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Top News Story!
Cops & Doctors!
Posted: Monday, June 25, 2012 - Updated 03:05 p.m. PST, Tuesday, June 26, 2012 
Hitchcock, TX -- Former Houston police officer Dennis Redding (pictured above, center) has been charged with murder in connection with the death of Dr. Mark K. Holcomb, an oral surgeon in Webster, after the two paired-up for a fishing trip. Redding is a police officer who resigned from the force in 1978. He later worked in security for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Hitchcock Police Chief Clay Kennelly said there was a dispute between the two men in the sense that words were exchanged in the moments before Redding allegedly shot Holcomb in the stomach, although there may not have been an argument or a shoving match. Neither the police nor the family have a motive for the slaying. "There is seemingly no explanation right now," Hanks said. "They are at a loss." Kennelly said, "I am really at a loss to explain why it would happen in the first place." 
Holcomb, 61 (pictured left) had escorted suspect Dennis Roy Redding, 63, of Cedar Creek to a guest bedroom on the third floor of his house in the Harborwalk subdivision when the shooting occurred about 12:30 p.m. The two friends were going to their bedrooms so they could get up early the next morning and go fishing. Holcomb accompanied Redding to a guest room, where for some unexplained reason Redding pulled a Ruger .380-caliber pistol from his luggage and shot Holcomb in the stomach, Kennelly said.Kennelly said there were seven people in the house when police arrived, including the victim and suspect. One of the men in the house took the pistol from Redding and placed it in his pocket, according to a police affidavit. Holcomb lay on his back between the bed and the wall, blood pooled around a wound in his abdomen, the affidavit said. Police arrived to find two men restraining Redding. "Redding was compliant, he didn't struggle with the officers," Kennelly said. Redding was released Saturday after posting $150,000 bail.
Dr. Holcomb, of Clear Lake, was married with four daughters. He owned Clear Lake Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in Webster.
Predatory Policing!
Posted: Friday, May 04, 2012 - Updated: Tuesday, May 8, 2012, 2:42 AM PST
Pittsburgh, PA -- A fired Pittsburgh police officer faces additional charges after a fifth woman told police he offered her legal assistance in exchange for sexual acts. The woman, identified in a criminal complaint as "Jane Doe-5," told a sex assault detective that she met Adam Skweres, 34, formerly a patrol officer out of the city's Zone 3 station in Allentown, in October of 2010 and kept her encounters with him secret for more than a year. "Jane Doe-5" recounted her story for sex assault detective Aprill-Noelle Campbell in an interview last month. The woman told the detective she met Mr. Skweres a year and a half ago, when her boyfriend broke his jaw in a bar fight and Mr. Skweres came to take their report.When the woman reported to the Municipal Court Building for the alleged attacker's preliminary hearing, she "explained to [Officer Skweres] that she was afraid to go on the stand to testify because she had been drinking on the night of the assault and much of the night was a blur," according to a criminal complaint filed in Night Court on Thursday. She told police Mr. Skweres asked her if she wanted to get out of testifying, walked her outside to have a cigarette and told her that "the [district attorney] owed him a favor so she might not have to testify, but they should meet and discuss the situation." Mr. Skweres told the woman that she might lose her nursing license or be charged with perjury if she failed to testify after taking the stand and then called her later that night and instructed her to meet him at his Lincoln Place home, according to the complaint.
The woman told police Mr. Skweres pulled the battery out of her cell phone and scattered the pieces of it throughout his home before pointing to a tablet of paper and saying, "From here on out, we're not going to speak, we're gonna use this paper." The woman said she asked to leave and was told "that's not an option," a statement that made her fear "she was going to be raped or assaulted," according to the complaint.
She told police Mr. Skweres ordered her to strip naked and "perform a few favors." When she left, he told her to "say goodbye to your fucking career," police said. The woman told detectives she waited more than a year to tell her story, changing her mind only after she befriended a Pittsburgh police officer, who encouraged her to report her story after Mr. Skweres was arrested on the first round of charges.
Mr. Skweres faces charges of official oppression, false imprisonment, criminal attempt and criminal coercion for this latest incident, according to a summons filed Thursday night. He faces similar charges in the other cases, at least two of which date back to 2008, when Mr. Skweres had been on the force for about 18 months.
