Bobbie New Arrested In 1976 Cold Case Murder

[Whisper]

LORAIN COUNTY, Ohio - On Thursday authorities arrested a Amherst Twp. man in connection with murder that occurred more than 35-years ago.

Lorain Co. Sheriff Phil Stammitti released a statement to Fox 8 News on Friday regarding the arrest of Bobbie New, 69, of Telegraph Road in Amherst Twp.
New was indicted by a Lorain County grand jury in the death of Ms. Dorothy Spencer in 1976. According to Sheriff Stammitti, Spencer was shot at her home along Gifford Road in Camden Township on March 14th. She died three days later.

Sheriff Stammitti says that New was a suspect in the murder at the time of Spencer's death but he was never charged.

According to Stammitti's release, in August of 2010 authorities received new information that had detectives reopening Spencer's murder investigation.

New is currently being held at the Lorain County jail on a charge of murder.
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http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-news-lo...ory?hpt=ju_bn5

Bobbie New, 69, of Telegraph Road in Amherst Twp., has been charged by a Lorain County grand jury with murder in the death of Ms. Dorothy Spencer in 1976. According to Sheriff Phil Stammitti, Spencer was shot at her home along Gifford Road in Camden Township on March 14, 1976. She died three days later. (July 1, 2011)

[Abroad]

http://www.morningjournal.com/articl.../mj6239575.txt

Last year, New’s nephew came forward to accuse his uncle of the murder. With the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office listening in, a phone conversation between the nephew and New was recorded, giving the police enough probable cause to arrest New in June and rejuvenate the 35-year-old cold case.

But defense attorneys argued in court filings that there is no way to refute the nephew’s testimony that as a boy he eavesdropped on a conversation between his parents and New, in which New admitted to killing Spencer, because New’s sister and brother-in-law are dead.

Defense attorneys also have argued for tossing the case out of court, claiming the passage of time prevents New from having a fair trial. Names of possible witnesses, including the man who saw New in the Honky Tonk that night — known in reports only as “Butch” — were not recorded and evidence which could establish New’s alibi was not adequately preserved.