Box Truck, Shell Casing Being Examined

Box Truck, Shell Casing Being Examined

NewsMax Wires
Saturday, Oct. 19, 2002

ASHINGTON -- Federal experts are testing a shell casing found inside the kind of white box truck sought in the series of sniper killings, but whether it is linked to the nine other murders will not be known before Monday at the earliest, Maryland's Montgomery County police chief said Saturday.

A rental car company attendant Friday discovered the shell casing while cleaning a white box truck of the type witnesses reported seeing at scenes of some of the Washington-area sniper shootings.

At a Saturday news conference Police Chief Charles Moose confirmed the vehicle had been seized and the casing found inside it, but was tight-lipped about this latest development in the investigation. Moose, however, called on the public to continue searching for a white truck fitting the description.

"It is unknown if this truck is at all related to this case," an earlier statement said. "We are still asking the public's assistance in providing information about white box trucks as previously described." The shell casing was quickly placed in the custody of experts from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, who are expected to determine whether it could have fired a .223 caliber bullet. Authorities have said that the sniper who has killed nine people this month is using a .223 caliber weapon.

A source close to the investigation told CNN that the rental agency where the truck was being cleaned is located near Northern Virginia's Dulles International Airport.

Earlier Friday police charged a Virginia man with misleading investigators by telling them that he witnessed the sniper kill a 47-year-old woman in a Home Depot parking lot.

Police later said the man's account was not credible and urged news outlets to correct the information.

Police said that when this misinformation was broadcast and published, it may have kept people with real leads from coming forward.

The sniper began his murderous rampage Oct. 2, and police have not yet been able to identify him or obtain solid information about his whereabouts.

The discredited witness, Matthew Dowdy, 37, of Falls Church, Va., was taken into custody at 4:15 p.m. Friday and charged with "making false statements to law enforcement officers in the course of a police investigation," according to Fairfax County police. If convicted, he could be sentenced to six months in jail.

Dowdy could not be reached for comment.

FBI analyst Linda Franklin, 47, was shot and killed Monday in the parking lot of a Home Depot store in Falls Church, Va., about eight miles southwest of the nation's capital. Nine people have been killed and two wounded in the area since Oct. 2.

The continuing fear over the shootings has caused schools and other groups to cancel outdoor meetings and public gatherings. Local high school football teams have suspended play or are playing in cities as far away as 100 miles and have not announced the locations beyond team members and their families.

Monday, after the shooting in Falls Church, Dowdy told police that he had seen a man with olive-colored skin put an AK-74 rifle to his shoulder, open fire from 30 yards away from the victim, and flee in a cream-colored van with a broken taillight.

Authorities continue to be on the look out for a white van, a Chevrolet Astro or Ford Econovan, both with ladder racks. They released composite photos of the vans that were seen at a shooting in Fredericksburg, Va. A reward fund has reached $500,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the sniper.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Sniper Shootings