More than three years after a judge dismissed kidnapping and murder charges against Jessica Dishon's former neighbor, a new detective will try to learn who killed the teen.
Bullitt County Sheriff Donnie Tinnell has hired Larry Carroll, a retired homicide detective for Louisville Metro Police, to investigate the Sept. 10, 1999, murder of Dishon, who was 17 when she died.
Tinnell said the department needed the part-time help because it is investigating new cases and detectives don't have time to focus on older ones.
Jessica vanished from her family's driveway on Sept. 10, 1999. Police say she was dragged from the front seat of her car as she was leaving for school. Her body was found 17 days later in the Salt River bottoms, a dumping ground for trash and stolen vehicles. She had been beaten and strangled.
David "Bucky" Brooks was charged in the case in 2001; it ended in a mistrial in 2003, and the charges against him were dropped.
Tinnell took over as sheriff in January — he and his chief deputy, Danny Thompson, had barely gotten settled when a CSX train derailed near Brooks, Thompson said.
"The wheels fell off the train and our department," Thompson said of the workload after the Jan. 16 derailment.
While the Dishon case is Carroll's current focus, he also will review other cold cases, Tinnell said.
The Dishon family and Brooks celebrated the news today.
"Maybe there's something that's been overlooked," said Edna Dishon, Jessica's mother.
Brooks is hoping for a chance to finally clear his name. "Maybe they will get the right one this time," said Brooks, who lives with his wife, Irene, in Shepherdsville, where the two have started a ministry.
Although the charges were dropped against him, he said people still act as if he's guilty.