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Statement from the sheriff:
I will tell you today that very early in this investigation that we
believed that the Gee family knew their killers. We did not believe
this was a random act. We are confident that we now have those
responsible for the murders in custody. We believe we know the
motive, but we cannot discuss the motive at this time.
We will continue to follow up on every
lead and we ask the public to continue calling in any information
that you may have regarding this case.
With the success demonstrated by this
investigation, this should be a model for all law enforcement in the
future for major case investigations. We in law enforcement need to
pool our resources as we did in this case to effectively
investigate these types of crimes. In this case the Illinois State
Police provided a command structure, seasoned homicide
investigators, analytical and forensic support. Those
resources coupled with the Logan County Sheriff's Department and the
Lincoln Police Department's working knowledge and expertise in the
area led to the quick arrests in the brutal homicide of the Gee
family. All of the officers involved in this investigation would
like to thank the community for your assistance and support.
I do not plan any future press
conferences as we are now moving into the prosecutorial phase.
That does not change my caution to
the public to look out for each other and your children. We all need
to take care of each other.
The sheriff then answered a few
questions.
Q. Why would the Harris brothers
do something like this?
A. I
cannot discuss that. It is part of the motive.
Q. Did
Jason help Chris or did Jason physically kill some members of the
family?
A. That
is another part I cannot go into.
Q. Were
search warrants filed to search the Harris residences and vehicles?
A. We
used a lot of search warrants, but we are not going to release that
information until we move out of the investigative part of the
investigation.
Q. So
they are sealed right now?
A. Yes.
Q.
Don't the criminal charges against Harris allege that he struck
blows?
A. That
is something I cannot comment on. You'll have to speak to the state's
AG's office on that.
Q. Does
this mean that further arrests are unlikely?
A. More
than likely, yes, that is a correct statement.
Q. You
believe you have the folks responsible and you're giving this to the
prosecutors, so as far as the police are concerned, is this solved?
A. NO,
we're not done. Like I said, we're still going to follow up on all
the leads that we have. What I'm saying is that we have the people
in custody that committed this act.
[to top of second column] |
 Q. Has
Nicole Harris ever been a person of interest in this investigation?
A. I'm
not going to comment on that.
Q. I understand that Chris Harris has been transferred back to Logan
County from McLean County as of this morning, and Jason Harris has
been taken to McLean County. Why the switch?
A.
That's just what I wanted to do.
Q. Why?
(No
reply from sheriff.)
Q. When
will Sara Duncan arrive from Florida?
A.
We're still making those arrangements.
Q. Do
you expect more serious charges against Earnest or Duncan?
A. Like
I have said, at this point in time we're going to go with what I
have given you. I am not going to discount anything at this point in
time. There are things that we are not going to discuss and that is
one of them.
Q. Can
you say anything further about what Duncan did to obstruct justice?
A. No,
that is another thing we are not going to talk about.
Q. Did
a violent struggle in fact take place, seeing as how they did
allegedly know their killers?
A. We
put out earlier that we felt from what was observed at the scene
that there was a violent struggle.
Q. Is
there any more information about the tailpipes on this truck? Have
you located them?
A. We
believe we have accounted for that. We're not going to discuss that
with you, but we believe we have accounted for that.
Q. Is
the truck that you recovered the same truck that was outside the
Nicole Harris home?
A. Yes.
Q. Why
were you not able to secure it or identify it as the truck you
wanted early on?
A. That
is part of the investigation that came to us that we are not going
to discuss.
Thank you. That will be it. Thank you.
[LDN
staff] |
