US$ reward for help on cold case

A US$30,000 reward is being offered to anyone who could assist US police in finding the people involved with the murder of a 60-year-old man in 2014. The reward was posted by The Secret Witness Program of Kern County which is assisting California PD homicide detectives who have been investigating the murder.

The victim Carl Crawford was found at his home in the 2600 block of Hempstead Way, in Bakersfield, California on August 22. He was shot to death. According to a release forwarded to Newsday, at about 8.30 on that day, police were despatched to the report of a homicide and met at the house by a woman claiming to be the 60-year-old man’s girlfriend. The woman explained to police that she went to his house and found him dead.

Sources at the Bakersfield Police Department yesterday told Newsday that police investigating the murder have, for the past three years, found little to no leads in the case, save for the fact that one of the people who may have been involved with the crime, may have been Trinidadian.

The Kern County Secret Witness programme’s phone line operates 24 hours a day. According to the release, secrecy is guaranteed to those who call. Callers will be asked to select a code name and code number when they provide information to Secret Witness.

Should additional contact with the caller be necessary, the code name will be published along with a request for the original caller to establish contact. Once contact is made, the caller will be asked to provide their original code number for verification purposes. The same steps will be taken to pay a reward to the caller. Secret Witness is operated under the direction of an independent, voluntary board of directors representing civic organizations, law enforcement agencies, media outlets, and corporate sponsors.

Californian police did not specify the age or the gender of the person of interest, but said that person could be instrumental in shedding light on the circumstances surrounding Crawford’s death. Anyone with information can call 1-661-326-3803.