Page 4 - Robert Huffman News Today

Team. this time from a police officer a thousand miles away in sumner county, tennessee. a red pickup truck with texas plates in the parking lot of a seedy motel. a man matching huffmans description was registered in the hotel under a different name. >> he gave the name of robert holcombe. initially they detained him for providing a false name. >> huffman denied any involvement and claimed he hit a deer. when police looked at his vehicle they noticed the passenger side headlight was intact. >> a...

A patron said huffman headed south on route 281 towards his home. rafeal was walking north on route 281 at approximately the same time. the forensic evidence proved huffmans truck swerved on to the shoulder and hit rafeal sending him flying 40 feet down the embankment killing him instantly. there were no skid marks. prosecutors say that huffman kept driving. tiny pieces of glass, plastic and paint were left behind identifying the make, model and color of the truck. when he got home he told his g...

Two-year sentence for a weapons offense. the media attention prompted an anonymous tip. someone told huffman was at a local bar the night of the death. >> she phoned in and said she knew he had been at the bar that night and left between 10:30 and 11:00 and he was driving this huge red truck in the direction from rafeal garcia was ultimately killed. >> huffman left town immediately following the accident and his whereabouts were unknown. >> it is kind of heartless, you know. knowing that you kil...

>> in february 2006, robert huffman was tried and convicted of failure to stop and render aid after an accident. because of his previous drunk driving offenses he was sentenced to the maximum. investigators say that without the science, this case, like most hit-and-run accidents, would probably have gone unsolved. >> to be able to establish a physical match is a rare find. to be able to solve a case and obtain a conviction is even rarer. >> it just, to me, shows the determination of law enforcem...

>> the mans name was robert huffman, a 49-year-old construction worker. vehicle records indicated huffman drove a red dodge pickup truck made in the year 2000. according to huffmans girlfriend, he disappeared the morning following the accident and she had no idea where he went. >> time is of the essence when youre trying to solve these crimes. and knowing that the truck is your big piece of evidence and knowing that its out there driving around in the elements, which means youre losing physical ...

Although investigators could prove that robert huffmans red truck was the vehicle that killed rafael garcia, they still needed to prove to a jury that huffman was driving the vehicle. to do that, investigators had to tie huffmans whereabouts on the night of the fatal crash to rafael garcias. rafaels friend said she dropped him off at home around 10:00 p.m., but rafael didnt go inside. instead, he started walking back towards highway 281, presumably headed to the country store a short distance aw...

House, and in the back shed we saw a 95 maroon dodge truck that was missing the passenger side turn signal light. >> apparently, huffman owned a second pickup truck, a 1995 dodge ram. interestingly, the 1995 model was similar to his red 2000 model, so much so that the headlamps on both trucks were dimensionally identical. >> the length, the width, the depth, all those features, the mounting points, they are all in the same location. we took a 2000 model year truck, we removed the headlamp module...

Unbelievably, martinez discovered that the paint chips did come from huffmans truck. they fit perfectly. >> a physical fit is the only for sure thing in forensic science. its probabilities are astronomical. there were no statistics that can calculate or duplicate the odds of tearing any two pieces identical. it is the only thing thats in forensics that is the for sure thing and, in fact, better than dna. >> heres this paint chip that plugs in perfectly. thats hitting the home run in the bottom o...

This time from a police officer 1,000 miles away in sumner county, tennessee. he noticed a red pickup truck with texas plates in the parking lot of a seedy motel. a man matching huffmans description was registered in the motel under a different name. >> he gave the name of robert hokam, which later he admitted to the authorities was not really his true name. so, initially, they had him detained for providing a false name. >> huffman denied any involvement in the hit-and-run death of rafael garci...

Perfectly. >> in february of 2006, robert huffman was tried and convicted of failure to stop and render aid after an accident. because of his previous drunk driving offenses, he was sentenced to the maximum, 20 years in prison. >> he never confessed, never showed any remorse, and was rather indignant about the fact that he was being tried for this offense. >> investigators say that without the science, this case, like most hit-and-run accidents, would probably have gone unsolved. >> to be able t...