Sometimes, a case is given to the state police and all-out effort is put forth to find the suspect, bring him or her in, and get to the bottom of a crime.
And sometimes, when the victim is gone and the leads seem to dry up, investigators just put the whole thing on the back burner, causing untold grief for the surviving family members.
Such is the case with Olney’s Ed Hataway.
Hataway’s case was making headlines a year ago when his family members (brother John Hataway and John’s girlfriend, Anita Scott) insisted that Ed wouldn’t have just up and disappeared after he went missing on September 16, 2012. But it was more than a week later before anyone in law enforcement took the situation seriously and began an effort to trace Hataway’s last known steps. It lead to what appeared to be an abductions of sorts from his own apartment or even from the parking lot of the complex. It ended when Hataway’s badly-decomposed body was located in Lawrence County, this after a tip via a letter to Richland County authorities lead to the discovery on November 7, 2012.
Ed Hataway
Despite the body being found in Lawrence County, Richland County authorities took over the case and gave it to the state police. From there, it stalled hopelessly, and the most obvious lead of all—a Probate case for the Hataway boys’ mother, in which Ed was supposed to have appeared the day after he went missing—was being overlooked.
The explanation for it all may lie in the investigator himself. Tim Brown, special agent for ISP out of Zone 7 investigations, has been or is involved in a number of high-profile cases in our coverage area, of late, the First Degree Murder case in which Tyler McQueen was convicted in Lawrence County, and the upcoming First Degree Murder case in Clay County of Denny Blanchard, accused of shaking his infant son to death. Brown hasn’t made any progress with the Hataway case, however…and we may have discovered, in this current issue, one of the reasons why. Here now is our next Read the Lead offering, “Agent’s past haunts current death case“, which actually is featured here in excerpted form to read the pertinent part after the lead-in covering the Hataway case up to this date:
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At the time the series was published, investigator Tim Brown—who has handled the investigations of other murders or alleged murders in the area, including the conviction of Tyler McQueen in Lawrence County, and the prosecution of Denny Blanchard in Clay County—contacted Scott, as she had quoted the probate article on the Facebook page set up for the group supporting finding Hataway’s killer.
Brown, Scott reported, immediately castigated her, asking her “how she got her information” that was the source of the quote.
“Are you feeding Disclosure information?” Brown asked Scott.
Scott, who had not been in contact with Disclosure for many months prior to the discovery of the probate, questioned Brown as to whether he’d even examined the probate, as well as the OPs.
Brown said he didn’t know what she was talking about…leading her to the growing realization that Brown wasn’t really doing anything as regards an “active” investigation if he was overlooking the probate, out of which the OPs had sprung.
Brown concluded his conversation with Scott by telling her not to talk to media; and that if she did, she could be charged with Obstruction of Justice, a claim which is a lie, as it is against the law for an official to attempt to “gag” anyone about any case in which they have knowledge (violation of First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, and, if talking to a news outlet, of freedom of the press).
The strip joint
Upon learning of this exchange, Disclosure began looking into Timothy Brown, 51, of Effingham…and discovered some interesting material that likely was the cause of his utter contempt for Disclosure.
As it turns out, back in March 2010 (the 26th, to be exact), Brown, Special Agent for ISP out of Zone 7 investigations, was in attendance at a family member’s bachelor party at that paragon of all that is non-virtuous in Cumberland County, the Schoolhouse Gentlemen’s Club.
This place, also known as a low-end strip joint, has been the cause of much consternation in Cumberland County, as it was really at one time a beloved schoolhouse. When the old Pioneer School in Neoga was purchased by Bob Kearney and Travis Funneman in 2009 and converted to a strip club, neighbors, former students of the more than 50-year-old school, and community leaders were up in arms. They were so up in arms that they tried to slide in an ordinance prohibiting “lewd conduct” in the county, but the business was already in the process of being established, and a suit, which is still in litigation in Cumberland, was filed.
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Read the rest of the story by clicking this link to get started with your online subscription, or pick up a print version at these vendors! You can get your print copy of Disclosure in Richland County at MotoMart in Olney; Marilyn’s Liquor Cabinet in Olney, and Bottle Hut of Noble; and in Lawrence County at Lou’s Restaurant in Bridgeport and Jim’s Guns in Lawrenceville.