the chance of having that match just by random was pretty low. combined with i m sure the circumstances of the case, if i were sitting on the jury, i would find that to be a compelling piece of evidence in the case. this was forensic proof that rich was in possession of an item stolen from john helble. then, investigators got another break. the man who was given the gold cup pistol said he still had the gun box. inside was a note listing all of the custom alterations made to the pistol as well as the costs. doug asked me if i thought that was john s handwriting, and i thought it was. but to be sure, investigators needed an expert. for that, they turned to gary
do that, but it certainly was an interesting element that we pursued for some time. after several months with no forensic evidence and very few leads, the investigation into john helble s murder was starting to turn cold. so investigators turned to helble s dog for more information. as it turned out, that dog was going to play a very important part in solving john s death. bulldog: ah, the dog days of summer!
but one resident the townspeople seldom saw was 28-year-old, john helble. john was somewhat of a recluse. john kind of stayed to himself. it wasn t unusual if we didn t see him for a month. he would be doing things at his home or repairing things or out with his friends. at one point in time in john s life, he was a narcotics user and very possibly also a narcotics dealer. in february of 1999, john s mother was really worried. she hadn t heard from her son in over two months. we d been trying to reach my son, and that he wasn t answering, and we were afraid something was wrong. so she called the local sheriff who found john s van parked in his driveway. but no one answered the door. they smelled an odor coming from inside the trailer. he described that odor as being the odor of death.
so, therefore, we knew that january 22nd, 23rd, john was dead. with this information, authorities questioned john s friends and family. we had three primary suspects in this case, mike harting, andrew rich, and sharon schneider. the first suspect, mike harting, was a friend of john helble s. a witness recalled seeing harting s truck parked near helble s home around the time of the murder. mike harting was good friends with john. we knew that john and mike had some narcotics business together. but harting had an alibi for the time of the murder, and he passed a polygraph test. the next two suspects, andrew rich and sharon schneider, were friends of john s who lived about an 18-hour drive away in greybull, wyoming.
an autopsy on 28-year-old john helble revealed he had been killed long before his body was found, but the medical examiner was unable to determine exactly when he was killed. without an idea as to when the time of death is, it obviously becomes very much more difficult to determine who are suspects and who are people that you can rule out. helble s dog, keisha, was found on january 22nd. helble s telephone answering machine had messages not yet listened to. the earliest unheard message was left that same day, january 22nd. john would not use the answering machine to screen his telephone calls. if someone called, john wanted to talk to them.