Application for Post-Conviction Relief, March 26, 2026, page 5: the OPSO canvassed the neighborhood seeking leads for its investigation, but none of the residents provided any assistance.

“A Brick Wall”: How a Stalled Investigation Turned to Cash

By Mrs. Eileen Hunter — about the author.

Captain Harris canvassed the entire Tanglewood neighborhood personally. Not one resident reported hearing or seeing anything — not even gunshots. His own words from the record: “I needed anybody that would talk to me, and I was running into a brick wall because nobody would talk.” Asked at the bond hearing whether he offered a financial incentive for information: “Yes sir. Cash money” — on top of the $2,000 Crime Stoppers reward. (R. 1439, 2198, 2207.)

A year later the local paper reported the case still unsolved: “leads in the case have totally dropped off. For some reason, no one is wanting to come forward.” What eventually filled the void was not physical evidence — there never was any — but the testimony of three incarcerated men, each of whom came forward after the money and the publicity. (2022 application, Statement of Facts; the forensic record.)

The other half: rewards are a lawful investigative tool, and the jury knew about them. The question the filings raise is narrower: what else the informants expected, and what the jury never learned about it. (The disclosure claims.)


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