We have a girl who is murdered and raped. We have two people held in jail for two years without charges, then released. A young man who was already in jail on a rape charge was to have confessed to the rape and murder of the girl.

The deputies that investigated the murder were later taken off the case as lead investigators. It had been a year and no progress was being made. The events occurred during an election year when the County Commissioners, Clerk of Court, District Attorney, and Sheriff were all up for election. There was a rumor that someone would run for the District Attorney’s seat. The current District Attorney, Ron Moore, had been in that office and few, if any, would consider a challenge to the powerful long time machine.

This created a sense of urgency to solve the crime as this was a horrible act and the District Attorney along with the Sheriff is the one to administer justice. The reported chain of events is as follows. A woman said she saw two men put a body in the trunk of a car. She was a former girlfriend of one of the men. John Elkins re-interviewed her later and her statement became less than clear. After reviewing the evidence, the investigators came to the conclusion that the two men were not the guilty parties. The only problem is that the men had been held in jail for two years.