Search for gun in fatal 2001 Wagoner shooting comes up empty
WAGONER, Okla. (AP) – The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says divers searching the Verdigris River just south of Wagoner for the gun used in a nearly 20-year-old unsolved homicide were unsuccessful.
OSBI spokeswoman Brooke Arbeitman says divers were unable to locate the weapon Friday during the search under the Highway 69 bridge about 35 miles southeast of Tulsa.
Arbeitman said the search was for the weapon used in the fatal April 9, 2001, shooting of 59-year-old convenience store clerk Richard Piersall.
Police found Piersall shot to death in a back room of the store on the western edge of Wagoner after a customer reported finding no one in the store about 1:30 a.m. and an empty cash register drawer on the floor.
No arrests have been made in the case.