Late last night, I was watching the A&E documentary series Cold Case Files, and they had a segment on the Aimee Willard case, a Pennsylvania athlete. As you know, she was the lacrosse player who was found dead in a vacant lot in June of 1996, a few days after her car was found abandoned. (The case was shown on UM during the 1996-97 season.)

The case was unsolved for a year, until another woman had a run-in with a man who bumped her car, and tried in vain to get her to pull over (this is why the CCF segment on the case was entitled "Bump In the Night"). But she got away, and reported the incident to her father, who happens to be a police officer (just like Aimee Willard's father). A description of the car was given, and although the car was driven by Arthur Bomar, a paroled murderer, it was actually stolen. Its owner, Maria Cubuenos, had gone missing at the time, but her remains were eventually found.

In 1998, Arthur Bomar was tried and convicted of Aimee Willard's murder, and was sentenced to death. He currently resides on Pennsylvania's death house. Although Bomar is still a suspect in the abduction and murder of Maria Cubuenos, he has not been charged in the crime.

Aimee Willard's father, Sgt. Paul Willard, was interviewed for the CCF segment, and said to the effect that he intends to be witness Bomar's execution (whenever it happens). It's not too surprising, considering the fact that this is a cop whose young daughter was cold-bloodedly murdered by a paroled killer.

i happened to catch this this on um today. interestingly enough this is one of the more high profiled cases that has been on for files and other detec shows.
the most interesting thing about the segment is that how far (and i mean really really far) how of base police and the media were in trying to solve the case initially. the 3 poss witnesses/suspects as it turned out had no relevence to the case what so ever. it appears those 3 clowns were out to get publicity from themselves, when things almost backfired and authorities almost nabbed them as suspects. its also interesting to note the key factor the proved to be the nail in the coffin for bromar was the oilpan marks of his car imprinted on willard's body, something authorities failed to find. bottom line here police didnt rush to arrest anyone....and finally with a little foresic science got their killer a year later. i'm a little suprised um has updated the results further, like i said initially cause these is now a famous case of othe detect shows.

As was being discussed in another thread, this was one of those cases that changed me. I know now never to pull over if some guy bumps me on a dark road. Scary stuff.