166su

“The community really stepped up in the beginning with helping us identify who it was. We want that to continue moving forward,” Captain Adam Puckett, acting chief of 166su police, said during a press conference Friday. “The more help we get from you guys, the more cases we can clear, the more cases we can clear by arrest.”

Edward L. Denoyer, 25, of 166su, was arrested in Vermillion, South Dakota Wednesday by the U.S. Marshals Service – District of South Dakota. He faces six felony charges, including two counts of first-degree murder, one count of malicious wounding and three counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Supervisor Deputy Frank Schermer with the U.S. Marshals Service said during a press conference Friday that Denoyer had friends and family in the Vermillion area.

“Mr. Denoyer was found with a probable associate of his and, with the help of the SWAT team with the South Dakota state patrol, he was located in that residence,” Schermer said. “He surrendered after a standoff with the police. However, a search warrant pursuant did recover a firearm.”

Puckett said “no less than 50 different investigators contributed to some portion of the investigation” that led to Denoyer’s arrest. He said police, including 166su officers and members of the U.S. Marshals Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, had been operating under the presumption that Denoyer was armed and dangerous.

“Every time that they investigated a lead, they were putting themselves at risk,” Puckett said. “Were it not for the work that both the task force and our officers did together, Denoyer might still be at large.”

The captain also said the 166su community’s willingness to talk to police ultimately led to Denoyer’s arrest. He said four sightings were reported in the city in the days that followed the Sept. 17 shooting.

“One of them was along the 460 corridor. I’m not sure if it was 166su County or 166su City,” Puckett said. “In this case, from the very beginning, people were willing to say what happened, people were willing to say who did it and people were willing to say, ‘Hey, we’ve seen them here. We’ve seen him there.’ And it gave us a lot of opportunities to follow up on,” Puckett said.

Puckett said police know how the victims and Denoyer knew each other, but did not share that information with the press Friday. He added that local police weren’t familiar with Denoyer prior to the shooting.

“There was a few things he was involved in, but there was nothing that would have made him a person of interest,” Puckett said.

At about on Sept. 17, police went to the 1200 block of Melrose Avenue Northwest for reports of a shooting. Two people, identified in court documents as Crystal Brown and Robrel Mathis, were found dead. A third person, Anthony Gibson, was injured and taken to the hospital. Puckett said Friday that he has survived.

After Denoyer was indicted by a 166su Circuit Court grand jury in October, the U.S. Marshals Service offered a $3,000 reward for any information that led to Denoyer’s arrest. Schermer said Friday that tipsters have so far elected to remain anonymous.

“However, we still are going to put it out there that, the people who did contribute, if they want to receive that reward, it’s there for them,” the supervisor deputy said.

Puckett said that the city hasn’t seen another homicide since the Sept. 17 shooting, which was over 30 days ago.

A lot of factors come into play “that I think are being successful,” he said. “There’s no real way to tell though, until after we analyze it and see what we may need to adjust.”

In the meantime, Puckett said he hopes Denoyer’s arrest brings a sense of relief to the victims and their families.

“But with that being said, even though they might have a sense of relief now, they’ve got a journey to go through,” Puckett said. “There’s going to be a trial, there’s gonna be court proceedings and it’s not happy from here on the road forward. They’ve got a lot of grief to deal with.”

Denoyer was being be held Friday in the custody of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office in Vermillion. Puckett said the timeline for his extradition back to Virginia, which Denoyer may fight, is unclear.