Authorities investigate possible connection between recent murders of professor and wife and 2008 slayings of his colleague's 11-year-old son and housekeeper
Law enforcement officials in Omaha, Nebraska said Monday that they have launched a task force to investigate a possible link between last week's murders of a university professor and his wife and two other homicides five years ago.
Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said Monday that his office is 'exploring very hard' the possibility that there's a connection between the murders of Dr. Roger Brumback and his wife, Mary, as well as the unsolved 2008 stabbings of 11-year-old Thomas Hunter and 57-year-old Shirlee Sherman.
The Brumbacks, both 65, were found dead at their home early Tuesday by a piano tuner who was able to let himself in and report his grizzly discovery to the police.
Exact details of the murders are being withheld by police as they pursue their investigation - however, they have confirmed that a cold case unit has been brought in to explore a possible link between the unsolved murders of Hunter and Sherman.
'When I heard the news last night, I was literally shaken -- literally,' said Laura Neece-Baltaro, a friend of the Brumbacks, to KETV.
'Why would anyone want to harm them? They did so much for the community here, and the community in Oklahoma City and they were still contributing. They still had a lot to give back,' she added.
'It's a terrible loss to the whole world that they're no longer with us.'
Roger Brumback worked with Drs. William and Claire Hunter at Creighton's medical school. Their son, Thomas, and their housekeeper, Sherman, were stabbed to death at the Hunters' home on March 13, 2008.
Several years later, police have still not identified their assailant.
'We will leave no stone unturned to bring justice and closure to not only the families involved but to our citizens of Omaha as well,' Schmaderer said in a news release Thursday.
The Post Gazette reports that the Brumbacks were found on Tuesday morning when a piano mover, Jason Peterson, called police after he arrived at the couple's home and found the front door unlocked and a large-caliber gun clip on the porch.
Dr. Roger Brumback, 65, and his wife, Mary, were getting ready for retirement, expecting to relocate from Omaha, Nebraska to West Virginia next month Roger and Mary Brumback, both 65, were found dead in their home Tuesday morning after someone called for police to check on them, Omaha police Officer Michael Pecha said ThursdayHe told the paper he saw the doctor's body but no blood.
No arrests had been made in either case, police spokesman James Shade said on Friday. Police have not said how Roger and Mary Brumback were killed.Officers have declined to say whether they found any links between the two cases, other than the professional relationships between Roger Brumback and the Hunters.Brumback and William Hunter were both in the medical school's pathology department. Claire Hunter is in the cardiology department.
Roger Brumback was a colleague of the 11-year-old's father and mother at Creighton's medical school, Drs. William and Claire Hunter, police say. The Hunters' son, Thomas Hunter, (left) and their housekeeper, 57-year-old Shirlee Sherman, (right) were stabbed to death on March 13, 2008According to CBS Pittsburgh, the Brumbacks were getting ready to retire and planned to relocate from Omaha to West Virginia next month.
The couple, who have three adult children, would also be closer following the move to Dr. Brumback's mother, who lives in Monroeville, and Mrs. Brumback's mother in Maryland, friends said.
Friends well full of praise for Dr. Brumback's career, which took in decades of research, including exceptional work in Alzheimer's disease.
Creighton University issued this statement: “This is a terrible tragedy and we grieve with the family of Dr. Brumback and his wife, Mary. Our hearts go out to his colleagues and students in the School of Medicine.