OK - Donald 'Joe' Neff, 61, Poteau, 14 May 2009 - #1

[ChasingMoxie]

Also might be important to note that if the gf was involved at all, it becomes less necessary to have Joe in order to open the safe. She may have known the combo, had a key, etc.

Do you know anyone who goes to the bar regularly? I would get to talking with the regulars. People who sit at the bar every single day. Every bar has them, they are the ones who will have some stories that may not be known even by the family or less frequent visitors to the bar.

 

[gliving]

I put a request for Joe in the astrology forum.

 

[alwaysonmymind]

Did Joe cash payroll checks at the bar?

 

[dnrslucky1]

This troubles me

It would seem that LE found substantial blood in the bar on the 14th, yet they did not determine that your Father's safe was opened (home) until the 15th. What transpired on the 14th and why the delay? When were you or other family members notified?

I agree, this makes no sense. I would think the first place searched would be his home.

 

[alwaysonmymind]

This troubles me

It would seem that LE found substantial blood in the bar on the 14th, yet they did not determine that your Father's safe was opened (home) until the 15th. What transpired on the 14th and why the delay? When were you or other family members notified?

I agree, this makes no sense. I would think the first place searched would be his home.

VERY TROUBLING...

1. Blood in the bar.
2. Joe is missing.
3. The obvious next step would be to go over his entire bar/vehicle/home/property. Why was this not noticed??????????????? :/

jmo

 

[Roselvr]

the articles relating to the red truck are in the poteau daily news & sun, the heavener ledger, the daily oklahoman, and channel 40/29 hometown news, channel 5 those are both out of ft smith arkansas, we are only about 30 minutes from the state line.

Just want to clarify my comment from this morning if it reads crummy.

With the articles, I see there are a lot.
I figured it would be better if you pasted the links to the articles you felt had the best information since you've probably read them all.

I'm reading articles right now and have been sifting through a lot to see which are the better ones.

 

[Roselvr]

This troubles me

It would seem that LE found substantial blood in the bar on the 14th, yet they did not determine that your Father's safe was opened (home) until the 15th. What transpired on the 14th and why the delay? When were you or other family members notified?

I agree, this makes no sense. I would think the first place searched would be his home.

I will be posting article links once I'm done with dinner.
It appears a lot of people knew about it right after it happened as people were camped outside from what I'm reading.

 

[Roselvr]

What I could find

Joe drove newer Chevy SUV - looks black & is at bar.

Friends Seek Missing, 'Possibly Injured' Man video at link
May 14, 2009 -
last seen Thursday morning.
LeFlore County deputies along with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation taped off the crime scene and processed several pieces of evidence, including Neff's black Chevy SUV that was parked at the scene.

Curnutt would not comment on what evidence was found inside the saloon.

"There are definitely signs of a struggle and an injury inside," Curnutt said. "We do believe that the bar owner Joe Neff may be injured, and he is missing."
Curnutt said the saloon was equipped with security cameras, but authorities have yet to review any footage.

Deputies have also been conducting searches near the bar, including land near Long Lake and the Poteau River.


Grim New Clues Found In Search For Missing Bar Owner
Police Find Safe Ransacked At Joe Neff's Home

POSTED: 5:44 pm CDT May 15, 2009
UPDATED: 6:52 pm CDT May 15, 2009
Joe Neff's girlfriend said that when she went to the Long Branch Saloon in Poteau at noon on Thursday, she found what police described as a violent crime scene.

On Friday, police searched Neff's home and found that his personal safe had been broken into. There were also thousands of dollars missing from the safe.

Police said they're looking for an older-model red import pickup truck that may have been in the area when Neff disappeared.

Friends and Family Search for Missing Man - May 15, 2009
~snip~
Friends and family are hoping against odds for good news about their friend, Joe Neff.

They have camped out at the bar Neff owned to conduct their own search for their loved one.
They've been there since word of his disappearance broke Thursday around noon.

