Still No Leads In Slaying Of Poteau Bar Owner
Jo Neff Was Found Shot To Death In May 2009
POSTED: 4:39 pm CST February 8, 2010
UPDATED: 11:10 pm CST February 8, 2010
POTEAU, Okla. --
A local family continues the fight for answers, hoping their loved one's killer will be revealed.
On May 14, 2009, police uncovered a bloody crime scene inside the Long Branch Saloon, off Highway 59 in Poteau, Okla. The owner, Joe Neff, was missing and later found dead. Nearly 9 months later, the investigation has turned into a cold case.
On May 13, 2009, Marie Pitchford was on the phone with her dad, Joe Neff.
"I would go, 'Dad, it's your favorite daughter,' and he would go, "Well hello, Shawna.'”
Marie hung up the phone that night not knowing that was the last time she would ever speak to her father.
"I mean -- had I known, I wouldn't have hung up," she said.
the next day, she was at work when her sister told her there was an emergency.
"She got a phone call, and someone had told her. They found blood on his cowboy hat in the bar," Marie said.
As marie and Shawna drove to their father's bar in poteau, Marie wasn't prepared for what she was about to see.
"Sheriff's tape, the police line, do not cross -- at that moment, it was real. I begged them to let me across to see if it was really his hat," Marie said.
The Leflore County Sheriff's Department said it was Neff's girlfriend who came to open the bar that day. She found blood inside, and Neff's trademark cowboy hat had been left behind.
Neff's SUV was still parked outside of the bar, but he was nowhere to be found.
There is a surveillance camera that still remains in the bar. While police were investigating the crime last year, they said hey had the tape from this system. However, they would never say if it captured what happened in the bar. Neff's daughter said she's accepted that answer.
"I would not do anything to jeopardize the case. If it means me not knowing anything right now, I'm OK with that," Marie said.
The day Neff disappeared, witnesses told investigators they saw an older model red pickup parked at the bar. That vehicle has never been found, police said.
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