Federal probe into Blakely apparently not taking place

A Sikeston man wanting to pass along information about the murder of his uncle in connection with the Sheila Box murder says the U.S. Attorney's Office has not opened an investigation into a former detective accused by a judge of perjury and possible witness intimidation.

The source's uncle, Russell Montjoy, was an informant in the Sheila Box murder case and was murdered during the span of that murder investigation.

John Blakely was the lead detective in the Sheila Box murder, for which David Robinson was convicted in 2001 and exonerated this spring by the Missouri Supreme Court, a case that drew national attention.

The Southeast Missourian reported in February that Sikeston city manager Jonathan Douglass and public safety director Mike Williams asked for the U.S. Attorney's Office to do an independent investigation on Blakely.

The Missouri Supreme Court declared Robinson actually innocent in May, declaring Robinson's constitutional rights were violated. The court acted on the recommendation of Judge Darrell Missey, who served as special master in the high court's review of the conviction.

Missey seared Blakely, calling him the "least credible witness" in the case, which included several convicted felons, two of whom recanted their earlier testimony against Robinson. Some of the accusations made by Missey and witnesses in the case would constitute crimes if proven in court.

Following Missey's scathing evaluations of Blakely's credibility, the Sikeston Department of Public Safety suspended Blakely and subsequently asked for the federal review. The former detective later resigned his position after being transferred to the city's fire division. In an interview with the Southeast Missourian editorial board attended by several of Sikeston's city leaders when Blakely was still employed by Sikeston, city administrator Douglass said he did not oppose an investigation going outside of the scope of the Robinson case or to include other officers.

But the U.S. Attorney's Office apparently did not open a file.

Sikeston resident Courtney Blissett called the U.S. Attorney's Office last week to offer information regarding his uncle's murder, after his family unsuccessfully tried to get information about the homicide from other local police departments or agencies. He recalls two detectives at his grandfather's house just before his uncle's body was discovered on Mother's Day in 2001. One of the two officers told his grandfather police knew who killed his uncle. One of those detectives was Blakely, Blissett said. Blissett said he recognized Blakely's face during Robinson's trial.

Russell Montjoy, the original informant in the Sheila Box murder case, is the person Blakely said originally identified Robinson as a suspect the night of the murder. Montjoy disappeared on Thanksgiving Day a few months into the Box murder investigation in 2000. His body was found the following May just outside the Sikeston city limits in New Madrid County.

Blissett said he has no knowledge Blakely was directly responsible for his uncle's death, but believes the department knows what happened and who killed Russell Montjoy.

"My whole point is, I want it to be known, that Blakely spoke about it at the Robinson trial," Blissett said. Given that Blakely's credibility as an officer has been questioned, Blissett said he thought the U.S. Attorney's Office might want to look into Blakely's involvement in his uncle's murder investigation and how the department handled the information that Montjoy was an informant.

"I'm trying to shed light on what's going on," Blissett said.

In an interview near the time of Sikeston's request in February, a U.S. Attorney's Office official told the Southeast Missourian the U.S. Attorney's Office is not an investigative body, but it does occasionally review cases and sometimes recommends them to the FBI, if warranted. However, the FBI, per its policy, neither confirms nor denies investigations are taking place.

That policy applies to the U.S. Attorney's Office as well.

"Unfortunately, we are unable to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation," wrote Keith Sorrell, assistant U.S. Attorney in response to a Southeast Missourian inquiry into the matter. The newspaper explained to Sorrell how it came to know the information and asked the office to verify the account. "The FBI's policy is the Department of Justice policy and it also applies to our office. I am sorry that I am unable to answer your questions, but our guidance is fairly clear on these matters."

Back in August 2000, Montjoy's "tip" in the Box murder was given to a different officer and relayed to Blakely, according to court transcripts. However, Blakely told the court last August the other officer "told me who the informant was, and I knew the informant that was being used, so I knew that informant was reliable."

Montjoy's brother, Frankie Montjoy, told the Southeast Missourian his father, who died a few years ago, had some satisfaction in believing he knew who killed his son before he died, but his father did not want his family to get involved, fearing retaliation against living members of the family.

In a recent letter to the editor to the Southeast Missourian, Blissett pleaded with the Sikeston DPS to continue to try to solve his uncle's murder, and asked for anyone with information to step forward. Frankie Montjoy recently called Sikeston DPS and other jurisdictions for information about the case, but could not get any answers. Blissett followed up those failed attempts with calls to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Blissett said he didn't have information specifically about Blakely, but thought a federal investigation into Blakely could be an open door for a new set of eyes to begin looking into his uncle's death.

Blissett said no one in the family knew Montjoy was an informant until after his death. Blissett first became aware of it during the Robinson trial. The Southeast Missourian reported in 2001 that Montjoy was working as an informant, as a major case squad was working on three murders, including Montjoy's. That information was released by authorities.

When Sikeston appealed to the U.S. Attorney's Office to investigate Blakely on Feb. 3 this year, Douglass addressed his request to U.S. Attorney Jeffrey B. Jensen, who also has 10 years of experience as a former FBI agent. The letter asked for "your office's assistance in investigating the conduct of one of our detectives," according to the letter obtained by the Southeast Missourian. "Judge Missey's allegations were, frankly, surprising to us. Throughout the initial trial of David Robinson and 17 years of subsequent appeals, hearings, and other proceedings, no other court has made similar complaints about Blakely or his investigation. Nevertheless, we respect Judge Missey and feel his allegations warrant our further attention.

"To preserve public trust in the integrity of our law enforcement efforts, we feel this investigation must be conducted by an outside agency."

Additionally, according to one of the dozens of documents acquired by the Southeast Missourian about the Robinson case, the Attorney General's Office claimed to have "confidential documents in its Trial File" on Russell Montjoy and several other witnesses in the case but declined to produce them for the defense. This included Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System reports on Montjoy.

The murder of Sheila Box is believed to have been committed by Romanze Mosby, who confessed the crime to many individuals, including on a recording to a capital public defender investigator, Butch Johnson. The recording was made in 2004, but disallowed in several appeals because the recording was not authorized by signature. Mosby, in 2009, committed suicide in his cell hours after reading a newspaper article reporting Robinson had retained the Bryan Cave Law Firm, the same firm that successfully attained an exoneration for Josh Kezer in the Mischelle Lawless murder, also out of Scott County.

When Robinson was informed no investigation appears to have taken place by the U.S. Attorney's Office, he stated he believes it's because an investigation could unravel more cases Blakely was involved in.

An email sent to Douglass for comment Thursday morning was not returned by Thursday evening.