Grisly discovery may solve '98 Fort Worth killing
Posted on 12/18/2002 1:57:33 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Grisly discovery may solve '98 Fort Worth killing
Skeleton in Utah may be that of man caught up in love triangle
12/18/2002
A 35-year-old Coast Guard veteran and former federal agent is gunned down in the doorway of his Fort Worth apartment.
Four days later, the only suspect in Gregory Randall's death - a top law student and National Merit Scholar - disappears. More than 100 tips are generated after the case airs on national television, and three months later, the suspect's pickup truck is found abandoned in a remote area of southwestern Utah.
Fast forward nearly five years, and a skeleton with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound is found a short distance away from where the pickup truck was found, authorities said.
The final chapter of Mr. Randall's death, a story that resembles a crime novel, may have been revealed Sunday with the discovery of a skeleton that authorities think is the shooting suspect, Daniel Arthur Fling.
"Another detective and I said almost immediately, 'This could be Fling,' " said Mark Gower, a detective in the Iron County sheriff's office in Utah. "We're close to 100 percent sure."
Detective Gower said hikers found the skeleton, along with a sawed-off shotgun believed to be the murder weapon, and a baseball cap identical to one that Mr. Fling owned.
"It hasn't been confirmed yet," said Sgt. J.D. Thornton of the Fort Worth Police Department's homicide unit. "From what I understand, they've located the dental records, so they're working on it now."
Police believe that jealousy drove Mr. Fling to kill Mr. Randall in January 1998.
The day before the shooting, Mr. Fling learned of Mr. Randall's engagement to Kathryn Canning, Mr. Fling's study partner at the University of Oklahoma law school. Authorities could know within days whether to close the book on the case, which has generated no new leads since Mr. Fling's pickup was found in April 1998.
"If it's him, and we find that there was enough evidence to prosecute him, we'll close it," Sgt. Thornton said. "We feel that there is ample evidence."
Ms. Canning declined to comment Tuesday, but others involved in the case said that she still lives in fear.
"I talked to her just last night," said C.S. Randall, the slaying victim's father. "She won't have to be looking over her shoulder anymore."
Mr. Fling's father said that he was shocked to learn that his son was a suspect in the case and that he had fled. But Jim Fling wasn't surprised to learn that his son had gone west; telephone records indicated that he was moving in that direction.
"It's hard for me to believe what the police say," said Mr. Fling, a lawyer in the Panhandle city of Shamrock. "He was always a good kid, and that's why it shocked me so much."
He said he has doubts that his son killed Mr. Randall, and he said the police investigation was unconvincing.
"Was he involved? Possibly. Was he the one that did it? We'll never know," Jim Fling said. "I don't know why he would do it - what he would gain from it. I think I'm going to go to my grave with these questions."
Mr. Randall's family has long forgiven Mr. Fling, who was 25 when he disappeared.
"The whole thing was such a waste of two people's lives - both our son's life and Daniel's life," said Mr. Randall, who now lives in Valley Mills, just west of Waco. "We knew there was a strong possibility that he would face judgment later. We wanted him to be apprehended and put in prison so maybe he would meet the Lord."
E-mail imccann@dallasnews.com
Nope.
Nope
I won't say it...
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