Ed Hataway, missing since Sept. 16, 2012
RICHLAND CO.—In a strange jurisdictionally-twisted case, Richland County state’s attorney David Hyde this morning issued a press release stating that the skeletal remains found outside Red Hill State Park November 7 are those of missing Olney man Ed Hataway.
The press release was read to Disclosure by Richland County sheriff Andy Hires.
In the press release, Hyde cited Illinois State Police District 12 as being the source providing identification. However, he did not cite HOW the identification was made, nor when. Repeated efforts to get ISP to confirm these two points have failed as of this morning. As of last night, the shift commander at ISP 12 knew nothing of the revelation.
The identification news was announced by Anita Dawn Scott, girlfriend of John Hataway (Ed’s brother), yesterday at about 6 p.m. However, there was no further detail as to how family learned of the identification either, prompting Disclosure to contact all entities involved in the case (Olney Police Department, Lawrence County sheriff, Lawrence County coroner, ISP). None knew of the identification; even this morning, as of about 8:30 a.m., Lawrence County (via chief deputy Trent Masterson), was not aware of the identification…even though the body was found in their county.
This presents the jurisdictional issue and raises questions yet unanswered: why did the Richland County state’s attorney end up being the one to issue the press release?
The answer might be in the possibility that a serious crime occurred IN Richland County, which now has those authorities involved in attempting to determine just how Hataway got to where he was.
The further problem with this, however, is the competence factor in this county, which has an abysmal track record of getting to the bottom of serious crime (Brandon Jenkins).
Hopefully, if there is such an investigation, the matter will be handled properly and the family can have closure in the case of their loved one, missing since Sept. 16.
ISP has yet to contact Disclosure on the matter despite calls early this morning to them; we’ll bring that as soon as they give their input.
UPDATE:
Even ISP seems kind of lost on this; here’s the press release we received from Lt. Kelly Hodge at 9:07 a.m. this morning, about 45 minutes after we called and left another message:
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The press release below was released by the Richland County State’s Attorney’s Office regarding the human remains found in rural Lawrence County. Since the information was released only locally this email serves to update other news agencies in the area who may have not received the information. All future releases of information regarding the investigation will be done through the Richland County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Lt Kelly W. Hodge
Zone 7 Investigations-North Command
Commander-Southeastern Illinois Drug Task Force
401 Industrial Ave Ste A
Effingham IL 62401
217-342-2292 Ext 201
217-720-1615 Cell
217-342-2347 Fax
—– Forwarded by Kelly Hodge/IlStPolice on 11/29/2012 08:58 AM —–
“June” <rcsa1@richlandcogov.com> 11/29/2012 08:58 AM
<kelly_hodge@isp.state.il.us> Press Release
The Illinois State Police has positively identified the body found on the afternoon of November 7, 2012, in rural Lawrence County, to be that of Edward E. Hataway, of Olney, who was reported missing on September 20, 2012. The investigation, being conducted by the Illinois State Police and Olney Police Department, is continuing.
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