NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 14, 1999

HIGH-TECH, NC POLICE WORK PAYS OFF IN
SC ATTEMPTED MURDER CASE

CARY, NC – Internet phone searches, computer-generated line-ups, scanned images, and email all played key roles in the coming together of three Triangle law enforcement agencies to help catch suspects in a South Carolina attempted murder case. Two Cary and two Apex men were wanted in the attempted murder of two men in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In addition to the four suspects, both the victims and all the witnesses to the SC crimes were from the Triangle.

"Thanks to several high-tech tools, this police work was accomplished in a matter of days rather than weeks," said Cary Police Investigator Brad Justus.

On April 3^rd, investigators from the Myrtle Beach Police Department requested the assistance of Cary Police in the case of two attempted murders that had occurred in Myrtle Beach earlier that morning. In critical condition in a SC hospital, the two victims, both from Apex, NC, had been severely stabbed in the parking lot of a beachfront motel. Witnesses reported two white and two Hispanic males were involved in the stabbing. Since the two white male suspects were from Cary and Myrtle Beach PD knew their identity and had outstanding warrants on both of them, Myrtle Beach PD asked Cary for help in locating the two white suspects and in identifying and locating the two Hispanic suspects.

That same afternoon, members of Cary’s new Diverse Operations & Enforcement team (DOE) began looking for the suspects. Working from a tip about a possible phone number associated with the white suspects, DOE used the Internet to perform a reverse phone number search and discovered that the phone number was assigned to a Raleigh motel. Raleigh Police dispatched a SWAT team to the motel and, after performing surveillance, entered the room and took the two white male suspects into custody. These two suspects identified the two Hispanic suspects for whom the police were also searching.

On April 5^th, Justus contacted the Wake County City County Bureau of Identification (CCBI), requesting computer-generated photo line-ups using the two Hispanic males that Raleigh Police SWAT had identified.

"It was our understanding that both victims had sustained life-threatening injuries, " said Justus. "This told us that time was of the essence."

Working with the Town of Cary’s MIS department, Justus was able to have the CCBI photo line-ups scanned into a computer and emailed down to Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach PD printed both line-ups

from the email and showed them to one victim still hospitalized from the crime. That victim positively identified both Hispanic male suspects who were subsequently arrested in Cary by Cary PD.

All four suspects are being held in the Wake County jail awaiting extradition to Myrtle Beach each faces a maximum of 25 years in prison.

"We are very fortunate to have these high-tech tools to work with in Cary," said Justus. "We’re glad to have been able to play such an important part in this case. It was a real team effort."

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