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Few details in police shooting case

By Staff | Oct 6, 2012

Authorities are not releasing details about the evidence used to tie a Cape Coral man to the 1996 fatal shooting of an officer in North Carolina.

Scott Vincent Sica, 36, of 2059 Ottersrest Lane, was arrested Wednesday on a warrant and charged with first-degree murder in the Oct. 5, 1996, death of Sgt. Gregory Keith Martin, from the Jonesville Police Department.

He is awaiting extradition to North Carolina at the Lee County Jail.

During a news conference Thursday, Jonesville Police Chief Roger Reece acknowledged public interest in the specifics of the evidence against Sica, but said no further details would be released, the Yadkin Ripple reported.

The aim is “to protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation,” the paper’s news story states.

“Sixteen years’ worth of work has gone into solving this case,” Reece said Thursday. “We must do everything we can for the judicial process to proceed successfully, both for our investigation and for the rights of the accused.”

Jonesville police worked with the Elkin Police Department, North Carolina Special Bureau of Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigations in the case, gathering information and physical evidence that led to the arrest.

The North Carolina Special Bureau of Investigation and FBI are processing additional evidence to further the investigation, the Yadkin Ripple reported.

“Sgt. Martin’s murder has haunted this community, this police department and the members of the law enforcement agencies,” Reece said Thursday.

The chief did not return a message Friday seeking further comment.

Wednesday’s arrest was not Sica’s first run-in with authorities.

In 1999, Sica was sentenced in the Middle District of Tennessee to 57 months in federal prison for armed bank robbery and 60 months for carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence – 117 months consecutively.

He originally had been charged with five counts, according to the Clerk of Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Sica also pleaded guilty to a second count of armed bank robbery in an incident in Lee County. He was again sentenced to 57 months in federal prison, with the sentence to run concurrent with the Tennessee ruling.

In 2006, Sica was released from the federal facility in Manchester, Ky., where he had been incarcerated after his sentencing seven years earlier. He was transferred to a halfway house, then later released in August 2006.

Five years of supervision followed his release, officials reported.

At 2:42 a.m. Oct. 5, 1996, Martin conducted a traffic stop on a red, Dodge Ram pickup truck on Interstate 77 in Yadkin County, according to authorities. He was shot multiple times and left for dead on the shoulder of the highway.

“Sgt. Martin’s duty weapon was found in his holster, not having had time to defend himself,” officials at the FBI reported via e-mail.

The shooter reportedly later stole a van from a parking lot, located about five miles from the crime scene. It belonged to a company called Lucia.

Martin, 30, had been with the department for three years.

He left behind a wife and three children.

In May 2005, the well-know television show “America’s Most Wanted” spotlighted the case. It re-aired the story two times the following year.

According to the show’s Web site, the Dodge truck had been stolen from a car dealership in Princeton, W.V.

Witnesses reported that a man was looking at the truck on Oct. 1, 1996, days before its theft and the fatal shooting.

Composite drawings were created based on witness statements.