Crandon Shootings: Still No Answers

It's been over two months since Tyler Peterson gunned down six people.

Authorities have made virtually no new information public since releasing all the 911 calls about 10 days after the shootings.

Charlie Neitzel, the lone survivor of Peterson's attacks, did give an interview to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Mike Nichols.

Other than his account of what happened in the apartment the night of the murders, there has been nothing.

Authorities continue to dodge questions and open records requests.

Simply put, it looks really bad.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

This much is clear: Tyler Peterson wasn't going to make it to the woods.

But two months after the sheriff's deputy killed six people in a Crandon apartment, the details of the rest of his final hours are much less certain.

The state Department of Justice has refused to release any witness statements or reports generated by law enforcement agents investigating the massacre and the subsequent search for Peterson. In a response to open records requests submitted by the Journal Sentinel, the department's records custodian wrote that releasing the reports would interfere with the continuing investigation.

Forest County District Attorney Leon Stenz has said he is awaiting the state's full report on that investigation - including full autopsy reports, which have not been completed.

The Forest County Sheriff's Department has denied a request for the recordings of all calls made to the department over the weekend of Oct. 6 and 7, as well as requests for its policies regarding its Special Emergency Response Team and the allocation of the AR-15 rifles.

The Crandon Police Department might or might not have documents that would fill in some blanks. The Journal Sentinel was told that reports and investigative materials related to the case were mailed last week, but so far nothing has arrived.

The refusal to release any investigative findings leaves a host of questions, even though Peterson acted alone and is dead.

Could authorities have nabbed Peterson when he left his friend's cabin about 8:30 a.m. Oct. 7, drove to talk to his mother and then returned 45 minutes later? Could the friends have left the cabin, allowing authorities to move in without fear that anyone could be hurt? Could the off-duty officer have been coaxed into surrendering?

These and numerous other questions about Peterson, his crimes and the hours he spent holed up at a friend's cabin about five miles north of town remain unanswered. Even if the law enforcement agencies eventually open their records, they might not shed light on some of the communication because the volume of calls overwhelmed the county emergency system and much was communicated by cell phone, with no recordings.

How long does it take to investigate what happened during the hours between Peterson's bloody rampage and his own death?

J.B. Van Hollen's tight-lipped approach in dealing with the media and the public regarding this case has been consistent from the beginning. He refuses to talk. And he doesn't want anyone else to talk.

Authorities are staying silent on the matter.

Amazing how much silence can say.

If it looks like a cover-up then and it still does.