LAKE COUNTY — Detectives Destry Henderson and Lou Riccardi, investigators in the unsolved murder case of Barbara LaForge, said they are working in collaboration with the Department of Justice to create a time-line.
LaForge, 43, was brutally murdered, shot four times at close range, on Oct. 8, 2002, in broad daylight on Lakeport”s Main Street in her frame shop.
Advanced forensic testing is well under way as the detectives continue to follow leads and examine documentation and evidence.
Several items of evidence were submitted to the California Department of Justice (DOJ) forensic laboratory for re-examination.
“We are pleased with the way things are going right now. Things are falling into place,” Riccardi said.
The detectives are looking at financial motives in regard to the case and link analysis, which works like a flowchart, eliminating guesswork and possible theories. The link analysis transforms the theories into factual information.
The validity of witness statements is rechecked during this process.
“We are waiting for spreadsheets and there are still people to be interviewed,” Henderson said.
Detectives Riccardi and Henderson want to keep the community fully-engaged in this case to gather more information about the homicide.
Riccardi said the process is a slow one, in order to do it properly. “The time involved is tremendous.”
A $50,000 reward is offered for information that leads to the arrest or conviction of the person(s) responsible for killing LaForge.
Dateline NBC cameras have followed the detectives documenting and chronicling the active investigation of the homicide.
The Lakeport Police Department encourages anyone with possible insight, to contact them.
Those with information may remain anonymous.
Anyone with information should e-mail, laforgehomicide@lakeportpolice.org or call 263-5491.