In one case, Mr. Skweres is accused of offering to write a positive letter to Children, Youth and Family Services if a woman performed oral sex on him. In another he is accused of offering to make a woman's ticket "mysteriously disappear" in exchange for a favor and in a third he is accused of offering to help a woman whose boyfriend was a potential informant if she performed oral sex on him. A fourth woman told investigators Mr. Skweres came to her home in uniform and attempted to rape her.
Mr. Skweres, then a five-year veteran of the force, was arrested in February after three women recounted similar stories to police and officers later pressed additional charges against him for an incident involving a fourth woman. Mr. Skweres has maintained his innocence and said he hopes to get his job back. His attorney has touted Mr. Skwere's military background as a former Army reservist who served in Iraq and questioned the credibility of his accusers. A judge ordered in March that Mr. Skweres should be placed on house arrest.
I Thought I
Got Away With It!
Got Away With It!
Posted: Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 9:11 AM - Updated: Wednesday, February 1, 2012, 3:46 PM PST
Pennsylvania -- Small town Pennsylvania cops used new DNA evidence to crack open a 30-year-old murder case, charging a local councilman with strangling a young woman who was once his lover. Gregory Scott Hopkins, 65 (pictured above, center) a councilman and building contractor from Bridgewater, about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh, was arrested on Sunday and charged with killing 23-year-old Catherine Janet Walsh, local media reported. Hopkins has been on the Bridgewater borough council for about three years, recently winning a reelection in November. Hopkins is currently being held in Beaver County Jail. A preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 6.
Walsh's father, Peter Caltury, found her bound and strangled in bed in her home in Monaca on Sept. 1, 1979, after she didn't show up for work following the Labor Day holiday. Hopkins was questioned as a possible suspect after Walsh was found and told police he and the young woman had been sexually involved. But he swore that they hadn't been together for a month before she died. Local cops cracked the cold case after new tests in 2011 — using methods unavailable in 1979 — linked Hopkins' DNA with semen found on Walsh's nightgown and bedsheets, the criminal complaint said. Cops haven't established a motive for the murder. At a news conference after the arrest, Walsh's brother, Francesco Caltieri, said the bust would be "the start of closure" for the family. "You know, 32 years is a long time," Caltieri told reporters. "So there were certainly a lot of times where we thought it would never happen, but you always keep faith."
Locals in the small Ohio River town said they were stunned by the news. "When I heard [about the arrest] on the news, it shocked me," one of Hopkins' neighbors, Tim Phillippi, told media sources. "I always thought he was a real nice guy. I never in a million years would have thought this." Dave Porter, who grew up with Hopkins, told media sources that he had a reputation as "a good guy."
"He was pretty much open and above board," Porter said. “That said, a lot changes over the years."
Internet Perverted Cop!
6:04 p.m. EST, February 17, 2011
A state trooper from the Milton barracks is off the job, accused of using an internet chat room to send a sexually explicit video to someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl. Trooper Douglas Sversko, a veteran with the Pennsylvania State Police. was arrested Wednesday. Investigators said Sversko sent nude video of himself to someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl. That girl was actually an undercover agent.
Sversko (pictured left) of the Lewisburg area, found himself on the other side of the law when he was arrested and accused of using a webcam to send nude video of himself to a 13-year-old girl in March of last year. It was actually an undercover agent posing as a teen in an internet chat room. Sversko helped investigate a case last year involving child predators from the Hughesville area and numerous others during his more than 27 years working as a trooper in central Pennsylvania.Investigators said they seized three computers from Sversko's home. Court papers state Sversko used the webcam and wrote to the undercover agent saying, "Make sure you delete our conversation," and, "We don't really want mom to read about this."
State police said Trooper Sversko has been suspended without pay effective Thursday. He was assigned to state police in Milton. He is out on bail, awaiting a court hearing in the Harrisburg area.
LAPD Again!
January 19, 2011
PLAYA VISTA, Calif. (WCJB) -- The Los Angeles Police Department is defending officers who fatally shot a man during a struggle, after he stripped and caused an early morning disturbance in the Playa Vista area. Police say 25-year-old Reggie Doucet, a former football player at Middle Tennessee State University, repeatedly punched the officers and tried to take their guns. Paul Weber, president of the LA police union, said in a statement Saturday that the officers were "fighting for their lives" when they opened fire.
But civil rights groups contend they could have used non-lethal means to subdue Ducet. They're calling on LAPD Chief Charlie Beck to review the department's training and tactics in dealing with unarmed suspects. The shooting happened just after 3 a.m. Friday in the 5600 block of Crescent Way West after LAPD officers responded to a disturbing the peace call.