Friends Scour Area For Missing Bar Owner - Joe Neff Missing Since Incident At Long Branch Saloon

POSTED: 5:58 pm CDT May 16, 2009
UPDATED: 6:06 pm CDT May 16, 2009

This story seems to have the date wrong
Friends and family of a missing Le Flore County bar owner continued to searching land near his saloon on Saturday.

Joe Neff hasn't been seen since Wednesday when his girlfriend came to the Long Branch Saloon near Poteau and found signs of a violent crime. Police found that thousands of dollars in cash had been taken from a safe in his home.
Neff's nephews scoured miles of land near Lake Wister on four-wheelers, looking for possible clues.

"It's just a point of interest," said Neff's nephew, Ron Sloan.

Video at link too Body Found: Family Members Say It's Joe Neff - POSTED: 10:16 pm CDT May 17, 2009
UPDATED: 4:25 pm CDT May 18, 2009
Leflore County deputies were called to some land in Pocola Sunday when people visiting the land owners found a body in water.

Officials with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said they can tell the body had been in the water for a few days.
Officials aren't releasing details about what may have happened or what condition the body was in.

*Note video says off of Mckenzie rd (if I caught name right)

Poteau bar owner's slaying haunts family
Last month’s killing in Poteau remains unsolved

Published: June 14, 2009
~Snip`
Soon, hundreds of Neff’s friends and relatives were scouring the nearby woods. The search lasted three days in Poteau, the Le Flore County seat wedged against the picturesque Poteau Mountain and Poteau River.

Fishermen found Neff’s body May 17 about 12 miles north near Pocola, an old mining town of 4,000 people on the Arkansas border. He died from a gunshot wound to the head, said Cherokee Ballard, state medical examiner spokeswoman.
"I think there were at least two men,” Curnutt said. "Joe was a strong, stout guy. It would’ve taken two men to carry him out of that bar and two to dump his body. I also think whoever did this either lives in the Pocola area or has lived there in the past. That’s a remote area where he was found, and they had been there before.”

Curnutt watched as $740 in cash was removed from Neff’s shirt pocket.

"This wasn’t a robbery,” Curnutt said. "This was personal.”

 

[dnrslucky1]

Police found that thousands of dollars in cash had been taken from a safe in his home.

How do they know how much cash was in the safe. He possibly kept some available cash but why would they say that much. Did he not use a bank for savings.

If I had a safe, I would keep important papers, and some emergency cash.

If he was known to loan money, he probably had IOU,s maybe someone owed him a lot of money.

 

[songline]

i went in and tried to edit the headline and i cannot figure out how to do it, any suggestions?

Yes...PM one of the MODs, (Privet Message) Click on their name a menu will show up. JBean is one of the Mods.


I have just been reading, I am so sorry of your loss, and God bless you, I hope the SOB is brought to justice.

 

[songline]

I read the entire thread and thought to bring the article here.


Friends Seek Missing, 'Possibly Injured' Man

POSTED: 11:02 pm CDT May 14, 2009
Joe Neff, 5-14-09 Poteau, Okla. [BODY FOUND] - Help Find The Missing



Body Found: Family Members Say It's Joe Neff
POSTED: 10:16 pm CDT May 17, 2009

http://www.4029tv.com/news/19488490/detail.html

 

[Vegas Bride]

Please understand that I am only bringing this up because in investigations everything has to be looked at, I am in no way saying this is fact!
Is there anybody in your fathers family who has been having financial problems and who could benefit financially from his passing?

Also I'm wondering if it's possible that somebody broke into the safe after something had already happened to your father, someone who knew he was missing and saw it as a chance to clean out the safe.

VB

 

[SuziQ]

Like someone unconnected to the murder? We might be looking at two different crimes.

 

[Vegas Bride]

Like someone unconnected to the murder? We might be looking at two different crimes.

Yes, since the safe being broken into was not found until a day later it could be possible someone else did that. Also, if he was forced to open the safe, then it wouldn't have had to be broken into, just opened.



