Mystery Solved.
Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 9:54 am
Police officer, dispatcher solve 1931 bank robbery case
GREEN BAY, Wis. (Court TV/AP) — A police officer and dispatcher say they've solved a 1931 bank robbery case — and the culprit isn't ruthless Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger, as many people had suspected.
Officer Mike Knetzger and dispatcher Tracy Ertl determined Dillinger was in prison when gangsters robbed Green Bay's South Side State Bank in 1931 and got in a shootout with police.
The robbers got nearly $7,000 but demanded more. When two tellers refused, they were clubbed, and one was knocked unconscious.
Four police officers arriving in a squad car were met with submachine gun fire before they could get out of their vehicle, and three of the officers were wounded, Knetzger said. One detective was shot in the head and eventually lost an eye but went on to a 30-year career on the force.
The robbers got away, and they were never found.
Knetzger and Ertl used old records and interviews, including one with an eyewitness, to research the case.
They said they've figured out who did it, but they're not saying yet. They say the answer will be in a book they're writing, due out next year.
Dillinger was gunned down 70 years ago.
GREEN BAY, Wis. (Court TV/AP) — A police officer and dispatcher say they've solved a 1931 bank robbery case — and the culprit isn't ruthless Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger, as many people had suspected.
Officer Mike Knetzger and dispatcher Tracy Ertl determined Dillinger was in prison when gangsters robbed Green Bay's South Side State Bank in 1931 and got in a shootout with police.
The robbers got nearly $7,000 but demanded more. When two tellers refused, they were clubbed, and one was knocked unconscious.
Four police officers arriving in a squad car were met with submachine gun fire before they could get out of their vehicle, and three of the officers were wounded, Knetzger said. One detective was shot in the head and eventually lost an eye but went on to a 30-year career on the force.
The robbers got away, and they were never found.
Knetzger and Ertl used old records and interviews, including one with an eyewitness, to research the case.
They said they've figured out who did it, but they're not saying yet. They say the answer will be in a book they're writing, due out next year.
Dillinger was gunned down 70 years ago.