The man, identified as Reggie Doucet, apparently took a taxi to the location, began stripping off his clothing and running around naked. A witness said she heard screaming and commotion outside her window as police chased after the naked suspect. At some point, the suspect put on boxers. "I heard them try to detain him and he would not comply; and there was a fight, a physical fight," she said. She then heard two gunshots.
Doucet was struck and rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, officials said. Police say he was a resident of the condominium complex. Doucet's neighbor Chris Ellison said the former quarterback for Middle Tennessee State University was never violent in the seven years they were neighbors. Doucet, who played corner back, played on MTSU's Motor City Bowl team. He started five games and played in all 13 games in 2006 with a career-high 40 tackles and three interceptions.
The shooting is under investigation.
Another OPD Homicide!
December 21, 2010
Busted!
November 12, 2010
Photo: This video frame from a surveillance camera shows a confrontation between off-duty Deputy U.S. Marshal Matthew Itkowitz, left, and Ryan Gonzalez on March 5, 2008, in an alley off Melrose Avenue. Gonzalez was shot and killed during the confrontation. This frame shows the muzzle flash from the first shot fired by Itkowitz. In a 2008 homicide case an off-duty federal marshal argued that he fatally shot a man in self-defense. Corrupt Justice™ explores the death investigation and various witness accounts of what happened that fateful evening, as well as reveals surveillance camera footage that sheds light on the shooting.
Matthew Itkowitz, an off-duty deputy U.S. marshal, was being beaten and threatened with a gun in an alley off Melrose Avenue when, in fear for his life, he managed to draw his own weapon and fatally shoot his attacker.
At least, that's the story Itkowitz told Los Angeles police.
What really happened that night in the Fairfax district is less clear-cut. Witnesses' accounts of what happened before the shooting vary. But footage from a surveillance camera, which has never been made public, calls into question the deputy marshal's claim of self-defense. A copy of the tape was reviewed by Corrupt Justice™.
The video footage of the March 5, 2008, encounter, coupled with other evidence from the scene, raises a disturbing possibility: that a drunk cop fatally shot a man in the back to settle a score.
Whether prosecutors see it that way is another matter.
Watch: View the video footage
"Dirty 30's!
November 12, 2010
Oakland police officers in riot gear stand guard on I-880 entrance ramp at 42nd Avenue to prevent demonstrators from trespassing in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010. The demonstrators protested the fatal shooting of Derrick Jones by Oakland Police last Monday, November 8. The peaceful protest began with a march from Derrick Jones' barbershop on Bancroft Avenue near Seminary Avenue along International Boulevard and ended at the Fruitvale BART station. OAKLAND, CA -- The "shiny object" police officers said they saw being held by Derrick Jones before he was fatally shot Monday night was an electronic scale, police said today. Police also said a small amount of marijuana was found in one of Jones' pockets. The unarmed 37-year-old, a father and barbershop owner, was fatally shot by two officers after a brief foot chase. The officers were trying to detain him after a report of a domestic dispute.
Sources identified the officers today as Eriberto Perez-Angeles, who has been on the department for three years and who is also a member of the SWAT team, and Omar Daza-Quiroz, an officer for four years.
The officers told investigators that Jones kept reaching toward his waistband and that at one point they saw a "shiny object" that turned out to be the scale.
Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris, who has consulted with Jones' relatives, was skeptical of the explanation. "For one thing, I'm surprised it's taken five days for the police to reveal this information," Burris said. "And the fact that they saw something shiny was certainly not a basis to shoot and kill someone."
Officers told investigators that Jones was shot several times in the front of his body after he refused their repeated commands to raise his hands. The officers said Jones appeared to be reaching for something when they shot him. No gun or other kind of weapon was found on him. The scale was found alongside his body, authorities said. Oakland police spokesman Officer Jeff Thomason today described the scale as 3 inches by 5 inches with a silver finish. The marijuana was found in a small glass container.