VB

 

[missingmydad]

hi everyone, thank you for all the kind words. i will answer questions now
we do not have an exact time of death
we do not know what caliber bullet, only the le
i have heard only one shot to the head, exact entry i do not know
very heavy rains, no tracks that i am aware of
the strip pit looks like a pond so you can drive up pretty close
i do not know about any defensive wounds we are unable to get that info yet
his straw cowbay hat was found in the floor at the bar
i do not have any idea how much money, only what i have read in the papers
his black tahoe was still outside the bar, i drove it home and still have it here
i think they fingerprinted everything, bar house safe everything
le has not been very forthcoming with info but since i am posting it on the web i guess i know why but i just want answers, i need answers so badly
le has not told us how many they think were involved we just assume it has to be more than one because my dad was tough and not small
we are unsure if the unsolved murders around the area are connected
all we know is an older model red import truck
the girl friend is maybe 100 pounds probably less, around 46 yrs old
his bar is about 3 minutes from his house
he owned horses, he did not really buy and sell, he loved to ride them and he used to break horses when he was younger, he always had horses
i talked to my dad almost every day and saw him several times a week
he took care of the bar, he worked on whatever needed to be fixed, he remodeled it, my dad could fix , or build anything. he loved to ride horses and he always rode around in the mountains on sundays in his jeep after he fed the bar people.
my dad was a cowbay he did not own a computer, he would think that was funny
his safe was a big stand up safe like from atwoods or something.
there are lots of regulars at the bar and no bouncers that i know of
dad and his girlfriend did not live together, she did "stay over" quite a bit

ok we do not think he came home after he paid his bill and went to part store i think he went straight out to bar so he may have been there by 10:30 or so, the bar opens at noon, 1st customer shows up 11:45 and cant find dad and bar unlocked blood on floor, a few minutes later girlfriend, who works there, shows up for her shift and finds the scene they call 911 and then we had gotten phone call we show up and police tape everywhere. we looked for him for 3 days on horses, 4 wheelers and my husband rented a plane, then the people found him. dad worked with his brother all his life nearly, he kind of semi retired to just work bar.

 

[missingmydad]

oh i forgot, dad went missing thursday 14th, on friday we had looked all day and met back at house to update each other where we had searhed. we were all talking and decided that we should check this one room that he always kept locked. the le did check the house on thurs but since that room was never unlocked and the house was in perfect order we assumed that the only crime was at the bar. at this time we still did not know he was dead, we thought maybe he was just hurt somewhere. so fri we busted in door to find safe open. so we called le back out there again

 

[missingmydad]

yes there was a lot of blood found at the bar but i never seen it, they would not let us in there and when the osbi finally released it to us, the family did not want us to see it. so i cannot tell you how much or what it was like but the paper said a lot. so i dont think they took him home or we would have found blood there too. he never had much trouble at bar, occasional fights dad would make them leave, if they kept fighting he would ban them but he would always let them come back, he loved people

 

[missingmydad]

do the us marshals get into solving murder cases? if yes, how often?

 

[Debbie Miller]

There are quite a few cases like this, where the LE is tightlipped with the family, there is no physical evidence that can be linked to a suspect. It could be the LE are waiting for someone to start bragging of what they did. There are some cases where this happens. Unfortunately, not enough.

I hope they kept the clothes that your dad had on when he was found. There could be transfer fibers (evidence) there. If they moved his body, there is that, but not enough to know exactly who did it. There could be carpet fibers from the trunk if that is how they transported him to the pit.

 

[Debbie Miller]

do the us marshals get into solving murder cases? if yes, how often?

I googled this earlier today in hopes to provide an answer. All that is really said is about federal fugitives. They help LE on all levels, ex: local (city, county) and state.

Maybe there is some underlying info that has led the local LE to call them in. Connection with other like murders/crimes. I don't see why the LE in charge of your dad's case couldn't be asked this question.