Case 2: Face Off

The Crime:
October 2007, in the Detroit area at 3:55 a.m., an estimated 5 people whom had just come back from Motor City Casino was standing outside drinking. A guy followed by two others walked by the group of guys at which time the lead guy exchanged words with them. As the words were exchanged the lead guy produced a gun shooting two brothers, one fatally and the other 14 times. The assailants fled the area and police were called to the scene.

DPD Investigation:
Witnesses gave a vague description of a black male wearing a blue shirt with a design on the shoulder. Police went to the nearby gas station and took the surveillance video from there camera where they obtained a picture of the possible gunman. Somehow they came up with the name William Sneed, printed the picture and the police labeled it as William, yet the photo showed no resemblance. The single picture labeled the shooter was taken to the living witness, where he said it might be William. A warrant was then issued for William’s arrest and his photo was placed on the news where he was labeled as being one of Detroit’s Most Wanted. January 2008, Mr. Sneed was arrested for the murder and taken to homicide, where he was then placed in the County jail where the actual shooter was awaiting trial on a different murder.

SPI Findings:
An attorney was retained and later the attorney obtained Armorbearer Investigations to investigate the case. With the help of William’s fiancé, the lead investigator at Armorbearer Investigations located the two guys who were with the shooter at the time the crime was committed. The investigator took his findings to the prosecutor, who did not believe him but decided to take him up on his offer of a polygraph. William Sneed as well as the two other guys was scheduled to take their polygraph tests. The lead investigator and William fiancé was called down to wait while the tests were administered. William was the first person to take his test and he passed. The other two guys who were with the shooter took the test and passed as well. Once the test were over the investigator learned that the prosecutor was going to arrest himself as well as William fiancé for witness tampering if they failed the polygraph tests. William was scheduled to go to trial July 2008 but the trial was pushed back until September 2008 due to the polygraph tests.

The Verdict:
 September 2008, the case was dismissed based on the information found by Armorbearer Investigations as well as the true murderer being identified. William Sneed was released from custody and exonerated. To date the killer has not been charged for the murder by the Detroit Prosecutor’s office.