The blunt force battering death of Shannon Shepardson one year ago should have been a slam-dunk for the Grand County Sheriff to solve and the Grand County Attorney to prosecute. Third grade schoolchildren could have solved and put the killer away.

So, why does it not happen?

Jeff Richards of this newspaper did a fine job reporting the details of Shannon’s death and that there is a committee of her friends www.justiceforshannon.org seeking to bring her killer to justice. The only thing left out was the belief by some that the single “person of interest” got a free pass out of town because of a friend in law enforcement. Could this be true?

As seen by a recent nationwide news story, the New Haven police nailed the murderer of a Yale University student in six days with good police work and collection of evidence. That’s how a real police department works.

I hope this newspaper and reporter Richards renew their interest, dig, talk to the committee as well and do a real investigative update into this case; asking questions like: Did the “person” believed by many to be the perpetrator have a friend in law enforcement? Was evidence collected from the home where, outside, Shannon lay all night? If not, why not? If not, was this negligence or because of a friendship? How many unsolved homicides are there in this town? Maybe enough for a weekly newspaper series?

It is my opinion that if the sheriff and county attorney feel incompetent or too inexperienced to finally bring an arrest and prosecute the death of Shannon Shepardson they should admit it, step aside and ask for an unbiased outside agency to investigate. That is my opinion.

—David Shalek

Moab