OSBI cold case agents make first arrests
In the first success for its new cold case unit, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation has made two arrests in a 2013 fatal shooting outside a Boise City convenience store.
Zachery Lee Wilson, 28, and Timothy Erish Dees, 24, were arrested Wednesday in Alabama.
They were charged Wednesday along with Jeremy Scott, 32, with first-degree murder.
They are accused in the fatal shooting of Charles Cecil Nieman, 77, of Alva. Cimarron
County prosecutors allege all three are to blame because the victim was killed during a robbery attempt.
Nieman was shot in the head and shoulder after he and his wife stopped for gas at the Loaf `N Jug convenience store the afternoon of June 12, 2013.
The OSBI reported a gunman demanded the victim's wallet. Nieman, who had hearing difficulties, was shot when he asked his wife what the man
had said. His wife, Yvonne Nieman, was not injured.
The OSBI started a cold case unit Nov. 1 to take a new look at unsolved cases. Agents in December began reviewing Nieman's case, one of more than 1,200 homicide and missing persons cases that have gone cold since 1950.
In a news release Thursday, the OSBI said additional laboratory analysis provided agents with a lead. “This led agents into several states and ultimately resulted in the arrests,” the OSBI said.
OSBI Director Ricky Adams said Thursday his agents uncovered the suspects had been on a crime spree that involved other robberies. He said agents tracked down evidence in Colorado, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
“I am very proud of how passionately our agents and our criminalists have worked to bring these people to justice and give answers to a family that had no answers,” Adams said. “We've been all over the place. This has been a massive effort.”