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I would like to send you a revised edition of my letter to the editor of the Record Bee.

Thanks This is one of the sloppiest piece of Police work I have ever seen.

 

suggest: From: Tom Gilliam

To: editorial@record-bee.com

Revised

Sent: Monday, June 09, 2003 10:13 PM

Subject: Barbarar LaForge Murder

 

TO: The Lake County Record Bee

Press Release "Murder of Barbara LaForge"

On October 8 2002, my daughter Barbara LaForge, a Lakeport businesswoman and the managing partner of Wildwood Frame shop, was

brutally murdered as she arrived at her shop prior to opening for the day's business. Barbara had outstanding talent as a picture

framer and she had brought the business of the shop to new heights. There are very few clues as to who the murderer is. She had

received telephone death threats a year before and written death threats. After installing Caller ID, the phone threats stopped. She

received a Christmas Card with the printed copy marked out and in rough hand printing: "You will be dead in 2002" The authorities

did not follow up on this threat until after her death.

The day she was murdered, she arrived at the frame shop shortly before 9 a.m. Unlocked the door of the shop, bringing in her Whippet

dog with her, and passed where, apparently, the assailant was hiding just outside the door. After she entered, she was shot 5 times

at a close range with a 22-caliber Automatic. Gail Salituri, who shared the shop with Barbara, called the shop shortly after 9 am

with no answer. Near noon Barbara was found and rushed to the hospital where she received cardiac support but could not be revived.

A major effort was mounted initially with personal from the District Attorney's office and the Lakeport Police Department. The shop

was sealed off and financial records, the computer, and other evidence, were impounded.

The police investigation from then on reads like a Key Stone Cop's script. They were unable to come up with a smoking gun, an eye

witness or break alibis. In some cases, weeks even month later they were still checking some of the alibis.

The list of lost opportunities to find the killer is too great to try to include here. For example, the police never did get around

to dusting anyone's hands to see if he or she had recently fired a weapon. The investigation has dragged on with apparently little

results.

It is most distressing to Barbara's family and friends see the daily accounts on television and in the metropolitan papers of

MURDERS in the Bay Area which attract a tremendous amount of police and public attention. It is distressing to be involved with this

murder and compare the investigation of this murder with those in the Modesto. Aside from local news paper coverage, there was one

story in the Press Democrat and that was the only press coverage to date.

Reliable sources report that the Lakeport Police Department has refused a $ 5,000.00 reward, by the Sund-Carrington Foundation, leading to   the arrest and conviction of the murderer. Why?

It seems that this EIGHT MONTH mystery which has included a search of the Hopland Grade for the weapon and a lakefront search for

the weapon, has come to a blundering halt. The lead investigator still interviews individuals who may or may not have information

and is casting his net in ever widening circles and failing to bring in any new information.

The California Department of Justice took forensic information from the crime scene.
 While not yet released to the public, evidence reportedly has been delivered to the police.

It is not known if the Police have any individual who fits the DNA. Those of us in Lake County who are concerned with Law and Order

are looking for closure of this brutal crime. At one point an assistant DA made the statement: "Lake County has never had an

unsolved murder". However, they have never had a murder that they had to investigate which did not have a possible suspect. We may

be an isolated rural community but we still are a part of a nation of Law and Order and we depend upon our local authorities as well

as state and federal personal to help maintain Law and Order.

Barbara and her husband live next door to me, and until her mother's, death in January of 2002 provided our care each day, while

her husband did maintenance on the house.

We are still hoping that this brutal murder will be solved, perhaps with the help of a reward or an investigative reporter bringing

the focus of the public back to the murder with an in depth story. Perhaps either or both actions might bring new information to

light.

Tom Gilliam

 

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