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News reports: Former Oakfield resident found guilty of double murder in Pennsylvannia

By Howard B. Owens

Two Pennsylvania papers, including the Bradford Era, are reporting that Steven Rebert has been found guilty of murder.

The 48-year-old Rebert is originally from Oakfield and has been a person of interest in the November 2005 homicide of Bill Fickel.

While investigators have been unable to gather sufficient evidence to substantiate a charge in the local homicide, Bill's widow, Lisa Fickel, has offered a $100,000 reward to anybody providing evidence that leads to a conviction of Bill's killer.

Rebert, according to reports, was found guilty of murdering Wayne and Victoria Shugar in April 2010 in Jefferson County.

UPDATE: Brittany Boyer with WJAC reports, "Rebert was found guilty of the following: first-degree murder, second-degree murder, aggravated assault, theft, robbery and burglary." The jury deliberated for one hour and 50 minutes. On Thursday, the jury will begin the penalty phase. Rebert could get the "death penalty," which in Pennsylvania means spending the rest of his life in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day.

joseph bradt

From the above article:

"While investigators have been unable to gather sufficient evidence to substantiate a charge in the local homicide, Bill's widow, Lisa Fickel, has offered a $100,000 reward to anybody providing evidence that leads to a conviction of Bill's killer."

From The Daily News website:

Investigators “absolutely” have enough evidence to charge Steven Rebert with the murder of an Oakfield man in 2005, Genesee County sheriff’s chief deputy of investigations said Wednesday, a day after Rebert was convicted of a double-homicide in Pennsylvania.

“We have the evidence to charge him,” Jerome Brewster said. “There are still some things we need and perhaps now that he’s locked up forever someone will come forward. There is still at least one person out there who knows what happened.”

Howard, I see "The Daily" updated their article at 3:49 pm today. (I am not sure what part of the article was updated. I personally like the way you update your stories at the bottom.) Have you heard of any "new" evidence in this case?

Jan 25, 2012, 8:26pm Permalink

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