By By Marianne Todd/The Meridian Star
March 14, 2001
Police officials said Tuesday they are working on a promising new lead in the three-year-old homicide case of Nancy Nanette Scheber.
Scheber's body was discovered on New Year's Day 1998, in a dump off Anderson Road. Authorities determined the 35-year-old had been raped and bludgeoned to death with a garden tool.
Meridian police Sgt. Joe Hoadley said two detectives were sent out of town Tuesday to follow up on the new lead, which came in several days ago.
Hoadley declined to say where the investigators were headed. He also said he could not give details about the new lead because releasing too much information could compromise the case.
The case stalled in August 2000, when the state dismissed charges against three principal suspects Anthony T. Patton, Robert D. Green and Tammy Houston after authorities learned DNA samples taken at the scene did not match samples taken from Patton or Green.
A Lauderdale County grand jury had indicted both men in November 1998 on capital murder charges, alleging that they had kidnapped, raped and killed Scheber. Houston had been indicted had as an accessory in the crime.
A month after the case hit a snag, an official with Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore's office said state investigators were optimistic about reopening the case and making an arrest.
Hoadley said while investigators have consulted with the attorney general's office, state officials are not assisting in the investigation at this time.
Marianne Todd is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail her at mtodd@themeridianstar.com.