Thread: Missouri authorities detain man sought in death

http://www.heraldonline.com/109/story/9229.html

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Suspect surfaces in '03 homicide
Missouri authorities detain man sought in death of 81-year-old Fort Mill man
By Andrew Dys

FORT MILL -- Fingerprints and cooperation between federal and local police led to the arrest in Missouri this week of a man sought for almost four years in the death of a Fort Mill man.

Isaias Diaz Gutierrez, 26, who lived in York County about two years before the death of Clarence Cubley in January 2003, is being held without bond in the Greene County, Mo., jail on York County warrants for murder, armed robbery and three counts of forgery, said Lt. Tim Hager of the York County Sheriff's Office.

Cubley, 81, died days after he was found Dec. 31, 2002, at his camper home on U.S. 21, police said. Gutierrez worked as a laborer and landscaper in York County and has been wanted on the warrants since Cubley died.

Gutierrez was charged with resisting arrest at the Branson Inn on Saturday, said Chief Caroll McCullough of the Branson Police Department. Branson is a tourist destination of about 7,500 people that swells to as much as 80,000 people daily, McCullough said. It is unclear how long Gutierrez was in Branson or what he was doing there, McCullough said.

Gutierrez gave Branson police a name of Jose Gutierrez and a different date of birth than what York County police have, Hager said.

Gutierrez, who is from Mexico, could not provide identity or immigration documentation so Branson police notified the Immigration and Customs Enforcement arm of the Department of Homeland Security, said Carl Rusnok, an ICE spokesman.

ICE put a detainer on Gutierrez.

On Wednesday, Gutierrez pleaded guilty in Branson Municipal Court to resisting arrest and was sentenced to time served, McCullough said. But Gutierrez was not released because of the federal detainer.

Later, Gutierrez' fingerprints York County detectives had placed in a national database were found to match prints in Missouri, Rusnok said. A photo also matched Gutierrez, Rusnok said. Gutierrez then admitted his proper name, Rusnok said.

'Great tool'

Technology is a "great tool for law enforcement," McCullough said.

Faye Boheler, Cubley's daughter from York, said Friday that waiting for Gutierrez' arrest was difficult, but "I knew he'd get caught."

Dana Gaston Blackmon, Gutierrez' girlfriend, was also charged with murder in January 2003. She later pleaded guilty to armed robbery and agreed to testify against Gutierrez.

Gutierrez and Blackmon once lived at the former Lakeview Mobile Home Park on U.S. 21 that Cubley had managed, and Gutierrez even worked alongside Cubley as a handyman, police said. Blackmon admitted in 2003 she helped carry a safe from Cubley's home and saw Cubley lying on the floor after the robbery.

Gutierrez left his identification at a bank after he tried to cash Cubley's check after Cubley was found, prosecutors said at the 2003 court hearing.

Extradition proceedings could start next week, Hager said.

Andrew Dys •329-4065 | adys@heraldonline.com

Gutierrez left his identification at a bank after he tried to cash Cubley's check

Darwin Award nominee!

Dumb criminals make the police officers job a lot easier. This guy actually isn't the first moron who has done that. I have seen guys who baled from cars and left their wallets with their driver's license in it, in the car. It just proves their ignorance and why they are suited for jobs like picking produce.