Detectives in slaying of Calif. camp counselors test local guns
Sep. 04, 2004
Associated Press
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Two Sonoma County men who voluntarily turned in their handguns after being contacted by detectives probing the mysterious slaying of two Christian camp counselors last month complained that they have unfairly faced suspicion simply because government records list them as gun owners.
The two Bodega Bay residents said investigators visited their homes this week seeking permission to conduct ballistics tests on their guns, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported.
The Press Democrat's reporting on investigators' efforts to find the owner of the gun that killed Jason Allen, 26, and Lindsay Cutshall, 23, led Sonoma County Sheriff Bill Cogbill to issue an unusual public statement criticizing the paper's coverage of the killings.
"I believe that the Santa Rosa Press Democrats reporting on the murders...has been irresponsible, and has compromised not only our efforts and hope for a successful investigation, but also, the publics safety," Cogbill said. "Since I have not been able to persuade the Press Democrats cooperation for the safety of our community, I am hoping that this disclosure to the Press Democrats readership will."
Bob Swofford, the paper's managing editor, said senior editors had spoken several times with Cogbill throughout the investigation and had responsibly followed and reported leads.
"We fully appreciate that the sheriff and the department is under tremendous pressure to solve this horrendous crime, but to blame the newspaper is misdirected," Swofford said.
In the latest story, one of the men, whom the newspaper identified only as Bruce, said he handed over his two handguns - the make and caliber of which he declined to divulge - because he wants to help solve the couple's killings.
The man said detectives interviewed him for more than an hour, asking if he recently had been in Jenner, the coastal town where the couple's bodies were found on a remote beach, and for personal details about his family and friends.
"If this is going to help them, great," he said. "But while they're in here, they're asking, 'Hey, you got anything illegal we need to know about? No, except for the meth lab in my bathroom.' C'mon guys. This is a fishing expedition."
Bruce said the only crime on his record is a drunken driving conviction from 1990.
The other man who surrendered his guns said he, too, thinks his think civil rights were violated when two detectives showed up unannounced and asked if they could come inside to make sure the weapons were "safe and accounted for."
"This is the kind of stuff that makes gun owners jump up and down," said the man, who spoke to the Press-Democrat on condition of anonymity. "It's like having the Wehrmacht knock on your door."
Lt. Roger Rude of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department wouldn't say how detectives identified the men or why they were interviewed, saying investigators want to protect the "sanctity of the investigation."
"I do not believe that we have been exploiting a database in order to check everybody in the world that has a gun," he said. "I think folks are barking up the wrong tree there."
The department has devoted dozens of detectives to investigating the murders of the couple, who were supposed to be married on Sept. 11 and were found shot to death in their sleeping bags on Aug. 18. No weapon has been found, and officials say they haven't identified a suspect or motive for the slayings.
Hugh Wilson, an associate professor of criminal justice at California State University, Sacramento, said knocking on doors to uncover the weapon from a crime is a widely used and legal technique in law enforcement when recovered bullet fragments point to a certain make of gun and other forms of evidence are lacking.
"This is very labor-intensive, but in a case like (Jenner) they're going to pull out all the stops," said Wilson, a former Marin County sheriff's detective. "You can bet that type of thing is going on if they've got ballistics evidence, and it sounds like they do. That's lead No. 1."
