street is in the case of a medical emergency, such as a fall. The neighborhood is home to a number of retirees, she said.

Several neighbors said they heard what sounded like fireworks about 11:30 p.m. Saturday.

Worswick described his daughter as a loving mother, a "fantastic child" and "a perfect daughter," and Sisco, who lived at 2553 S.W. Alexander, as "a gentleman in every fashion."

Worswick said Sisco had been a good friend of his for several years, and that his daughter and Sisco were in love and marriage plans were probably down the road. Harkness and Sisco had enjoyed cooking, camping, fishing, and golf and spent as much time together as they could.

Harkness loved her job at the Topeka Convention and Visitors Bureau, where she had worked for the past 10 months as convention sales representative, Worswick said. Previously she had worked at the Capitol Plaza Hotel.

Richard Forester, president of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, said Harkness was in charge of bringing conventions and meetings to the city. The job required extensive interaction with regional organizations and businesses headquartered in Topeka.

"She was extremely outgoing and becoming very successful here because of her capabilities and skills and personality," Forester said. "She was a tremendous representative for Topeka and this bureau."

Forester said Harkness was family-oriented. On weekends, she sometimes would go canoeing on Lake Shawnee.

She was "just an average Topekan," Forester said.

Worswick said his daughter attended Randolph Elementary and Boswell Junior High schools and graduated from Topeka High School. She completed a bachelor's degree in physical education at The University of Kansas, but didn't work in that field. She married Dewitt Harkness and was a homemaker and raised her two children.

Harold Worswick passed on his business, Wolfe's Cameras, Camcorders, and Computers, 635 S. Kansas Ave., to his son, Michael Worswick, and Dewitt Harkness. Karen Harkness was divorced from Dewitt in 1996.

Worswick said his daughter was an avid tennis player who had ranked locally and nationally and played throughout her adult life. He said she had passed her love for the game on to her children. Lately, she had taken up golf.

Mike Sisco's mother, Carol Engler, of Topeka, described her son as an avid fisherman, hunter and single father who was active in his two children's lives and enjoyed working with their soccer teams.

He worked out of his home office as regional manager for National Standard, a maintenance company, where he started the first of the year.

"He was a very well-liked man with a good sense of humor," Engler said.

Engler said her son grew up on a farm outside of Carbondale and attended Santa Fe Trail High School. He studied wildlife biology at Kansas State University but didn't complete his degree. He has always worked in business.

Sisco began raising his children in Colorado and then moved back to Kansas in 1993. He moved to Topeka two years ago.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Detective Richard Volle at 368-9400.

Chris Moon can be reached at 295-1185 or [email protected]. Erin Adamson can be reached at 295-1185.

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Obituary:

Michael R. Sisco, 47, Topeka, died Sunday, July 7, 2002, at a friend's home in Topeka.

Mr. Sisco was a district sales manager for National Standard Welding Products.

He was born Dec. 16, 1954, in Topeka, the son of Roger and Carol Fricke Sisco. He attended Carbondale Grade School and graduated from Santa Fe Trail High School in 1972. He attended Kansas State University and Washburn University. He lived in Colorado from 1977 until he moved back to Kansas in 1993.

Mr. Sisco had been a member of Carbondale Congregational Church.

He married Dana Chandler in 1982 in Littleton, Colo. They divorced.

Survivors include a daughter, Hailey Sisco, Topeka; a son, Dustin Sisco, Topeka; his mother, Carol Sisco Engler, Topeka; a sister, Cathy Boots, Coraopolis, Pa.; a brother, Timothy Sisco, Elk Grove, Calif.; and grandmother, Violet Musick, Topeka.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Penwell-Gabel Highland Chapel. Cremation will follow services and private inurnment will be at a later date. Mr. Sisco will lie in state after 11 a.m. Friday at the chapel, where visitation will be from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Hailey and Dustin Sisco Education Fund and sent in care of State Bank of Carbondale, P.O. Box 250, Carbondale, 66414.