Apple Dumpling Gang:
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060808/NEWS03/608080318/1002/NEWS
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"Three retirees credited with cracking Colorado serial killer case
Suspect confessed to national murder spree that included Red River Parish.
August 8, 2006
The Apple Dumpling Gang
In 2001, Sheriff Terry Maketa of El Paso County, Colo., gave boxes of cold cases to three volunteer retirees. It turned out to be a smart move. The three men, each with his own talents, drew a string of confessions out of Robert Charles Browne, a 53-year-old convicted killer who claims responsibility for up to 49 murders.
The team:
# Scott Fischer, 60. The kid of the operation has 40 years of newspaper experience, from reporter to publisher of The Gazette in Colorado Springs. He says he has admired law enforcement nearly all his life, starting as a teenager photographing murder scenes for his hometown Clovis, N.M., police department. Colleagues value his background in accounting, his newsmans curiosity and his computer skills.
# Charlie Hess, 79. Hess law enforcement career began with the FBI, then private investigations, then the CIA, where he said he took part in the Phoenix Program, an assassination campaign against Viet Cong leaders. He developed keen interrogation skills with the government that his teammates say helped build a rapport with Browne. He says he has never learned to use a computer, and probably never will, but colleagues say he has the sharpest memory they have ever seen.
# Lou Smit, 71. Spent 25 years on the Colorado Springs Police Department, the last 18 in homicide, then five years as a District Attorneys Office investigator. He theorized that an intruder may have killed JonBenet Ramsey in Boulder, Colo., 10 years ago. His teammates say he is a master organizer with an encyclopedic knowledge of Colorado Springs criminal past. Smit says he has a special place in his heart for the victims of unsolved crimes, noting, Somebodys got to work on these old cases.
From Staff, Wire Reports
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- When Sheriff Terry Maketa announced a Colorado inmate was claiming responsibility for a string of bodies across half the country, he proudly credited three retirees with cracking the case.
They have been dubbed "The Apple Dumpling Gang" by admiring members of the El Paso County sheriff's office, but don't confuse the three unpaid volunteers with the bumbling dolts from the Disney movie of the same name".
Scandi
Arrest made in Bankock Thailand this morning acc the the DA's office by KUSA.