Transcript of local ABC news interviewed by Del Walter’s/ ABC-7

Transcript of local ABC news interviewed by Del Walter’s/ ABC-7

February 11, 2002

TONIGHT THE I-TEAM HAS LEARNED THERE HAVE BEEN NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN ONE OF THIS REGION’S LONGEST-RUNNING MYSTERIES: WHO, IF ANYONE, KILLED KEITH WARREN?

HIS BODY WAS FOUND HANGING IN RURAL MONTGOMERY COUNTY FIFTEEN YEARS AGO. FIVE YEARS LATER, THE POLICE AUTOPSY PHOTOS MYSTERIOUSLY ARRIVED ON HIS MOTHER’S DOORSTEP, AND INTO THE POSSESSION OF THE I TEAM.

NOW A DECADE LATER, IT APPEARS THE LAST CHAPTER MAY HAVE BEEN WRITTEN.

Story:

IT IS ONE OF WASHINGTON’S MOST PERPLEXING MYSTERIES.

DID KEITH WARREN COMMITT SUICIDE, OR WAS HE MURDERED?

AS THE I-TEAM FIRST REPORTED NEARLY A DECADE AGO, HIS BODY WAS FOUND HANGING FROM A TREE IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY. TODAY, KEITH WARREN WOULD BE THIRTY FOUR YEARS OLD.

Mary Couey, Keth Warren’s mother: “I have to keep seeking justice until there are some answers.”

NOW, AS WAS THE CASE A DECADE AGO, KEITH WARREN’S MOTHER BELIEVES HER SON WAS MURDERED.

Couey: “Oh, it was definitely not suicide. I think it could have been a murder, it could have been homicide, but it was not suicide.”

SHE CONTIUES TO POINT TO THE I-TEAM’S ORIGINAL FINDINGS: THAT NO AUTOPSY WAS PERFORMED, WARREN’S ORIGINAL CLOTHES WERE CHANGED, AND THE KNOT USED IN THE HANGING APPEARED TO BE BACKWARDS.

IT WAS THE I-TEAM’S INVESTIGATION THAT LED THE FAMIKLY TO EXHUME WARREN’S BODY, WHERE ELEVATED TOXINS WERE DISCOVERED INSIDE HIS BODY, LEADING SOME TO CONCLUDE HE HAD INDEED BEEN MURDERED.

BUT THAT WAS LONG AGO. NOW THE I-TEAM HAS LEARNED THERE IS NEW LIFE IN CONNECTION WITH THE WARREN CASE. SPECIFICALLY, A GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION EXAMINING SEVERAL QUESTIONS. AMONG THEM, THE ISSUE OF MURDER VERSUS SUICIDE, AND ONE NEW TWIST – DID THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT BOTCH THE CASE ENTIRELY, MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO SOLVE?

Del Walters: “Does it bother you that if Keith Warren did not take his own life, then there’s someone out there who comitted murder?”

Doug Gansler, Montgomery County State’s Attorney: “Yes.”

IN THIS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE I-TEAM, MONGTROMERY COUNTY STATE’S ATTORNEY DOUG GANSLER CONFIRMED A GRAND JURY HAS INDEED BEEN LOOKING AT THE KEITH WARREN CASE.

Gansler: “We looked at all the material, along with the sheriff, Ray Kight, and decided to reopen the case.”

Gansler: “We reopened the case, we used the grand jury, we examined all the leads, we talked to all possible witnesses, and came to a conclusion of inconclusiveness.”

Del Walters: “Is the final, bottom line in this case going to be that we just don’t know what happened to Keith Warren?”

Gansler: “There are very strong arguments, having looked at everything in this case, that Keith Warren died of suicide. But there are equally strong arguments to suggest that he did not die of suicide, that he was killed or died accidentally and then was put on this tree afterwards.”

HE ALSO SAYS THE LIKELY CONCLUSION WILL NOT PLEASE POLICE, AND WILL DO EVEN LESS TO SOLVE THE MYSTERY.

Del Walters: “Is it your opinion that the police botched this investigation?”

Gansler: “Under today’s guidelines and procedures, this would have been botched.”

Del Walters: “Would you be satisfied if the police simply said, ‘We blew it?'”

Couey: “They botched it from day one. That’s the problem – it was a botched investigation, and then they attempted to cover it up.”

Del Walters: “It’s been fifteen years… when does Mary Couey stop?”

Couey: “When my last breath is gone. And then I’ll pass it on. It won’t stop until there is justice.”

Del Walters on-set:

AND SO IT SEEMS CLOSE TO A DECADE AFTER THE I-TEAM DISCOVERED THESE CHILLING PHOTOS, THE QUESTION REMAINS: DID KEITH WARREN TAKE HIS OWN LIFE AS POLICE ORIGINALLY THOUGHT, OR IS THERE STILL A MAN ON THE LOOSE IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY WHO GOT AWAY WITH MURDER AS THE EVIDENCE NOW SUGGESTS?

SADLY, THE BOTTOM LINE SEEMS TO BE THE CASE OF KEITH WARREN WAS BOTCHED FROM THE BEGINNING, AND WILL FOREVER REMAIN UNSOLVED.

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