Page 4 - Hasse Case News Today

Why? was he living a double life? >> i think he was. most people were fooled by his exterior. he looked so normal. he looked so average. he had the trappings of success, being a lawyer and a judge. but behind that mask was a homicidal psychopath. >> reporter: just angry at the world? >> yeah, i think he had a very dark, cold heart. >> reporter: but this case was far from over. prosecutors had won, but they were saving their best witness for last. investigators always suspected eric williams did ...

>> this is cell phone video of thursdays shootout. >> reporter: what grabbed the attention of investigators in the mark hassie murder is this, wise county is 100 miles from kaufmann, could he have killed another public servant in texas? seven weeks earlier? >> the fbi is now investigating this case, they want to see if ebol is connect to mark hassies murder. >> reporter: two public officials gunned down in two states. somebody seemed to be targeting law enforcement at point blank range. coming u...

The first number corresponded to a tip from early in the hasse case, the tipster claimed to have overheard two men in a bar saying theyd killed mark hasse. that meant the tip came from williams computer. a follow-up computer search also revealed williams had searched several how-to websites. >> one of the websites was how to throw the police off an investigation by sending in fake tips. >> reporter: the second number on that scrap paper was even more important, because it turned out to be the re...

You heard the word, guilty. >> its a gift. it was a gift for us. its probably a gift for everybody else because i dont believe that this wouldve stopped at the end of these killings. >> reporter: theres a sad postscript to this case that raises a painful question. could williams have been stopped after the hasse murder and before the mclellands? did they have to die? in a haunting irony, mike mclelland always thought williams was likely the killer. >> he certainly suspected it was eric williams ...

Range. execution style. all this, led investigators to think that this could be an organized crime hit. >> rumors are sweeping the town. talk of mexican drug cartels and prison gangs. >> we are open to every avenue right now. >> reporter: nbcs channel five in dallas covered the case from the beginning and the reporter ken kaltoff was there for it all. >> mexican drug cartels were suspect immediately because he had been involved in drug cases over the years. >> reporter: and investigators also su...

Matching bullet theory. >> someone of different experience could come along and say theyre not a match. is that true? >> yes, potentially that is true. >> if i could break the chain from the live round recovered from the storage unit and the mcclelland shooting scene, i might stand a chance. >> reporter: the defense didnt see the need to call any witnesses. >> our position was the state had not fulfilled their obligation to prove the elements of the indictment. it was just that simple. there is ...

Suspected murderer ending up in texas was especially intriguing to investigators. >> it made people if perhaps there was a connection with the hassie murder. >> reporter: they did tests on the suspects weapon, his bullets were identical to these killed the prison chief in colorado but they found out that his gun was not the weapon that killed mark hassie and what is more -- >> ebol was deemed to not have been in kaufmann at the time that hassi he was killed. >> reporter: so eight weeks in the in...

>> any assistance that anybody can give us in finding the people who did this will be greatly appreciated. >> reporter: d.a. mcclelland had it tough, he an office to run while mourning a friend. how hard was it for him to come back. >> it was very difficult. he talked a lot about the case. >> reporter: and the case was about to get bigger with another murder. only this one crossed another line. a very sacred line. >> reporter: coming up, another member of law enforcement gunned down. >> the colo...

A block from the courthouse. >> people in kaufmann are shocked by the deadly attack. out in the open in the town square. >> i just never in a million years would have expected one of our prosecutors, much less somebody i knew personally, to be laying on the ground dead. >> reporter: with one of their own down, lieutenant julie stewart quickly joined the swarm of law enforcement jumping on the case. >> we didnt have time to grief about it. we didnt have time to talk about our feelings. it was tim...

That has somebody upset? >> reporter: investigators looked in to every local case he prosecuted. there was robberies, drug prosecutions and a theft that involved an elected official that stole office equipment. they didnt immediately find anything that led them to a suspect. u.s. marshals pulled in anyone with an outstanding arrest warrant. nothing there either. so, the task force widened the scope of the investigation beyond kaufmann. >> we dont have a lot of violent crimes in va-- crimes i kau...