BART police officers stand guard at Fruitvale BART station as demonstrators protest the fatal shooting of Derrick Jones by Oakland Police in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010. The peaceful protest began with a march from Derrick Jones' barbershop on Bancroft Avenue near Seminary Avenue along International Boulevard and ended at the Fruitvale BART station. Jones was shot and killed Monday November 8, 2010. A demonstration is scheduled for today at 3 p.m. in front of Jones' barbershop on Bancroft Avenue to protest his killing. A march Thursday from the barbershop to the Fruitvale BART station was peaceful but did close down the BART station for about an hour.The police homicide and internal affairs units and the Alameda County District Attorney's Office are investigating the shooting. The two officers are on paid administrative leave as is normal after an officer-involved shooting.
Trooper Foley!
Life without Parole!!!
UpdateJune 1, 2009
An Indiana County judge sentenced former state trooper Kevin Foley to LIFE IN PRISON, WITHOUT PAROLE for killing Blairsville dentist, Dr. John Yelenic three years ago.
March 19, 2009
INDIANA, Pa. - An Indiana County jury returned a guilty verdict of first-degree murder late Wednesday (March 18, 2009) night against a state trooper accused of stabbing and nearly decapitating Blairsville dentist Dr. John Yelenic in 2006. The verdict came hours after suspended Pennsylvania state Trooper Kevin Foley took the stand and denied killing the dentist, who was found dead on April 13, 2006. The defense rested its case and the jury began its deliberations late Wednesday afternoon and lasted late into the evening.Jurors deliberated six hours before finding Kevin Foley guilty of first-degree murder in the April 2006 slaying of Dr. John Yelenic at his Blairsville home. Foley enlisted in the State Police on Jan. 3, 1994, and graduated from the State Police Academy on June 24, 1994. He was assigned to Troop A, Indiana, where he served since that time.
Sentencing: June 1, 2009
Foley's Testimony - March 18, 2009
Senior Deputy Attorney General Anthony Krastek questioned Foley about testimony by other troopers who said he talked about wishing for Yelenic's death. One trooper testified that Foley asked for his help to kill Yelenic. "I never made a threat with the intention of carrying it out," Kevin Foley said during questioning by the prosecution at his trial. Foley acknowledged that he didn't like Yelenic, but said he was a practical joker and commented in jest.
"Is it funny when you asked ... that you wanted help killing John Yelenic?" Krastek said. "What's so funny about that? Tell me the joke."
"There isn't any joke," Foley replied. "It's just my personality, my behavior." Under earlier questioning by his defense attorney, Foley said he was innocent.
Background
September 27, 2007
INDIANA - A Pennsylvania State Trooper (pictured left) was arrested today and charged with the 2006 murder of a prominent Indiana County dentist, John J. Yelenic. Attorney General Tom Corbett identified the defendant as Kevin Foley, 42, of 10 Susan Dr., Indiana. Corbett, along with Indiana County District Attorney Robert Bell and Pennsylvania State Police officers, announced the charges during a news conference this afternoon at the Indiana County Courthouse. Corbett said the April 13, 2006 homicide of Dr. John J. Yelenic, 39, was placed before a statewide investigating grand jury in May 2007. The grand jury found evidence linking Foley to Dr. Yelenic's murder. "State Police worked side by side with the Attorney General's Office and the Indiana County District Attorney's Office in this investigation," said State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller.The Arrest
The Dr. John J. Yelenic homicide
Corbett said the grand jury found that Dr. John J. Yelenic was killed in the early morning hours of April 13, 2006. Yelenic's body was discovered in the living room of his home located at 233 South Spring St., located within the Borough of Blairsville, Indiana County. Corbett said that Yelenic died after receiving multiple laceration wounds, most of which were consistent with slashing knife wounds. An autopsy found that the cause of death was exsanguination, or blood loss, as a result of lacerated wounds of the scalp, face, neck, trunk, and right arm. The Grand Jury According to the grand jury, blood pools and smears in various locations inside the residence - including on the walls and furniture located in the foyer, hallway, and living room - indicated that a struggle had taken place. A window next to the front door was broken and blood was observed on and around the window. The window curtain and two curtain rods were bent, twisted off mounting hooks, and soaked in blood lying on the floor in the foyer. Because the crime scene indicated that a struggle had taken place, a blood sample and fingernail clippings were obtained from Dr. Yelenic and sent to an FBI lab for DNA analysis. Corbett said