62 years after woman’s killing, Spokane police remedy the “Mount Everest” of chilly circumstances

Sweet Rogers Chilly Case Homicide Solved

Unrelenting dedication coupled with advancing know-how helped remedy one among Spokane’s most heinous and haunting crimes: the rape and homicide of a 9-year-old woman, 62 years in the past.

In March 1959, the Spokane neighborhood was shaken by the disappearance of a bit woman, 9-year-old Candice (Sweet) Rogers. In the course of the sixteen-day search that ensued the neighborhood rallied with an outpouring of assist and involvement. Optimism and activism turned to disappointment and worry when her physique was found in a wooded space in Northwest Spokane County. She had been raped and strangled to dying with a bit of her personal clothes. The following investigation would hang-out members of the family, investigators, and the neighborhood for many years to come back.

On March sixth, 1959, Sweet Rogers was out promoting campfire mints in Spokane’s West Central neighborhood the place she lived. Relations turned involved when she didn’t return house as darkness set in. That angst intensified as Sweet remained lacking into the night and shortly each obtainable police officer in addition to residents and different organizations joined within the search. At a time with no cell telephones, GPS, or safety cameras, investigators had little or no to go on. Packing containers of campfire mints believed to be those Sweet was promoting had been quickly discovered strewn alongside Pettet Drive, seemingly heading north away from West Central. The mints had been the one indication, nonetheless inconclusive, of the place Sweet had gone.

Within the hours and days after Sweet’s disappearance the neighborhood united collectively seeking her. At one time a command publish was established at what now’s the intersection of Petite Dr. and the TJ Meenach Bridge. Roughly 1200 searchers gathered and scoured the realm in useless.

A number of entities, together with the US. Air Power, assisted within the search. The Air Power offered a helicopter crew offering a chicken’s eye view of the search space. Tragically, the day after Sweet’s disappearance, a US Air Power Sikorsky H-19 helicopter concerned within the search struck excessive pressure energy strains and crashed into the Spokane River. Airman Marlice D. Ray, SSgt William A. McDonnell, and Lt Kenneth G. Fauteck had been killed within the crash. Two crew members survived.

Search efforts continued within the weeks following Sweet’s disappearance. On March twenty first, 1959, two airmen from Fairchild had been out searching in a wooded space off Previous Trails Rd, about seven miles from Sweet’s home. They found a pair of woman’s sneakers within the woods. On their return to the bottom they continued to speak about their discovery and puzzled if the sneakers could possibly be associated to the seek for Sweet. They reported their findings, and as daylight broke the subsequent morning a search celebration descended on the realm. Just a few minutes into the search the physique of Sweet was found buried below a shallow layer of brush and pine needles.

Within the days, weeks, and months that adopted investigators poured over hundreds of ideas and leads, however none ever led to a viable suspect. In 1959 there was no registered intercourse offender program, however people with comparable legal histories had been contacted. A number of suspects had been developed, however police weren’t in a position to get sufficient proof to make an arrest.

Months turned to years and pissed off but decided detectives continued to work on the case, however stored working into lifeless ends. As many years previous the now chilly case was handed down from retiring detectives to the subsequent technology of investigators. The out-going people made impassioned pleas for his or her successors to not surrender pursuing solutions in Sweet’s case.

In 1959 know-how and forensic testing potential had been just about unrecognizable from the capabilities of at the moment. DNA, whereas acknowledged as a scientific idea, wouldn’t be utilized to unravel legal acts for many years to come back.

With no approach of figuring out the way forward for hint proof and sensitivity of ensuing testing procedures, it’s a testomony to the diligence of investigators in 1959 that proof was preserved in such a fashion DNA could possibly be extrapolated 62 years later.

Early in 2021, SPD investigators working with WSP crime lab consultants realized of a state-of-the-art DNA testing methodology supplied by a laboratory in Texas. A pattern of semen collected from Sweet’s clothes was offered to that lab. The specimen was inputted right into a family tree database, which narrowed potential matches down to 3 brothers. One of many potential matches was John Reigh Hoff; Hoff was the one one of many three brothers who had offspring.

Detectives had a brand new lead however work remained to search out the killer. Investigators contacted the daughter of John Reigh Hoff, and upon studying the character of the inquiry, she dropped every thing and met with detectives. Hoff’s daughter submitted a DNA pattern which was analyzed. The outcomes confirmed it was 2.9 million occasions extra possible that Hoff’s daughter’s DNA was associated to the recovered specimen than the overall inhabitants.

Investigators now had vital proof which pointed to Hoff being the wrongdoer, however had been confronted with a tough query; how sure is for certain sufficient? Hoff was deceased, and due to this fact there can be no legal trial, no adversarial course of the place all sides presents proof. All the knowledge gleaned would come from this investigation, and detectives determined they’d an obligation to be as sure as potential.

With indications John Reigh Hoff was the perpetrator, SPD investigators requested and had been granted a warrant permitting them to exhume the physique of Hoff and gather pattern DNA. The end result confirmed a match between John Reigh Hoff and the semen specimen collected from Sweet, with a likelihood threshold indicating it was 25 quintillion (18 zeroes) occasions extra possible the pattern got here from John Reigh Hoff than an unrelated individual chosen at random from the overall inhabitants.

The scientific proof conclusively indicated the DNA pattern collected from Sweet’s clothes was that of John Reigh Hoff. The DNA findings coupled with corroborating proof allowed the investigators to find out John Reigh Hoff was answerable for the rape and homicide of 9-year-old Sweet Rogers.

John Reigh Hoff was 20-years-old on the time of the homicide. He grew up in Spokane, and resided a few mile from Sweet within the West Central neighborhood. He entered the Military at age 17, and was stationed at missile websites surrounding Fairchild AFB.

In 1961, two years after Sweet was murdered, Hoff was convicted of Assault 2nd diploma with intent to rob. In that incident Hoff accosted a feminine, forcibly eliminated the sufferer’s garments, tied her up utilizing her personal clothes, and strangled her earlier than fleeing the scene. The sufferer survived, and Hoff spent six-months in jail for the assault.

Based mostly on his conviction, Hoff was declared a deserter from the Military and discharged. He was employed as a door-to-door salesman and labored at a lumber yard within the time after his expulsion from the navy. In 1970, on the age of 31, Hoff dedicated suicide.

The case resonated with the division and the neighborhood for many years. When requested to estimate what number of hours had been spent investigating Sweet’s case, Sgt. Zac Storment replied “this isn’t measured in hours, that is measured in careers.”

It took the dedication of a neighborhood, the evolution of know-how, and the perseverance of generations of detectives to lastly remedy the thriller surrounding the horrific killing of Sweet Rogers. 62-years-later there may be lastly some semblance of closure.

https://my.spokanecity.org/police/information/2021/11/19/candy-rogers-cold-case-murder-solved/

Posted by Metropolis of Spokane Police Division on Friday, November 19, 2021