Thursday, February 24, 2000
Brother charged in 'hitchhiker' shooting
BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BURLINGTON — Authorities searched hours for a make-believe, gun-toting hitchhiker Tuesday before finding out a shooting blamed on him was really the result of a fight between brothers.
Officers with search dogs looked for the alleged hitchhiker around the Flying J Travel Plaza in Walton. More than 300 people living nearby were briefed by phone with Boone County's new computerized emergency notification system.
Police were searching for a white man with long blond hair and a goatee who was supposedly wearing bluejeans, a blue jacket and a ball cap.
Eventually, police said, Chester and Rufus Collett ad mitted they had been fighting in the car and that Chester Collett fired at his younger brother.
Chester Collett, 41, was charged with criminal attempt to commit murder and was jailed in Boone County in lieu of a $500,000 bond. Rufus Collett, 35, was treated at University Hospital and released. Both men live in Corbin. Two women in the car with them were not hurt or charged.
Officials focused Wednesday on the positives of the event — that they got to test their new Geo-
Notify warning system, and that the canine units got real experience Tuesday night instead of the training they coin cidentally had shown up for.
“It was a tremendous exercise of coordination, resources and setting up perimeters,” said Boone County Police Capt. Jack Prindle. “It's really nice to see all those things come together and work out.”
He said investigators had an idea shortly after the 7 p.m. shooting that the Colletts' story might not be the truth. Witnesses at the truck stop told police they saw a person who looked like Chester Collett drop something into a garbage can behind the truck stop. Officers checked and found a handgun they think was used to shoot the brother.
But until officials found the gun, they had to act as if the hitchhiker story could be true, Capt. Prindle said.
The GeoNotify system was set up to call 307 houses within 3 miles of the Flying J. The computer gave residents a description of the supposed hitchhiker and told them to dial 911 if they spotted him. At least one person called police to say they thought they spotted the man.
“I guess what we're doing is putting 200 or so or more pairs of eyes out there looking for people,” said Bill Fletcher, deputy director of the county's emergency management department.
“We knew it would work, but this was just really the first opportunity to use it in an emergency.”
Police said the investigation continues.
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