3 retirees credited with solving Colo. killer case

‘Where do we go?’
A typical exchange with Browne:

“I will not hand it to (authorities) on a golden platter with nothing to gain for my efforts. ... There are eight other states that may be interested; Colorado only has nine points of interest. Louisiana has seventeen. ... Dispatch and disposal may have taken place in Colorado, but procurement may have taken place elsewhere,” Brown wrote in December 2002.

Hess wrote back: “I do not believe I would put the details on a gold platter without first receiving the assurances you consider important. On the other hand it makes one wonder why you wrote in the first place? ... So Robert, where do we go from here?”

Less than two months later, Hess and company got an answer from Browne in a letter that read: “Try the missing persons files on a young Army wife.” And six months after that, he confessed during a prison interview to the slaying and dismemberment of Rocio Sperry, a 15-year-old Army bride who disappeared from Colorado Springs in 1987.

The greatest asset
In early 2003, he told the cold-case investigators about two other murders, in Texas, and still another, in Oklahoma. Last year, he confessed to three more, all in his home state of Louisiana.

By late July, Browne had agreed to plead guilty to Sperry’s murder — and the sheriff was ready to tell the public that one of the nation’s most prolific serial killers might be behind bars in Colorado. Authorities from Arkansas to Washington state went to work, trying to corroborate Browne’s claims.

Maketa’s use of volunteer detectives is rare, said Ed Nowicki, director of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association. He said any department would envy the lineup of Fischer, Hess and Smit.

“There’s no shortcut to experience. Here you add one and one and one and it equals 10,” Nowicki said. “Their motivation is from the heart, not from the wallet.”

Maketa said his volunteers had something his full-time squad did not: time. They didn’t punch a clock and they weren’t carrying active cases that demanded attention.

“They could sit and have coffee and talk about their plan,” he said. “That is probably the greatest asset that a group of ‘The Apple Dumpling Gang’-type can bring to the equation. They’re not in a rush.”

Apple Dumpling Gang not done
For their part, the three say they do not deserve too much credit. They say the sheriff was always supportive, and the full-time staff helped them chase leads and guided them through a minefield of legal technicalities.

The sheriff is now fielding calls from other agencies about his use of volunteers. With 602 full-time employees, the department relies on some 450 volunteers who take part in searches, handle clerical duties and perform other tasks.

For the Apple Dumpling Gang, there is still work to be done to corroborate what Browne told them. Fischer said he hopes Browne’s confession also encourages departments across the country to open up cold cases.

“There’s a lot of victims out there that Robert Browne didn’t kill,” he said.

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