Major case squad turns 25

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the formation of the Cape Girardeau County-Bollinger County Major Case Squad.

It's been more than a month since the five slayings that sparked the formation of the case squad were put to rest after three decades, with the conviction of Timothy W. Krajcir, but that doesn't mean the squad can rest.

The investigation unit has been activated three times for homicides in the past 12 months. They made arrests in two cases, and the most recent, a deadly arson that occurred April 29, is still under investigation.

Since 1983, the case squad, made up of officers and detectives from eight law enforcement agencies, has solved 35 of 37 cases. The only unsolved case aside from the arson is the 1991 murder of Lee Moore, said Lt. David James, commander of the major case squad and chief deputy of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department.

"Most of the time we hope to have it solved within the 24 to 48 hours, and most of the time we do," James said.

The squad was formed in 1983 after a series of unsolved murders in Cape Girardeau. The victims were all women. Krajcir pleaded guilty April 4 to the 1977 murders of Sheila Cole, Brenda and Mary Parsh, and the 1982 slayings of Mildred Wallace and Margie Call, but the murder of Debbie Martin, on Sept. 16, 1979, remains unsolved.

"At that time, we had no idea we were dealing with a serial killer," said Bollinger County chief deputy Leo McElrath.

The first case squad investigation should have been that of the 1983 Debra Manning homicide, James said, but the squad bylaws mandate it must be activated within eight hours of a crime being discovered. In that case, the squad was not activated.

If it had been, the crime might be solved today, James said.

The idea is to bring as many trained investigators from different departments with varying types and levels of experience together immediately after a crime occurs, with the idea that they will perform a saturation-type investigation.

"Leads that come in on major cases are overwhelming," McElrath said.

Most of the agencies on their own lack the manpower needed to devote to exploring every lead, and it would be nearly impossible to run them all down before they "went cold," McElrath said.

"You just couldn't do it all by yourself," he said.

Last July, the case squad was called to investigate the murder of Michael Strong, found shot to death in the living room of his Scopus, Mo., residence.

Within 100 hours, they'd made an arrest, and Bollinger County Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Gray charged Lisa A. Barlow, Strong's girlfriend at the time, with the murder. Barlow faces a jury trial in September in St. Louis County on a change of venue.

McElrath said he thinks his department would likely not have yet made an arrest in the case without the case squad.

"It's one of the the best tools that law enforcement has at its disposal," James said of the case squad.

McElrath was one of the early members of the case squad, which initially included officers from the Cape Girardeau Police Department, the Jackson Police Department, the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol. In 1986, the Bollinger County Sheriff's Department joined, and the jurisdiction extended into that county, according to Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle.

The Southeast Missouri State University Department of Public Safety was added to the case squad in 1988.

Larry H. Ferrell, former prosecuting attorney for Cape Girardeau County and now a federal prosecutor, former Cape Girardeau police chief Ray Johnson, former Jackson police chief Robert "Red" Clifton and former Cape Girardeau County sheriff Herman "Bob" Gribler made up the original board of directors and are largely responsible for forming the case squad.

Detective John Brown was the first commander of the case squad. Brown was head of the investigation division of the Cape Girardeau Police Department then and now works for the university's Department of Public Safety.

The case squad was originally called on to do all the same things it does now; these days, the members have the process "down to a science," McElrath said.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 125

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