Pathologists, detectives and behavioral analysts from across Colorado recently spent a day dissecting evidence in a 3-year-old Longmont murder investigation.
The 26 homicide sleuths, who make up the Colorado Cold Case Review Team, helped Longmont police Cmdr. Tim Lewis and his detectives solidify their suspicions of a murder suspect and fine-tune their case.
The result: George Ruibal was indicted two weeks ago for second-degree murder in the beating and strangulation death of his girlfriend Dana Pechin.
It was the first time in which the panel of experts contributed to a case resulting in charges.
“I got to the point where I wanted to see if we missed something,” Lewis said. “I wanted a lot of eyes to look at this. I’m totally sold on this concept and how it went.”
The panel, which includes behavioral analysts from the FBI and is headed by Colorado Bureau of Investigation Director Ron Sloan, began meeting last year and has met quarterly. It takes on cases in which investigators have exhausted all leads.
Last month, Arapahoe County investigator Bruce Isaacson presented a case of Violet Newman, a 56-year-old woman who in October 1980 was kidnapped, raped and shot to death.
“The panel offered a new way of looking at the evidence,” Isaacson said. “I have a clearer picture of what probably happened. That’s huge in any investigation.”
The homicide experts offered additional leads and helped narrow their focus to the most plausible suspects, he said.
Howard Morton, executive director of Families of Victims of Homicide and Missing Persons, said the team has had difficulty getting police to submit cases for review. He said he thinks they are reluctant to let outsiders offer opinions on their unsolved cases.
Morton said there are more than 1,500 unsolved homicides in Colorado and only a handful of agencies have sought case reviews.
Steve Johnson, CBI assistant director, said he doesn’t think law enforcement agencies are reluctant to present their cold cases for review.
“It’s not a territorial issue,” Johnson said. “It’s just a new program. What started as an idea is really coming into its own.”
The team has reviewed six cold case homicides from around Colorado, and it will review two more in June.
Lewis said several Longmont detectives investigated claims Ruibal made in December 2007 about someone attacking his girlfriend on a trip to Albertsons. Store surveillance videotape and accounts by witnesses contradicted his account.
The cold-case team added coroners who determined injuries on her body corroborated the police theory that Ruibal was responsible.
“The trauma matched our hypothesis of what occurred and what we thought caused her death,” Lewis said. “It helped us bring justice to a victim who was brutally murdered.”
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
