Police crack cold case

By Cindy Landrum  

APRIL 4, 2011 10:11 a.m. (0)

He was found two doors from home.

On Monday, Greenville Police Chief Terri Wilfong announced that two men have been arrested and charged with murder and strong-arm robbery in the case.

Billy Ray Dudley, 58, of P.O. Box 1294, Princeton, West Virginia; and Darnell Jerome Guyton, 55, of 1010 Currie Ave., Minneapolis, Minn., were both charged with murder and strong-arm robbery.

“Thanksgiving Day is not really a good day for us,” said George Bikas, Bikas’ son. “After today, our Thankgivings will be a lot better than they used to be.”

It is the third murder case the department’s cold case unit has solved since it was formed in January 20101.

Wilfong said the cold case squad re-examined evidence, interviewed the detectives that originally worked the case and tracked and re-interviewed dozens of witnesses.

“Sometimes people have a change of heart,” Wilfong said.

Arrest warrants say Dudley gave police a statement implicating himself and Guyton in the murder.

Wilfong would only say that the cold case team uncovered new evidence that led to the arrests.

“You only have one shot at it,” Wilfong said. “Our investigators got a break and moved forward on it.”

Thirteenth Solicitor Walt Wilkins said evidence in the case has been preserved over the past three decades and the case is ready to go to trial.

“It’s a great occasion when you have the prosecutor’s office and the police department working hand-in-hand towards a sense of justice for the Bikas family,” Wilkins said. Wilkins’ father, former U.S. 4th District Court of Appeals Chief Justice Billy Wilkins, was solicitor when the crime occurred.

Thomas Bikas’ daughter, Dora Bikas, said her family was elated – but shocked – when they heard arrests would be made in the case.

“I knew that the Lord would take care of them. If they couldn’t be taken care of here on earth, the Lord would take care of them,” she said.

The saddest part is that the arrests came after the death of her mother, Penelope, who never remarried.

“She died of a broken heart,” she said of her mother, who died in 2001 of ovarian cancer. “She never got over it. She was never really the same after all this happened.”

Dora Bikas wore one of her mother’s blouses to the press conference announcing the arrests.

“She’s here with us,” she said.

Bikas, the youngest of four brothers, emigrated from Greece in 1966.

He worked in his brother’s restaurant, the Bikas Restaurant, in downtown Greenville where the Hot Dog King now stands.

“He came here for a better life,” Dora Bikas said. “Unfortunately, his dream didn’t come to fruitition.”

Bikas got to see two of his three grandchildren. “He forgot about us when those grandchildren came along,” his daughter said. “He loved his family so much.”

She said the arrests would give the family a chance at something it hasn’t had in 33 years.

“Maybe, hopefully, we’ll get closure now,” she said.

Comments

Add New

Leave a Comment
Comments are moderated and may not be posted immediately.
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Title:
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."