Foley played in an ice hockey game at the Center Ice Arena off route 22 in Salem Township on April 12, 2006. Foley was seen arriving at the ice arena at approximately 10:30 p.m. He played in the hockey game and left the ice arena at approximately midnight. The grand jury also revealed that when Foley left the arena he did not have any apparent injuries. Following the murder of Dr. Yelenic on April 13, 2006, Foley was observed with a fresh, one-to-two inch gash that appeared to be red and swollen above his left eye. Another small scratch was seen below the left eye. Corbett said Dr. Yelenic was found barefoot; however, bloody shoe prints were also discovered at the crime scene. Investigators sent photographs and CD images of the prints to the FBI lab, where tests indicated the prints were from an ASICS 'Gel Creed" or 'Gel Creed Plus" shoes, size 10 through 12-and-a-half. The grand jury revealed that Foley was regularly seen wearing ASICS running shoes and would purchase shoes directly from ASICS through a discount program offered by the company to individuals in law enforcement. On Aug. 12, 2003, an order was placed to ASICS by Foley for a pair of Gel-Creed TN217 running shoes, size 10. However, the company had discontinued that style, and instead shipped a pair of ASICS Gel-Creed Plus TN327 running shoes, size 10 to Trooper Foley on Aug. 18, 2003. The grand jury stated that after the murder of Yelenic, Foley was observed wearing only NIKE running shoes. Corbett said surveillance video taken from two businesses indicates that a vehicle matching Foley's was near Yelenic's home within the time frame that the murder occurred. Corbett said the grand jury found that Foley had a well-known hatred for Dr. Yelenic. Foley had been having a romantic relationship with Yelenic's estranged wife, Michele. For more than three years, Yelenic and his wife had been going through a bitter divorce. Corbett said that at the end of 2004, Foley moved into Michele Yelenic's residence on Susan Drive, Indiana, with her three children, including Dr. Yelenic and Michele's adopted son. According to the grand jury, Foley publicly stated how he "wished that Dr. Yelenic would die." On one occasion, Foley allegedly asked another state trooper if he would like to help him kill Dr. Yelenic, although the trooper did not take the comment seriously at the time. Foley's comments regarding his hatred for Dr. Yelenic were allegedly a daily occurrence. Additionally, the grand jury found that it was not uncommon for Foley to be seen playing with a knife. It was revealed that Foley was always opening, closing, and flipping his knife. However, after Yelenic's murder, Foley was never observed playing with his knife again.Other Killer Cops!
Jerry Bowens
A New York Police Department narcotics officer, Jerry Bowens, who is embroiled in a corruption scandal shot and killed his girlfriend. Authorities said it did not appear directly related to an investigation of alleged misconduct by officers (they allegedly stole drugs and cash from busts and used them to repay an informant) assigned to narcotics enforcement on overnight shifts in Brooklyn. The corruption case dates to September 2007, when officials say a white undercover detective used a racial epithet with his secret recording device inadvertently switched on. The recording suggested he may have also stolen drugs, triggering the criminal probe.
Bowens allegedly shot girlfriend Catherine Donofrio (described as Bowens' "on-again, off-again" girlfriend) in the Greenpoint apartment of her friend Melissa Simmons. News reports indicate that Bowens (far left) pulled Donofrio (center) into the bathroom and shot her in the head there, then he fired shots at Simmons (right), who was wounded. The motive of the slaying Sunday of 28-year-old Catherine Donofrio was unclear. It has been suggested that Bowens believed Simmons was setting Donofrio up with other men. Bowens went on the run, heading to a hotel in New Jersey (and leaving behind bloody towels) and eventually to Staten Island, where he alleged he was going to turn himself in at a police precinct. Cops found Bowens a block away from the precinct inside his car. He had a .357 magnum and an automatic rifle in the vehicle. Bowens was charged with murder and possession of a criminal weapon.
Alexis Chaparro
Arrest: Nearly three months after the crime, a New York City police officer who has been on suspension since his fiancƩe, a fellow officer, was found shot to death in the couple's Long Island home was indicted. The man, Alexis Chaparro, 27, (above right) of Bay Shore, was expected to turn himself in to authorities Friday. Chaparro's indictment is the first in connection with Garcia's death. He was suspected in the Sept. 29, 2007 death of his fiancƩe, Sonia Garcia, 28, (above left) who was assigned to the 77th Precinct, in Brooklyn. Mr. Chaparro told investigators that on the morning of Ms. Garcia's death, he heard a shot and found her in a bedroom with a chest wound.
