They found a woman they claimed to be an eyewitness.
At the time, Tricia Mock was at the Elkhart County Jail following an arrest for possession of cocaine. Rezutko, she testified later, was asking her and other inmates if they knew anything about Thomas' murder.
Mock initially denied knowing anything. A few hours later, Rezutko took her to a room and asked her again. This time, she gave a written statement, dated Jan. 22, 1999, and told a different story: She didn't witness the shooting, but two drug dealers she knew did it. Reginald Dillard and Eddie Fredrick, she told police, re-enacted the murder for her while they were hanging out at a drug house.
On Feb. 10, 1999, Mock's story changed again. She was there, she told detectives, and Dillard and Fredrick forced her to become an accomplice.
The two men were charged with murder a week later.
Fredrick died in 2005. Dillard, however, is back in court this week with a series of troubling allegations: That the case against him and Fredrick was built on fabricated statements from false witnesses prosecutors arranged favorable plea deals with in exchange for testimonies. The allegations — and Rezutko's history of misconduct — also raise questions about his and Mock's credibility.
According to affidavits from several women, Rezutko engaged in sexual activities with prostitutes while using them as false informants to close cases. One of them, according to multiple women, was Mock.
"Tricia and I talked about Steve Rezutko. She told me that she had sexual relations, tricked with, Steve Rezutko," according to an affidavit from Keshena Bryant, an Elkhart resident who knew Mock. "Tricia told me Rezutko would give her money and information in exchange for sex."
