Prosecutor: More arrests likely in 2002 murder

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By JOSH FUNK / The Associated Press

OMAHA — More arrests are likely in a 2002 slaying linked to one of the Norfolk bank killers, the chief Madison County prosecutor said Tuesday.

County Attorney Joe Smith said his investigation into Robert Pearson’s murder continues. He said he believes other people were involved in Pearson’s murder besides those convicted in the 2002 bank robbery and killings of five people.

Jose Sandoval, who is on death row for the bank slayings, pleaded guilty Monday to murdering Pearson and Travis Lundell months before the September 2002 U.S. Bank robbery.

Pearson’s and Lundell’s family members said they appreciated finally getting some answers about the deaths.

“I’m just so glad it’s getting close to getting over with and we’re finally getting some information on what happened and everything,” Robert Pearson Sr. of Columbus told the Norfolk Daily News.

Smith said Sandoval contacted his office about Pearson’s murder last year. Sandoval showed authorities where the body was buried: a 2 1/2-foot-deep grave on an abandoned farm 10-12 miles west of Madison. Pearson disappeared in January 2002.

Smith and Sandoval exchanged letters over the past year and eventually agreed that Sandoval would plead guilty. He received two life sentences Monday.

Sandoval said in court that his conversion to Christianity compelled him to come forward about Pearson’s and Lundell’s murders.

Lundell’s mother, Janie Heuson, addressed Sandoval in court, the Daily News reported.

“Thank you for finally admitting what you did,” she said. “I just hope you see his face every night, because I do.”

Smith said he decided not to pursue the death penalty for Pearson’s or Lundell’s murders because Sandoval was already sentenced to be executed for the five bank slayings and because the aggravating factors that are required for the death penalty weren’t as clear in Pearson’s and Lundell’s cases.

Lundell’s murder was linked to Sandoval, Erick Vela, Jorge Galindo and Gabriel Rodriguez during the bank robbery investigation. Lundell’s body was found in a shallow grave outside Norfolk in March 2003. He disappeared in August 2002, about a month before the bank murders.

Before Sandoval pleaded guilty Monday no one had been charged in Lundell’s death. But separate juries found Vela and Galindo eligible for the death penalty in part because the jurors believed the evidence showed the two helped kill Lundell, giving them histories of violent crime.

“I’m almost certain that everyone that had a hand in that has been brought to justice,” Smith said of Lundell’s murder.

Sandoval, Vela and Galindo have all been sentenced to death for the five U.S. Bank slayings. The fourth bank robber, Rodriguez, was given five consecutive life sentences.