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Major Case Squad Training and Investigation

08/10/2016

PRESS RELEASE

 

On July 11, 2016, the Rural Missouri Major Case Squad held a training course for new investigators.  This is a mandatory course for investigators who want to become members of the Major Case Squad. The training will allow those officers and their departments to participate in any investigation being investigated by the Squad.  The Major Case Squad currently has in excess of one-hundred criminal investigators from over 40 different law enforcement agencies from the State, County Sheriffs and Municipalities throughout the West Central portion of Missouri.

This training was attended by twenty-eight criminal investigators from thirteen different agencies. The course included three days of classroom training which included Squad History, Administrative Procedures, Report Writing, Interviews and Interrogations, Investigative Resources and Case Reviews.  Following the three-day classroom training, the new Squad members were paired up with veteran Squad Investigators and they worked an unsolved Cold-Case homicide investigation from here in Johnson County.

Beginning on July 14th, 2016, the newly trained investigators teamed up with other Squad members and began investigating the 1999 homicide of Michael Vogeler.  Michael Vogeler’s body was discovered in rural Johnson County.  The investigation was initially investigated but was never solved, however with new technology and some new information, it was decided to again bring this investigation to an active status.  The Squad worked for only two days and investigated over sixty leads which included re-interviewing old witnesses as well as interviewing subjects who had never been contacted during the initial investigation.  Evidence which was recovered during the original investigation is being resubmitted to the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Crime Laboratory.  With the new information, new technology and a fresh set of investigators working on the Vogeler investigation,  the outlook for getting justice for Michael Vogeler is very promising.

Anyone with information regarding the Michael Vogeler murder are asked to contact the Johnson County Sheriff's Office at 1-660-747-TIPS (8477) Tips can also be left using the link on the Johnson County Sheriff's Office Website under the "Report a Crime" tab on the main page directly under the Missouri Map in the upper left corner.  REMEMBER, when providing information to our Department, you can identify yourself or do so anonymously.