Post by Scumhunter on Aug 8, 2016 3:17:55 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: wyomingnews.com)
From the Wyoming Tribune Eagle website (wyomingnews.com)
CHEYENNE – One year ago today, as the Monday pancake breakfast for the 2015 Cheyenne Frontier Days was winding down just blocks away, police responded to a reported robbery at The Coin Shop downtown.
They arrived to find the shop owner and one of his customers had been killed.
Who committed that crime remains unknown, but the investigation is still open and active.
And though no video evidence of the crime was captured, detectives identified people of interest early on in the case.
“There’s someone out there that knows something about this case, and they’re not coming forward, and we really need them to,” Cheyenne Police Chief Brian Kozak said Tuesday.
In the year since Dwight Brockman, 67, and friend George Manley, 76, were shot and killed, local police have conducted 130 interviews, executed 19 search warrants and followed up on more than 150 tips related to the case.
“Within that 130 people are people of interest,” Kozak said.
According to the police department, more than 3,000 man-hours have gone into investigating the double homicide, and more than 230 pieces of evidence have been collected.
Kozak said he could not talk about specifics of the case or investigation.
“If we do get a person that is going to tell us about the crime, we want them to tell us information that hasn’t been in the media,” he said.
“Unfortunately, I know a lot of people would like more details, and we just can’t give (them) at this time.”
Brockman’s son, David, who reopened the shop at 510 W. Lincolnway, declined to comment about the investigation.
In a paid advertisement that appears below, he refers to whoever committed the “senseless crime” of killing his father and Manley as “WORTHLESS SCUM.”
“Please take a moment to remember them for the happiness and joy they brought to all of our lives,” the ad says. “Keep them in your heart all the days of the year, and they will live FOREVER in our memories.”
The Coin Shop is closed today in remembrance of and respect for Brockman and Manley, the ad says.
Kozak said numerous pieces of evidence collected in the case were sent to the Wyoming State Crime Lab, which also has conducted ballistics testing as part of the investigation.
He said the lab detected DNA on evidence, but the DNA was checked against the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and did not match any person’s DNA on file or the people of interest.
“That’s when we learned of a more advanced testing of DNA that Colorado is using,” the chief said.
That evidence has been sent off to a Colorado crime lab that uses an alternative technique for collecting DNA, he explained.
The technique is called M-VAC and can capture many times more DNA than more common methods used by forensic labs across the country.
“We’re hoping with the newer technology we can identify additional DNA that maybe we don’t have right now,” Kozak said.
“It would be nice if that’s done and actually we get some evidence, some forensic evidence, that ties some of the people of interest we have already to the crime.”
Kozak said the Thornton Police Department helped CPD submit the evidence around September of last year, and the lab currently is working on evidence it received in August of last year.
“We’re almost there,” he said. “They estimate it’s probably going to be November or December before they get to our evidence.”
A total award of up to $11,000 might be available for anyone with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person who committed the crime.
That amount comprises a $1,000 Crime Stoppers award, $5,000 pledged by the Numismatic Crime Information Center and $5,000 put up by an anonymous donor.
“I’m surprised we haven’t had more people in the community come forward, because this is an important thing in the community. A lot of people talk about this case,” Kozak said.
And it still is possible that someone from out of town committed The Coin Shop murders, which makes the investigation that much more difficult.
Kozak said detectives have been pursuing that angle by being in contact with other police agencies across the nation and with organizations that track coin-related crimes to watch out for similar crimes.
“Anything’s possible at this point,” he said.
CPD also has contacted the FBI to possibly present the case to its Behavioral Analysis Unit.
“We’re trying different things,” Kozak said. “But really, we’re waiting for this DNA test out of Colorado.”
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also is aiding local police in the investigation, Kozak said.
Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call the Cheyenne Police Department at 307-637-6510 or Silent Witness at 307-638-TIPS.
The only other unsolved murder case the department has on the books right now dates back to 1987.
m.wyomingnews.com/news/coin-shop-murder-case-still-unsolved-a-year-later/article_f8d343ba-4e40-11e6-b9aa-07a629d4df98.html
Thoughts? The Wyoming Tribune website later clarified that there are not 130 persons of interest in this case but that they have interviewed 130 or so people.
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