| 3/9/2009 11:12:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| REST IN PEACE — The Aug. 9, 1980, murders of Timothy Hack and Kelly Drew is being revisited by the state Department of Justice Division of Criminal Justice “cold case” unit. Shown above is the teens’ gravestone at Hebron Cemetery, engraved with the words “kidnapped and slain.” — Union photo by Ryan Whisner. |
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State to revisit Hack-Drew murder
By Ryan Whisner
Regional Editor
JEFFERSON - For the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, there is one case that has haunted a generation of investigators for nearly 29 years:
The Aug. 9, 1980, murders of Timothy Hack and Kelly Drew.
However, new hope has surfaced as the state Department of Justice Division of Criminal Justice "cold case" unit is revisiting the slayings.
Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation "cold case" unit administrative services director Tina Virgil said the state was involved with the Hack-Drew murder investigation in 1980, and then again in 2004.
"We tried at that point to provide some assistance with the local authorities, working the case jointly," she said. "Those resources were not fully dedicated to the case."
As time went on and the state agent involved in the Hack-Drew deaths retired, the case remained on the state's list of "cold cases."
"This is one we want to make sure it doesn't ever fall from the radar screen," Virgil said.
Thanks to a $500,000 grant received in October through the U.S. Department of Justice, the state now is offering its resources to pursue leads in the Jefferson County case.
For a cold case investigation, the director said, case files are meticulously reviewed. That includes everything from previous crime lab submissions and interviews to or any other information that was generated.
"With our communications, with the State Crime Lab and the way in which they have improved to do DNA analysis, if there is anything there that can be generated, I am very hopeful that will help move us further in the direction to solve this case," she said.
However, Virgil did not indicate that any new details in particular have come forward that prompted the renewed interest in the Hack-Drew case.
Meanwhile, in conjunction with the state taking another look at the case, WMTV 15 (NBC 15 in Madison) is kicking off a series of reports about cold cases under investigation at the state level, with a story on the Hack-Drew murders tonight during its 10 p.m. news broadcast.
Weekend anchor and daily reporter Dana Brueck led the special assignment for the station.
"The Hack-Drew murder is one that captured a lot of people's attention and raised some serious questions," Brueck said. "Why would someone do this to two 19-year-olds leaving a wedding reception?"
The two Fort Atkinson-area residents were leaving a wedding reception at the Concord House when they were abducted. For 72 days, officials and volunteers conducted what has been described as the largest manhunt in Jefferson County's history.
Their bodies were found at the edge of the woods and in a field off Hustisford Road in the Town of Ixonia. Authorities said the bodies were too badly decomposed to determine the cause of death.
Brueck declined to reveal whether there is any new information available involving the Hack-Drew case.
"You're just going to have to tune in and see," she said. "There might be something you don't know."
Additional coverage of three other "cold cases" from around the NBC 15 viewing area are slated to be featured on the next three Monday evening 10 p.m. newscasts.
Virgil said the state's cold case unit operates under the premise that if the local law enforcement agency has done all it is able to with an investigation and three years have passed, the state will look at it as a cold case and will try to support the local agency.
"The earlier we can support and dedicate our resources, hopefully, the fresher the information will be, increasing the solvability factor," Virgil said.
As criminal investigations age, the likelihood of a successful outcome is dramatically reduced. Key evidence degrades or is lost, witnesses disappear and memories fade. At the same time, new technologies and techniques can provide a fresh look at a cold case, Virgil pointed out.
Agencies already stretched for resources often struggle to keep up with current crimes and might not have the time and manpower to devote to cold cases.
Three retired special agents have been rehired underneath the latest cold case grant to continue providing support to law enforcement agencies around the state.
Prior to their retirement, the state Department of Justice Division of Criminal Justice Special Assignments Bureau was their primary area. Virgil said that all three - Rick Luell, Dennis Miller and Ron Feurer - are very experienced with homicides and death investigations.
"That's three agents for the entire state," Virgil said. "We're talking (about) addressing 150 to 160 cases."
Despite the seemingly daunting task, she said that the agents would do everything they could to break open the cases on which they are working.
"We are going to give it our all," Virgil said.
With the renewed funding, Luell will be the primary state investigator for the Hack-Drew murders.
