St. MARYS, OH (WLIO) - The Auglaize County Sheriff and detectives are hoping to find a clue or a tip that could help solve a murder case from St. Marys that has been cold for over 40 years.
They held a meeting at the St. Marys Community Public Library to talk to residents about the homicide of Roger Parent Jr. On December 29th of 1978, Parent was shot and killed at the P & S Carry Out, while he was closing for the night. It might have been a robbery, but the detectives are not ruling out any motive for the shooting. So, to help re-energize the case, they decided to hold a meeting to get people talking.
"Well it was brought up by one of the detectives that hey the St. Marys library meets and they talk about old history. Things that go on with old history, things of that nature and we thought that this would be a good thing that we could talk about," says Sheriff Mike Vorhees. "It's history, it's 43 years, but it's still an active case."
Around 30 residents were on hand, talking about what St. Marys was like back in the late 70s and any rumors they heard about Parent's death.
"Any time you can get a group of people like this, from this community to talk about an old case like this, is very important," adds Sheriff Vorhees. "It may jog some memories and maybe as we see now, people talking that maybe haven't in a long time. They are sharing memories. They are talking about things maybe it will jog something."
If you have information or a tip for detectives about Parent's death, Sheriff Vorhees says to call his office at 419-739-6565.
