No Money Missing After Deadly Bank Holdup

The suspects in the holdup of a northeastern Nebraska bank where five people were killed last week apparently did not get away with any money, officials said Sunday.

“The police have reported that there was no money missing,” said Madison County Atty. Joe Smith.

On Sunday afternoon, residents attended visitation services for two of the victims, bank employees Lola Elwood and Lisa Bryant, on the eve of their funerals.

Four men remained jailed on murder charges in Thursday’s shootings at the U.S. Bank branch.

Police Chief Bill Mizner said Sunday that while no money appeared to be missing, a bank audit was being performed.

“With all four of the suspects--there was no money recovered from any of those apprehensions,” Mizner said.

Jose Sandoval, 23, of Norfolk; and Jorge Galindo, 21; Erick Fernando Vela, 21; and Gabriel Rodriguez, 26, all of Madison, have each been charged with five counts of first-degree murder.

Police said the men planned for at least two weeks to hold up the bank. Sandoval, Galindo and Vela were arrested about three hours after the shootings, and Rodriguez was arrested early Friday.

Surveillance tapes showed the men broke into the bank and shot six people within 40 seconds, according to Capt. Steve Hecker, who testified at a bond hearing for the suspects last week. They were scheduled to appear in court again this week.

Bank employees Elwood, 43; Bryant, 29; Samuel Sun, 50; Jo Mausbach, 42; and customer Evonne Tuttle, 37, were killed. Another customer was injured.

The community was dealt another blow when a distraught state trooper, Mark Zach, 35, fatally shot himself with his service revolver the day after the robberies.

Zach had stopped Vela less than a week before the robbery and ticketed him for allegedly carrying a concealed weapon. But Zach transposed two digits when entering the gun’s serial number into a police computer, preventing him from learning that the gun had been stolen.

The gun was confiscated by authorities and not used in the holdup. However, Zach apparently felt responsible for not getting the suspect jailed on a more serious stolen weapon charge.

His funeral will be Wednesday. Funerals for the three other bank victims were scheduled Tuesday.