Rewards offered to help solve shootings

Authorities are offering five-figure cash rewards to witnesses who help police find out who was responsible for a pair of recent shootings in Cape Girardeau County.

The County Law Enforcement Restitution Fund Board has authorized $20,000 in rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of suspects in two shootings -- including one that left a Cape Girardeau man dead -- according to a news release from Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan.

In the first case, Cape Girardeau police are looking for whoever shot 34-year-old Joshua Edward Dibert to death in a vehicle early Friday near the intersection of Henderson Avenue and Good Hope Street.

In the second case, the sheriff's department is searching for suspects in a June 5 shooting on Village Lane that sent a man to the hospital with serious injuries.

Capt. David James of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department said officers do not have any reason to believe the two cases are connected.

Police hope the reward money -- $10,000 for each case -- might generate leads, said Darin Hickey, public information officer for the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

"You know, it never hurts. It never hurts to have that option out there to try to get as much information and as much data as we possibly can," he said.

Right now, police don't have much information in either case, James said.

"We really don't have anything to go on," he said. "We don't know who's after this guy or why. Maybe offering the reward might spur someone to come forward."

The victim in the June 5 shooting underwent surgery after two unidentified suspects fired "what appeared to be some kind of rifle" into his home in the 1300 block of Village Lane, Jordan said at the time.

Witnesses reported seeing a dark sport utility vehicle and a light-colored Ford Explorer leaving the scene.

Officers did not know the motive in the shooting.

Dibert's death Friday was Cape Girardeau's first homicide this year.

Officers responding to a 2:18 a.m. call about shots fired in the area of William Street and Henderson Avenue found Dibert in the driver's seat of a vehicle parked near the intersection of Henderson Avenue and Good Hope Street, the Cape Girardeau/Bollinger County Major Case Squad reported at the time.

Anyone with information about Dibert's death is asked to call the Cape Girardeau Police Department at 335-6621.

Anyone with information about the shooting on Village Lane is asked to call the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department at 243-3551.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

1300 block of Village Lane, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Henderson Avenue and Good Hope Street, Cape Girardeau, Mo.