It is no surprise that photos of suspects, cops and other players CIRCA 1976/77 are very helpful for jogging memories. As a civilian, these can be hard to come by, but very enlightening. Thank you to a reader:
Lest you think we are picking on poor Haystack, I have written before about my attempts, via FOIA, to obtain the reports and DVDs resulting from the October 2009 interviews and polygraphs concerning suspect John Hastings, as referenced very directly in the MSP documents. These documents, included below, demonstrate a belief on the part of some law enforcement that this man’s “knowledge” of the OCCK cases was not merely crafted and spouted to an old woman for entertainment and free food/coffee. He is described by the MSP in FOIA documents my dad obtained over a decade ago as “still considered a suspect.”
I first started with Georgia Highway Patrol:
The shut down was as follows:
Next, I tried my old, transparent and helpful pals at the MSP:
Their shut down/denial was a little different:
If you are new to this discussion, there is a fuller explanation of all of this at: https://catherinebroad.blog/2021/04/28/john-hastings-2/; however the most important documents leading up to my own FOIA requests, were provided in response to my dad’s FOIA request to the MSP over a decade ago:
Of course it would basically be a fluke that we would obtain this photo of Haystack as he looked back in the day and the find was quite recent. Did any cop ever show us this photo or ask if we knew or had crossed paths with Hastings, who lived less than three miles from our family home? No. Not in 1977, not in 1992, not in 2009.
I am also in search of a photo of retired Berkley PD officer, Jim Cox, circa 1970s. He is kind of a ghost. Don’t worry, Jim, I’m just curious. Anybody??