Nov 21, 1950 - Jul 13, 2007

William "Bud" Roberts, 56, of Brawley passed away in San Diego, Friday, July 13, 2007.

Investigation of 2007 Brawley homicide is still ongoing
September 4, 2010|By SILVIO J. PANTA | Imperial Valley Press Staff Writer

William David “Bud” Roberts, 56, who managed the Union Bank in Brawley, was shot July 13, 2007, at his home. His death was ruled homicide by the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The complexity of the case and the circumstantial nature of the evidence have prompted detectives to consider consulting with the Imperial County District Attorney’s Office, Brawley police Detective Daniel Schleyer said.

But no timeline was given as to when police will submit the case of Roberts’ homicide to the DA’s office for review, Schleyer said.

While he declined to say if police are close to making an arrest, Schleyer said contrary to what Roberts’ relatives believe the case is still open and that evidence sent to the state Department of Justice for analysis stalled the progress.Brawley police have been tight-lipped about the case in the past, saying only that the investigation is ongoing.

“It would be good to say we have an eyewitness but we don’t,” Schleyer said.

Roberts’ mother, Terry Edwards, said she was dismayed when a detective told her that the case was being declared a “cold case.”

“In three years we’ve had different people working on this,” Edwards said.

Schleyer, who is either the third or fourth detective to work on the case, denies the contention that Roberts’ homicide was going to end up as an unsolved cold case.
 

~ Staff Writer Silvio J. Panta can be reached at 760 337-3442 or at spanta@ivpressonline.com

Homicide case still in limbo

May 25, 2008|By SILVIO J. PANTA, Staff Writer

What’s especially galling to Roberts’ loved ones was how after his 10-month-old death had been ruled a homicide by a San Diego County medical examiner, the case remains in limbo as forensic evidence is still being analyzed at the state’s crime laboratory in Sacramento.

“Our family’s been through a lot,” said Lynn Roberts Colley about the aftermath of her brother’s death. “There’s a strong feeling that we know who killed him and we think we know why.”

Colley, however, was careful not to specify who she was referring to or what the suspected motive was.

No arrests have been made in the case.

Roberts’ July 13 shooting was initially reported to Brawley police as a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but an autopsy report sent to Brawley detectives Aug. 8 showed the single wound to the head was suspicious in nature.

A copy of the results made by the San Diego County Office of the Medical Examiner was obtained by the Imperial Valley Press.

“Based on the autopsy findings and the circumstances surrounding the death, as currently understood,” the report reads, “… the manner of death is homicide.”

Brawley police and Imperial County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call of a person shot “while cleaning a gun,” the report said.

Roberts, 56, was found lying on his bed, bleeding from the left side of his head as his wife, Sue, held him when officers arrived, the report said.

Paramedics took Roberts, who was the manager of Union Bank in Brawley, to Pioneers Memorial Hospital from where he was flown to the University of California San Diego Medical Center. He was pronounced dead in San Diego.

Attempts to reach Sue Roberts on the findings of the autopsy report were unsuccessful.

The autopsy report said, “Stippling was present in the area surrounding the entrance and partial exit wounds, consistent with an intermediate range gunshot.”

What that means is that the gunshot was fired within a few feet and the “stippling,” or gunpowder residue, was present in the wound areas, said Dr. Marvin Pietruszka, a pathologist based in Reseda.

Pathologists often use the term “contact range” to describe the kind of point-blank wounds associated with self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

Pietruszka, a 30-year pathologist who has worked in forensics for a decade, said intermediate range gunshots occur from a distance of about three or four feet.

Also, the autopsy report made no mention of gunpowder burns or residue found on Roberts’ hands, markings often consistent with self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

Colley scoffed at the notion her brother, who had been drinking the night of his death, would have been cleaning his .22-caliber, semi-automatic hand gun, as was reported to the police initially.

Roberts’ blood alcohol level as noted at Pioneers Memorial Hospital was 0.12.

“You don’t clean your gun in bed after you had a couple of beers,” Colley said.

Furthermore, Roberts never kept guns inside his house, Colley said.

The weapon was spotted and secured by officers, and found to have no ammunition.

“Three .22-caliber magazines with ammunition were nearby, and a spent casing was found on the floor,” the report said.

Brawley police Detective Jonathan Blackstone, who is handling the case, offered few details of the ongoing case.

However, he said all the evidence in a case has to be gathered and analyzed first before moving forward.

Brawley police Detective Jeff Caudill, who was first assigned to the case, said a state case agent had been assigned to Roberts’ case as recently as two months ago.

There are a number of other cases that are being examined by case agents who are very methodical in their investigations, said Abraham Arredondo, spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office.

Given the nature of the types of cases the state crime lab handles, the process in analyzing evidence can take an untold amount of time, Arredondo said.

“So, I can’t give a time line estimate,” he said. “Not all cases are the same.”

Caudill called Roberts’ death “suspicious.”

Since the Imperial Valley does not have a crime laboratory local police agencies must rely on the state’s facilities, which handles hundreds of other cases.

“Only two people were in a room (and) that one person ended up dead,” Caudill said.

“We don’t have anything ruling out suicide, but (we’re) not ruling out homicide either.”

~ Staff Writer Silvio J. Panta can be reached at 337-3442 or at spanta@ivpressonline.com

Riverview Cemetery District - Brawley, Imperial County, CA

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