Virgil said there also is a criminal analyst who will assist in organizing each of the case files and investigations to determine what aspects can be pursued.
"Some of these cases are getting fairly old," Virgil said. "We do not want victims' families to think these cases are going unnoticed or unrecognized."
In some cases, including the Hack-Drew murders, families have been very sympathetic and patient about the amount of resources available to their local sheriff's departments.
"That's where we try to do the best we can to allocate our resources with some of these cases, and this Hack-Drew case is definitely one we want to continue to pursue," she said. "If there are any leads in there that we can pursue, we are going to pursue them with the idea to solve this case."
With NBC 15's interest in the state's renewed efforts with the cold cases, Virgil decided to work with Jefferson County Sheriff Paul Milbrath to bring the Hack-Drew case back to the forefront as one of the station's feature stories.
Milbrath spoke with the Hack and Drew families before allowing any story to proceed.
"You never get over it, but I did not want a news story being done with anyone feeling that I am trying to do anything that would be detrimental to the facts," he said.
The sheriff explained that the Hack-Drew case was one into which the state expressed interest re-investigating.
"There is nothing new we haven't done at this point," Milbrath said, noting that in some cold cases, the state is able to review it and resubmit DNA evidence for analysis.
"Those are issues we have already done in the recent past," he said.
However, the sheriff noted that there also is the possibility of someone offering a deathbed confession.
"Somebody knows what happened," Milbrath said. "I hope something happens that maybe spurs someone to come forward."
To this day, sheriff's investigators do not have conclusive evidence on how the couple was killed.
Detective Chad Garcia said there is some evidence to suggest how one of the two might have died, but it is not conclusive.
Even now, although nearly 29 years has passed, the investigation is considered ongoing, labeled as a cold case file. Through the years, there always has been a case agent assigned to the murders who can assess any new information that becomes available.
"I've had it for a little over two years now and every three to six months, we get something," Garcia said.
As the case agent, he maintains contact with the Hack family with regard to any new details.
The detective noted that the sheriff's department continues to look for credible evidence in combination with what it already knows.
Garcia said there really is no way to tell for sure whether one person or two were involved, or how many vehicles they might have had.
"There is nothing in the evidence that points one way or another," he said, noting that it becomes more difficult when many witnesses were those at a wedding reception and were focused on partying and having a good time and not necessarily the times when friends were departing the festivities."
All the sworn officers at the sheriff's department have some familiarity with the Hack-Drew murder case and the mystery surrounding the Concord House.
Deputy Jim Salmon, Sgt. Eric Brooks and Detective Sgt. Tim Madson are the only remaining officers on the department that were there at the time of the murder. The investigation has been ongoing through the terms of three sheriffs: Keith Mueller, retired Sheriff Orval Quamme and current Sheriff Paul Milbrath.
Garcia is the latest in a string of case managers that included retired Detective Gary Wilke, retired Chief Deputy Richard Wellner, retired Detective Richard Howe and the late Detective Robert Taylor.
However, every detective in the department has touched the case in some manner.
Approximately 100 suspects have been interviewed, investigated or looked it. Some were written off in a matter of a day and some who potentially could have been the suspect were investigated very hard for a very long time.
"There is an excess of 1,000 pages of reports," Garcia said, adding that he is eager to have the state investigators devote time to the case.
"With them having people who can devote nonstop time and revisit things with a new set of eyes from a different perspective looking at it, perhaps ..." Garcia said, optimistically suggesting that maybe the state agents would find something new that would lead to an arrest.
"The evolution of the crime lab and the new things they can come up with or even simply re-interviewing people that forgot to mention something 29 years ago or were too afraid to and now are willing to talk," he said, citing things that might spur new clues.
By calculation, if the person or persons involved were in their 20s, they would only be in the their 50s or 60s now, he said.
Like his predecessors, Garcia is confident that someone, somewhere knows something. With the fresh round of publicity, the detective surmises that he will get a renewed number of calls with leads on which to follow up.
"If I get one valid one out of 100, I would be very happy with it," Garcia said, noting that other than perhaps the family members, there is no one who wants the case solved more than the investigators at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
But can a 29-year-old murder be solved? According to Virgil, the answer is yes.
"Will this 29 year-old case be solved? I'm certainly hoping that it will be," she said.
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