He Made Elvis Presley Famous, But He Vanished, Gave Himself A New Identity, And Had A Connection To An Unsolved Murder
Elvis Presley rose to worldwide fame and became known as the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll” by taking influences from country and blues music to create his own revolutionary style.
However, behind Elvis’ impressive career was his manager, Tom Parker, whose identity was much less straightforward.
To the public, Tom was born in Huntington, West Virginia, and toured with carnivals before becoming a music promoter in the 1950s.
He also became regarded as “The Colonel,” an honorary title given to him by Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis for his political services.
The true details of his past didn’t emerge until years after Elvis died and Tom had semi-retired.
First, no one realized that there was no record of anyone with the name Thomas Parker ever being born in Huntingdon. Moreover, the music manager never had a U.S. passport.
Tom had also served in the U.S. Army, but even that endeavor ended in disgrace. He’d disappeared without leave, landing him behind bars in military prison for several months due to desertion. Later, he was reportedly diagnosed as a psychopath and discharged from the Army.
Once he began working with Evlis and entered the limelight, Tom made sure that he didn’t have to talk about his past much, either.
For instance, he settled a lawsuit with Elvis’ record company after realizing he’d have to be cross-examined under oath.
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Plus, unlike other music managers, Tom readily worked with the IRS and allowed the agency to calculate his taxes.
Perhaps most bizarre, though, was how he turned down countless offers to have Elvis tour the globe. The offers were worth millions of dollars, yet Tom wasn’t on board due to his lack of a passport.
So, throughout Elvis’ nearly three-decades-long career, he only performed abroad three times. Tom never joined him, either.
His true background first came to light in the spring of 1960, despite the story not becoming public knowledge for years.
A woman in Eindhoven, a Dutch town, was looking through a magazine when she came upon a story about Elvis. Next to the star was Tom, who the woman recognized as her long-lost brother.
He never actually grew up in West Virginia but instead had been born in Breda, a city in the southern Netherlands, and his real name was Andreas Van Kujik-Dries.
As for why he changed it to Tom Parker, that was the name of the officer who’d interviewed him when he signed up for the Army.
After Tom came to the United States as a teenager and began working for carnivals, Huntington, West Virginia, just happened to be a stop along the way.
However, he didn’t come to the States legally. Instead, he was an illegal immigrant who likely made it to America through Canada.
Years later, a Dutch fan magazine known as “It’s Elvis Time” shared more information about his childhood. But even by 1982, the idea that Tom was an illegal immigrant was still largely a rumor in the United States.
It was only after Elvis passed away in 1977 that even darker secrets in Tom’s past began to reveal themselves. That’s because Dirk Vellenga, a journalist from Breda, received a shocking tip.
Dirk learned how Parker had just disappeared from Breda in May 1929. He never told his loved ones where he was going, and he didn’t take any of his identity papers with him. Moreover, he left behind his money and his expensive clothing.
“Did something serious happen before Parker left that summer in 1929, or maybe in the 1930s when he broke all contact with his family?” Dirk asked his readers at the end of a newspaper feature in the 1970s.
This question prompted a reader to send an anonymous letter to Dirk, which suggested Tom might’ve fled Breda after committing murder.
“At last, I want to say what was told to me 19 years ago about this Colonel Parker,” the letter began.
“My mother-in-law said to me if anything comes to light about this Parker, tell them that his name is Van Kuijk and that he murdered the wife of a greengrocer on the Bochstraat…,” the letter continued.
“This murder has never been solved. But look it up, and you will discover that he, on that very night, left for America and adopted a different name. And that is why it is so mysterious. That’s why he does not want to be known.”
With a bit of research, Dirk was able to confirm that a 23-year-old newlywed named Anna van den Enden had been murdered in May 1929. She’d been killed in the living quarters behind her store, and the property had been ransacked in an apparent search for money.
After Anna was battered to death, her killer sprinkled some pepper around her remains, supposedly to prevent canines from tracking his scent. Then, the killer fled, and Anna’s murder went unsolved.
The crime took place just a few yards away from Tom’s family home, and according to his family members, Tom had made deliveries to a local greengrocer.
Still, without even one witness, the evidence was circumstantial. No one had ever implicated then-Andreas van Kuijk. Instead, eyewitness statements simply suggested the killer had been well-dressed in a light yellow coat. This just so happened to be Tom’s favorite color.
It remains unlikely that Anna’s case will ever be solved. But the strange coincidence, coupled with Tom’s secrecy and reputation for having a hot temper, has pushed both Dirk and Alanna Nash, Tom’s biographer, to believe he did it.
They think Tom had visited Anna’s store in search of money to pay for his travels to the United States. Then, the intended robbery went wrong, possibly because Tom became upset by Anna’s recent marriage, and he killed her accidentally.
It’s unknown how soon Tom fled to America after Anna’s murder. Additionally, it’s well-known that Tom didn’t show particular interest in women. Even so, Alanna, as well as some of Tom’s family members, believes he was behind the crime.
“I want to be clear in saying that there is no hard proof that he committed this murder; in my heart of hearts, I believe he did,” Alanna stated.
“Certainly, the way he lived his life, for the duration of his years, suggests a secret of that kind of gravity. In other words, if that’s not what happened back in Holland, something equally awful did.”
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