GUILTY IN - Samuel Hunter, 70, Metz, 24 June 2001

[fifteen]

Samuel Lewis Hunter. Metz, Indiana. Murderd and robbed in his home. June 24 2001. Age 70. He was a friend of mine. No one charged as yet.

 

[jaleach123]

Hmmm. I can't find anything about the murder on a quick Google search. Metz is in a very rural area, though, correct? The town is unincorporated and that usually means very few people live in the area.

Does this part of the state have a meth problem? Are there a lot of meth heads out in the rural part of the county making drugs? Perhaps some drug users robbed and killed Mr. Hunter in order to get money to buy drugs.

 

[Robin Hood]

I have searched unsolved crimes for the area and news archives and nothing is showing up.

 

[KarlK]

Entering "Metz" into Google took me to France. Anyway I'm wondering, perhaps the case was not considered a murder by LE?

 

[Robin Hood]

Entering "Metz" into Google took me to France. Anyway I'm wondering, perhaps the case was not considered a murder by LE?

I found metz, if you look at Indiana it's the top right of the state, we need more info from the orig poster Fifteen.

Funnily enough I thought maybe LE knew something we don't.

 

[fifteen]

Metz is about four miles south of Mich. and 3 miles west of Ohio.
Sheriff office said it is an open case so the can't tell me anything.
Sammys Dau said its the drug center of the county. She gave the Sheriff a piece of her mind and they threatend to lock her up.
The sheriff told me the state police handled it.
The man weighed about 100 lbs and was in poor health. his house wasn't worth much, nor was the estate i don't think.

 

[Robin Hood]

Metz is about four miles south of Mich. and 3 miles west of Ohio.
Sheriff office said it is an open case so the can't tell me anything.
Sammys Dau said its the drug center of the county. She gave the Sheriff a piece of her mind and they threatend to lock her up.
The sheriff told me the state police handled it.
The man weighed about 100 lbs and was in poor health. his house wasn't worth much, nor was the estate i don't think.

Did it make the local papers Fifteen ?

 

[fifteen]

The only thing I found in the paper was his obit. In the Bryan (Ohio) Times June 26 2001.

 

[Robin Hood]

I couldn;t find that either, possibly because their online site doesn't go back that far. I don't know what else to do...

 

[fifteen]

What information are police required to release, about a crime?
Is there a site to find criminal records that doesn't cost? Or cost is resonable?

 

[fifteen]

In this case rumor is that guns were taken.

 

[Robin Hood]

What information are police required to release, about a crime?
Is there a site to find criminal records that doesn't cost? Or cost is resonable?

I'm in UK so probably not the best to answer but I think if you have a name and a prison it's possible to see a rap sheet for free. I do not know how much info, if any, LE has to release.

 

[Soulmagent]

In this case rumor is that guns were taken.

You should be able to go into the records at the court house and search for the filed search warrent ,if the returned warrent is there you can see what they took if it isnt then at least you can tell what they went in suspecting to find.

At that point if he owned guns and they are missing and someone has the numbers they can be reported as stolen and they can check them in the gun records to see if they were sold or found in other crimes ,recovered anywhere etc.

Actualy if it was a murder case and the guns ar really missing that ups the odds of solving a cold case because guns are hardy ever stolen to be disposed of.

 

[fifteen]

Is a search warrent needed, if they are already investgating a murder?

 

[Soulmagent]

Is a search warrent needed, if they are already investgating a murder?

I believe so. At some point a warrent should have been issuesed. Unless it was not ruled a homicide.

 

[marlywings]

Murder charge filed in '01 cold case death

Suspect held, allegedly admits Metz slaying

May 20, 2014

A nearly 13-year-old cold case that began with a killing in a rural Steuben County home may soon be coming to a close.

Mark Matthew Fritz, 49, has been formally charged in the killing of 70-year-old Samuel Hunter back in 2001.

Steuben County prosecutors formally charged Fritz with a felony count of murder last week.

He's being held in Steuben County Jail without bond.

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20140520/LOCAL/305209977/1002/LOCAL

 

[bryrpatchfarms]

(The Herald-Republican reports (http://bit.ly/1n2c1yU ) Hunter was found dead on June 24, 2001, in a pool of blood in his rural home. His neck had been cut to the bone from behind and the back of his skull had a 2-inch-wide wound.)


This murder happened right down the road from me, I remember we were very worried as we just the year before had lost our whole home to a fire that was too far gone to make any rulings in it. So arson being a possibility in everyone's mind. Then two shootings in the neighbor hood, and barely a year later, in the town two minutes from us, they find Mr. Hunter dead. We knew two family's living next door to him at the time, and they were very creeped out that they didn't notice anything unusual. What we were informed via gossip from those neighbors, was that it was probably a friend? Because, he was thrown down the basement stairs with his throat cut. While on the table was beers, like he had been sharing a cold one with a buddy. They also said they thought the safe was gone.

I have found it very sad over the years that we never heard anything about this case. I wondered if anyone was looking into it, and if there were any leads. Luckily things have only been slightly weird out here over the years, a suicide, a painted man found dead in a ditch. Meanwhile we have 5 large dogs now. Hopefully the story of why Mark Fritz did what he did will come out.

 

[jaleach123]

Nice to see this one got solved!

 

[luckyseven]

Justice was finally served. Congrats, fifteen.

Once cold murder case ends with 20 year sentence
April 27, 2015, 1:47 pm

A Butler man has been sentenced to 20 years behind bars for the 2001 death of a 70-year-old man.

Court documents say 50-year-old Fritz admitted to the slaying in a recorded conversation after undercover deputies posing as friends of his niece drove him to her Ohio home.

Fritz was arrested for murder in May 2014 and charged with murder. Earlier in April of this year, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter.

According WANE’s partners at the KPC, Fritz has 19 prior misdemeanor convictions and five prior felony convictions.