Still cold

A Virginia State Police review of the investigation into a 1967 double murder in Staunton and the role that a Staunton Police Department investigator may have played in helping the perpetrator get away with the murders has yielded nothing new.
“Unfortunately, due to the significant lapse of time since the murders occurred and the fact that numerous individuals involved in the investigation are now deceased, our review was unable to produce any new information capable of resolving any concern about Investigator Bocock’s handling of the investigation,” said Lt. Col. H.C. Davis, the director of the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, in a statement released by the State Police Tuesday morning.

The State Police review was conducted at the request of Staunton Police Chief Jim Williams in the wake of allegations from Sharron Diane Crawford Smith in her deathbed confession that lead Staunton PD police investigator Davie Bocock had helped her dispose of the gun that she had used to kill Carolyn Perry, 20, and her sister-in-law, Connie Hevener, 19, the night of April 11, 1967, as Hevener and Perry were closing the High’s store.

The four-month review of the case by the State Police had special agents from the State Police meeting with the Staunton Police Department investigators who had been assigned to the case and examining the criminal case files.

“Having the Virginia State Police examine this case has provided us with a fresh, objective perspective,” Williams said in a statement today. “Conducting the external review was a necessary and critical step toward upholding the integrity of the Staunton Police Department and its dedicated personnel.”

– Story by Chris Graham