The State - News from Oct. 10, 1988

Police have reopened a 14-year-old murder case and issued a warrant for former Fresno resident Allen J. Vercher, suspected of killing a former highway patrolman. Officers said Vercher, 38, who also goes by a variety of aliases, is believed to be living in the Los Angeles area. Vercher’s cousin, Erwin C. Rogers, who has reportedly been living in west Fresno, is also being sought for questioning. Vercher is suspected in the May, 1974, shooting death and robbery of Robert Blackwell, 59, a retired California Highway Patrolman who had been working as an automobile repossessor. Blackwell’s body was found in an apartment rented by Vercher, who fled the area after the slaying. Detective Joe Chilberto said the case was reopened when he got a tip that Vercher was living in the Los Angeles area and had told someone he had shot Blackwell.