CLEARWATER, FL -- The crime was ruthless... A cab driver shot dead for a few dollars in the back of a Clearwater strip mall. And even though it happened a year ago, Detective Steve Bohling refuses to call it a cold case.
“I don’t want to use the word that it's cold, because I’m still actively working on the case."
Bohling is doing it out of professional pride and for the victim, 50-year-old Jack LaGrand and his family.
“Here's this hardworking guy working all hours of the night, sometimes seven nights a week, just trying to make a dollar and he’s left there for hours on end until the early morning hours.”
By the time Jack LaGrand’s body was discovered in his Yellow Cab, the suspect was long gone, but detectives got a couple of breaks. They discovered there was a security camera on the building overlooking the parking lot. With that time-stamped information, they could narrow down the time of the murder.
Through the Yellow Cab dispatcher, police could also learn the location of LaGrand’s last call for pickup. The call came from Fat Daddy’s bar in Dunedin. The bar also had a surveillance camera that captured the suspect from several different angles.
The facial features of the young, slight, possibly Hispanic subject are not clear, but the shirt he’s wearing is distinctive. So much so, that the Clearwater Police shopped local malls and were able to find a duplicate. They're hoping someone will remember the man who wore this shirt on the night of September 17th 2008. Jack LaGrand’s wife and family are hoping so as well.
If you have any information on this case, you can call Crimestoppers at 1-800-873-TIPS.
