Commendations

This is something I've always hid away on a shelf till just here resently. I took photos of them and am posting them on my site after 40 years. I received many commendations over my years spent on the streets of Utica, but I only have 2 on paper like these two. My other commendations came in the form of days off given to me by my Captain Bill Williams. He knew submitting the good work we did for a Commendation to be issued on paper would often be fruitless due to the politics in those days, so he made executive decisions and rewarded good work service by giving us the day off. Which one would you like to have ? Having both is sort of good but sort of sad. The most notable Day Off Commendation was arresting a burgular taken into custody red handed inside the building and learning thereafter that he had committed murder just a couple of hours before the burgulary. Not the one seen here.

Early Days Of My Career

 

This was my first prowl car assignment. Car 50 was the West-Side accident car covering everything west of Genesee St. to investigate MVA-Medical emergencies or rescues. It had specialized equipment other zone cars did not. 

Seen a lot of tragedy and saved a lot of lives, many times when we found them bleeding out.

Often still today recall the many incidents the job showed me and wish to do them again all over.

Biggest Case I Worked On

 
That's me on the left 

The 1972 Murder of JoAnne Pechone most impacted my career.  I still even here today think about this horrific crime committed in dead of winter in Utica. The above photo taken at the scene of the murder depicts the search unit assembled to scour every inch of the area.  That's me on the left along with Lieutenant HankLaflair with open jacket in the middle leading the efforts and Lieutenant Dennis Phillipkowski on the right. We had a couple of eyeball witnesses of the suspect leaving the scene and a composite was made. We also had the description of the vehicle the suspect left in. That was all we had to go on but it was enough to keep up busy in the days and weeks months and years to come.  The city of Utica was literally turned upside down by police without any objection from the public who understood we were looking for a killer. 

This case was solved in 2012 years after the fact. The story of how it was solved can be found if you google "JoAnne Pecheone Murder solved".  The OD published the district attorney's findings as did WKTV posted a video of the investigation. 

note; 

typically the story written by the OD says that the murder took place on a "Blustery Afternoon In January".  Fact of the matter was that it was an "Indian Summer day and really mild" which explains why JoAnne was walking to her home in far east Utica from Genesee St.   You need to read with caution everything the OD prints.  

https://youtu.be/WFZegPO3Dnc This link will reveal the District Attorney's Office investigation which lead to John Hopkins as the person who committed this crime. I have several questions concerning evidence I suppose will never be answwered. The main question I have and the one most likely to convince me of Hopkins guilt, is the BF Goodrich boot prints left at the scene. The pressreport.com website mentions this and I guess I never heard this till I read about it there. If in fact this is true I wonder how they were able to match those boots and how they even got the boots after so many years had passed. I'd really like to hear about that. but doubt I ever will. There is plenty of reasons to go back and forth surrounding who exactly committed this crime. Yet another case of "It depends on who you talk to". Was it Hopkins, or was it Garrow? Another question on the car that Robert Garrow traded-in at a Syracuse car lot; ironically the same day of Murder. The DNA recovered on Pecheone's clothing could not be conclusively identified as belonging to Hopkins but, neither could it be ruled out. If ever a conondrum exsisted this is certainly is King.