Plea: A New York City police instructor has admitted he shot and killed his fiancee, also an NYPD officer, inside their Long Island home in September 2007. Alexis Chaparro pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter Wednesday in the death of Officer Sonia Garcia in state Supreme Court in Riverhead. Chaparro contended he was concerned about burglars in his Bay Shore neighborhood and shot and killed the victim after being awakened from a sound sleep. Chaparro, originally indicted on second-degree murder charges, faces 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on Jan. 7, 2009. Prosecutor Janet Albertson said recent appeals court decisions have made it difficult to convict suspects in one-on-one shootings like the killing of Garcia, so the decision was made to accept a plea deal to ensure Chaparro spends a "substantial prison sentence."
Sentencing: A New York City police academy instructor was sentenced in Riverhead Wednesday, February 25, 2009, to 10 years in prison for fatally shooting his fiancee. Alexis Chaparro, 28, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, a crime that carries a maximum prison term of 25 years.
Archives
Lt. Jim Barton
This case aired October 29, 2005 on the CBS News show "48 Hours Mystery." Jim Barton was a Lt. with the police department in Springboro, Ohio. On April 11, 1995 he returned home to find that his wife Vickie had been murdered execution style with three gun shot wounds to the head. The case remained unsolved for three years. In 1998, the police got a break when a career criminal named Gary Henson told them that his half-brother William Phelps killed Vickie Barton. According to Henson, Phelps and an unknown accomplice burglarized the Barton home. Phelps panicked and shot Vickie Barton. Four months after killing Vickie, Phelps committed suicide. Because Henson knew details of the crime that had not been released to the public his story sounded believable. However, DNA evidence found at the crime scene did not match William Phelps. Therefore, the case remained opened as to who killed Vickie Barton.
In 2003, a cold case team took another look at Vickie Barton's murder. Within six weeks they found something that had been overlooked. When Jim Barton (pictured left) found his wife had been shot to death he called 911. On the 911 tape, Jim Barton can be heard saying "I gotta call Phelp man." This appeared to tie Barton with William Phelps. Barton would claim the 911 operator was not helping him and that he slurred his words and stated "I gotta call fo-help man." Convinced that he said "Phelp" the cold case team went back to Phelps' half-brother Gary Henson who provided police with additional information. Henson now claimed that Barton hired Phelps to stage a burglary at Barton's house and to scare his wife Vickie. It was known that Barton wanted to become the Police Chief and there was an unwritten rule that the Chief should reside within the city limits. Since Barton lived outside the city limits, the police theorized that Barton wanted his wife scared into moving into town.
In April 2004, Jim Barton was arrested for causing Vickie Barton's death. His trial began on February 7, 2005. Eleven days later the jury found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated burglary. Jim Barton was sentenced to 15 to 50 years in prison. Barton maintains his innocence.
The Barton file
April 11, 1995: Springboro Police Lt. Thomas "Jim" Barton calls Warren County 911 emergency dispatchers and reports finding his 40-year-old wife, Vickie, dead in their Franklin Township farmhouse. Vickie Barton, a nurse, taught nursing students in Kettering, a Dayton suburb. She had been shot.
September 1995: Investigators say they have ruled out Barton as a suspect because they had accounted for his actions the day his wife died.
December 1998: After deputies received a tip that a dead Middletown man, William Lee Phelps, may have been connected to Vickie Barton's slaying, investigators exhumed his body. He had committed suicide four months after the slaying. However, DNA samples from Phelps did not match crime-scene evidence, investigators said.
April 2003: Authorities from several Warren County police agencies form a "Cold Case Squad" to re-investigate unsolved homicides; the Barton case becomes a top priority. Jim Barton undergoes cold-case investigative training.
June 2003: Investigators release new descriptions of items that were apparently stolen from the Barton farmhouse, including a .22-caliber gun, possibly the weapon used to kill Vickie Barton.
January 2004: Authorities reveal that Barton and Waynesville Officer Tom Barber are among at least three people who have important information about the crime; both officers are suspended from their jobs. Investigators also disclose they found proof that Phelps had been at the crime scene the day Vickie Barton was killed; they allege Barton uttered Phelps' name when he called 911 to report his wife was killed.
February 2004: Barton, 48, resigned from the Springboro force two weeks after he was suspended; Barber, 51, was fired from the Waynesville force for missing meetings with the police chief.
April 2004: Two days before the ninth anniversary of the slaying, a Warren County grand jury indicts the former lieutenant on five charges alleging he was involved in her death but wasn't the gunman. Barton is freed after his new wife posts $55,000 bond.
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