Tokio – When a human being finds another human murdered, it causes extreme feelings – alarm, fear, foreboding.
It's not easy to look at another person whose remains have been tossed aside like a sack of garbage. The first, primitive reaction would be to run. Whomever or whatever got this person might get you.
It's not easy to look at another person whose remains have been tossed aside, like a sack of garbage.
That's where the trained, experienced investigator comes in. He or she is there to work.
It's in the tiny details that these depredations are solved, the facts and testimony, physical evidence and clues assembled that will give a judge and jury a clear picture of what, in fact, happened, and exactly how it happened.
Once that has been accomplished, it's up to the prosecutors to present the case, and even if there is no conviction obtained, the matter is said to have been cleared.
What about the cases that are not cleared? They are said to remain “open,” a bleak term that means no real conclusions have been deduced, no clear-cut, conclusive evidence obtained.
The cold case joins the dozens of others that languish in files and banker boxes, photos, reports, lab analyses and odd pieces of property filed and stacked neatly on the shelves of the evidence locker.
There are 53 such cases sharing that status in McLennan County at this time. Retired U.S. Deputy Marshal Parnell McNamara and his sidekick Texas Ranger Matt Cawthon have a plan, a remedy for that.
Retired cops and investigators have approached them wanting to work as volunteers to help clear these cases. There are DNA tests to be performed, time lines to be re-thought, witnesses to be interviewed a second time, and pieces of evidence to examine all over again.
“There is a reason why it's a cold case. It's not easy; it's hard, hard to do...
“The families get closure, the victims get justice, we clear the case – hey, it's a win-win situation, any way you look at it,” said Matt Cawthon as he visited, along with Marshal McNamara, and other members of the posse, at the Musicians' Reunion at Al's Tokio Store Sunday afternoon.
Clearing murder cases, I guess that's the difference of having a lawman as Sheriff rather then a self-proclaimed administrator who goes over budget and refuses to make a projection just how far over-budget he will go. Sounds like Washington political code for, "I won't give you the bad news of how badly I screwed up until after the election." So much for the transparency in the Sheriff's Officer by the Sheriff and Chief Deputy. But if they did their job, I guess they wouldn't have to lie about what they are and aren't doing or keep having to tell their supporters lies about McNamara because the truth is Plemons doesn't hold a candle to McNamara in any part of the qualifications for a Sheriff other then knowing how to get to the behind the iron curtain of the McLennan County Sheriff's Office to actually find the Sheriff's office.
ReplyDeleteOn May 29th, I will be voting for the only truly qualified candidate for Sheriff, and the only real law enforcement officer, Parnell McNamara, and let the criminals of McLennan County beware that a lawman will be looking for them for a change.
Looks like McNamara is again leaving a marked distance between he and Plemons. McNamara continues to show that the residents of McLennan County want a Sheriff who is a Lawman because they feel, like the law if written, that the Sheriff's responsibility is to protect them. They are tired of having a Sheriff that is only visible at election time. They aren't happy with "business" as usual in their Sheriff's Office and then not having any access to their Sheriff.
ReplyDeleteOnce again McNamara has doubled the campaign contributors of his opponent. Just like with their careers, McNamara has far and away outstrips his opponent. While his opponent his content to sit behind a desk making an Herculian effort to legitimatize his career as a law enforcement officer where no real career exist. McNamara's record of hunting down criminals such as mass murder Kenneth Allen McDuff, drug lord Jimmy Chagra, and escaped murdered Sherman Fields. Despite McNamara's opponent's best effort to try to marginalize McNamara's career, that Plemons' largest support even awarded McNamara for, McNamara still shines through and appeals to those who actually seek the facts. While McNamara has run a very positive campaign concentrating on his goals as Sheriff and how he plans to protect the citizens of McLennan County, while coordinating with all the area law enforcement agencies to all work together for the common good and goal. In doing so, people have found many of the chinks, truths, and failures that have long been hidden from them in their Sheriff's Office and the people who run it. Records will show that McNamara has been a true investigator and crime fighter, while Plemons is nothing more then an interviewer. Plemons scolded McNamara for trying to be a media star, yet we have still hear about any case Plemons has worked on. We have heard him almost any time there is a TV camera or reporter around from even the smallest of crimes that others have been a part. Now the Sheriff himself is disputing Plemons claim on being the person administrating the Sheriff's Office budget. It seems that everything Plemons has said his hard facts and numbers proving it false. We already have one county official who's been lying to us for years in Buddy Skeen, do we really want to repeat that mistake by electing a proven liar like Randy Plemons to office?
Kudos, Parnell. 53 unsolved murders in McLennan County? So proud to see you working for the families of the loved ones they lost. My best to you, again, in this election. - Beverly
ReplyDelete