WHEN DAVID GUNDLACH RETURNED HOME several years ago, it was inconceivable to those who knew him as a boy that he would soon be a local legend, almost a myth. In fact, he'd largely been forgotten.

It was spring of 2007 when Gundlach bought a house in Elkhart, Ind., where he went to high school and his mother still lived. Shortly after, he called longtime area resident Robert Kloska to say he wanted to reconnect. "I had to call my dad and say, 'Refresh my memory: Who is David Gundlach?'" recalls Kloska, now 46. The...