News and Success Stories

Tag Archives: Homicide

In 20 minutes, Raleigh detective had all the information he needed to prove that the stolen gun recovered from a suspect belonged to one of his murder victims

Thought you would like to know that we are investigating a homicide where one of our business owners was killed inside his shop. The investigation is ongoing and there is still a lot of work to do. I was able to use LeadsOnline to trace a firearm back to the victim in our case that was initially stolen at the time of the victim’s death. The victim’s firearm was located on the suspect at the time of his apprehension in less than 12 hours. Instead of using ATF to get all the trace forms, I made a simple inquiry with LeadsOnline, contacted the business where I had tracked the guns to, got the list of the previous owner and our victim’s information as the new owner of the firearm. Needless to say, I created a timeline of events concerning the ownership of a firearm, identified the true owner of the firearm, the previous owner of the firearm, and had a clear history of the firearm all within less than an hour. Not sure how long ATF would have taken, but I had hard copies of all the information I needed within 20 minutes.”

Det. Wilbur O’Neal
Raleigh Police Department
North Carolina

Police solve homicide of scrap metal recycler because he reported to electronic transactions to law enforcement via LeadsOnline

“We began investigating a homicide case in which the victim, Jack Markowitz, was the buyer and seller of catalytic converters and also reported to LeadsOnline. The victim was found dead inside his burning vehicle on Hwy 57 in Gautier, Mississippi. With little to go on, Investigators soon began piecing together the puzzle. Witnesses who passed by the area described to police a black dodge pickup truck with a metal cage on the back that was seen parked next to the victim prior to the crime. Investigators began using LeadsOnline to run inquiries on each person that the victim recently did business with since he was a reporting dealer. During this search, investigators ran the name Steven Brown who was supposed to meet the victim earlier in the day. What investigators discovered, cracked the case wide open. A recent transaction of catalytic converters between Steven Brown and the victim showed a photograph of the catalytic converters, as well as the back of Brown’s black dodge truck and metal cage. Using this information from LeadsOnline helped investigators solve their homicide case in less than eight hours and resulted in a charge of capital murder against Steven Brown. LeadsOnline has been an invaluable tool for the Gautier Police Department, allowing us to solve countless property crimes. In this case, LeadsOnline helped a reporting scrap metal dealer lead police to the criminal who took his life. We look forward to continued service with LeadsOnline.”

Det. Jonathan Whitfield
Gautier Police Department
Mississippi

Stolen property leads to capital murder

“A neighboring municipality had a gruesome double homicide in which a female had been sexually assaulted and then murdered. Her husband had been murdered as he was returning home and tried to enter the residence. There was no physical evidence and no suspects.

While reviewing tickets from a non-participating LeadsOnline store, we got a serial number hit on property reported stolen during the offense. The property had been pawned months after the murders.

We developed a suspect for a gruesome double homicide, and we used LeadsOnline to do a complete pawn history of the suspect. We found that he had pawned other property within days of the offense. The suspect information was passed to the neighboring agency which arrested the suspect based on the information we had obtained. That property had been stolen during the offense. The suspect confessed and was convicted of capital murder.

Case update from Det. McRobbie: “The suspect in that Capital Murder case plead guilty before the court last week to escape the death penalty. We probably would not have found the victim’s jewelry without LeadsOnline. The fact that the suspect pawned the victim’s jewelry after the offense was discussed at trial. Thanks!”

Det. J.W. McRobbie
Arlington Police Department
Criminal Investigation Division
Texas

LeadsOnline provides crucial link in homicide

“A body was discovered dumped in the brush alongside a road just inside the city limits. The body was that of a decomposed male. Homicide Detectives with Austin Police were able to identify the victim and they learned the deceased male was missing some jewelry. Homicide detectives traced the whereabouts and acquaintances of the victim and learned that he was probably killed around July 30. Homicide detectives contacted the pawn unit of APD to search any pawn activity to the known associates of the deceased male. I searched the Austin Police pawn records and did not find anything on the two names provided to me. I then logged onto LeadsOnline and searched these same individuals. I found a possible match on one of the subjects. He had pawned four rings at an Action Pawn store in Round Rock, TX on July 30.. This pawn transaction was suspicious to the homicide detectives working the case. They went to the pawn shop and photographed the jewelry that was pawned by the known associate. These photographs were shown to the family of the deceased and they positively identified the jewelry as that belonging to the deceased male.

This positive identification and documentation indicating the pawner selling these items about the time the victim died, has provided a great lead for the detectives to possibly solve this homicide case. This information probably would not have been found without the help of LeadsOnline.”

Det. Joseph Lucas
Austin Police Department
Texas

Nationwide metal theft database solves homicide in less than eight hours

“We began investigating a homicide case. The victim, Jack Markowitz, was found dead inside his burning vehicle on Hwy 57 in Gautier, Mississippi. With little to go on, investigators soon began piecing together the puzzle and discovered that the victim was a buyer and seller of catalytic converters and reported to LeadsOnline. Witnesses who passed by the area described to police a black dodge pickup truck with a metal cage on the back that was seen parked next to the victim prior to the crime. Having a suspect vehicle to look for, investigators began using LeadsOnline to run inquiries on each person that the victim had recent contact with. What investigators discovered cracked the case wide open. A recent transaction of catalytic converters between our newly discovered suspect and the victim showed a photograph of the catalytic converters, as well as the back of the suspect’s black dodge truck and metal cage. Utilizing this information from LeadsOnline helped investigators solve their homicide case in less than eight hours and resulted in a charge of capital murder against the suspect. LeadsOnline has been an invaluable tool for the Gautier Police Department allowing us to solve countless property crimes. In this case, LeadsOnline helped a reporting business lead police to the criminal who took his life. We look forward to continued service with LeadsOnline and hope to attend the conference this year in New Orleans, Louisiana.”

Det. Jonathan Whitfield
Gautier Police Department
Mississippi

ecoATM help Newport News Police and U.S. Marshals Service find homicide suspect

“In October, I was asked for assistance by the U.S Marshals Fugitive Task Force to help locate a homicide suspect. The suspect had left the area and the U.S Marshals had run out of places to look. I entered the suspect’s name in LeadsOnline. The search revealed that the suspect had a few entries, but nothing recent. A search, with the help of the associations icon, was entered and revealed a name of a family member. That name was entered into LeadsOnline, which resulted in a recent ecoATM transaction in Northern Virginia. When that transaction was viewed, not only did it show the family member, but the homicide suspect was standing next to him. The transaction had a valid address listed for the family member. Based on the ecoATM transaction, LEO’s in that jurisdiction were notified of the situation and responded to the family members address the next day. The suspect was arrested and transported back to Newport News for prosecution. Without the partnership and technology that LeadsOnline and ecoATM provides, this homicide suspect could have been on the run for a while. This case is one of numerous success stories that the Newport News Police Department could provide to LeadsOnline. The Newport News Police Department is grateful for the hard work and dedication that LeadsOnline provides all Law Enforcement, so that we can have success stories like this one. “There is no greater Love than this, one who will lay down his life for a friend” LEO-FIRE-MILITARY ”

Det. William Nesbitt
Newport News Police Department
Virginia