Suspect in 51-year-old cold case murder of Maryland deputy sheriff arrested in New York

More than half a century after Captain James Tappen Hall was fatally shot in Rockville, Maryland, in 1971, police have situated and arrested a suspect who confessed to the murder earlier this month, they introduced on Wednesday.

During a news convention, the place some of Hall’s family members additionally appeared, officers from the Montgomery County Police Department recognized Larry David Smith, previously Larry David Becker, because the suspect in the 51-year-old cold case — the bureau’s oldest and solely unsolved murder case involving legislation enforcement — which, they stated, is now closed.

Hall, a particular deputy sheriff for Montgomery County, was shot on Oct. 23, 1971, in accordance with the police division. They say officers had been referred to as to the car parking zone of Rockville’s Manor Country Club round 10:40 a.m. that morning, and located Hall with a gunshot wound to his head. He died from his accidents at a close-by hospital three days later.

Investigators imagine that the late captain “interrupted a residential burglary in progress,” per Montgomery police. The murder remained unsolved for 5 many years, however, on its fiftieth anniversary final October, the county’s main crimes division and cold case unit reopened their investigation for evaluate. 

After looking out by means of case information and interviewing witnesses, Detective Ok. Leggett and Corporal L. Killen, of the cold case unit, recognized Becker as a suspect. 

Now 71 years previous, Becker was initially interviewed by investigators in 1973 however was not named a suspect on the time. During their case evaluate, detectives discovered that Becker had modified his identify to Larry David Smith and moved to Little Falls, New York, the place he then lived for greater than 45 years.

The suspect admitted to capturing Hall when Leggett and Killen interviewed him in New York final Thursday, police stated. He waived his extradition and can return to Maryland earlier than the top of the week. 

The case might be handed alongside to the state lawyer’s workplace, who will “take it across the finish line,” Lt. Kenneth Sanger of the division’s main crimes division famous Wednesday afternoon.