CHEROKEE COUNTY, Okla. -- A man is spending the night behind bars for a crime police believe he committed almost 30 years ago.
James Vogel was arrested Friday morning in Muskogee for the cold case drowning murder of Jeanette Coleman. He was charged with first-degree murder, engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses and perjury.
Cherokee County Undersheriff Jason Chennault said it took another witness coming forward to have Vogel charged by a Grand Jury.
That witness said in a conversation they had with Vogel, he shared that he and three other men picked up a woman they did not know from a bar, raped and beat her at Grand River near the Fort Gibson Dam. The witness says Vogel proceeded by saying they tied a cement block around her chest and dropped her in the river.
"The witness waited to come forward," Undersheriff Chennault said. "He had a hard time knowing what had gone on but he had a hard time convincing himself that he needed to come forward."
Undersheriff Chennault said they believe Coleman was still alive when she was put in the water based on the way she was clinging to the cement block. The 31-year old woman was found days later.
Law enforcement referred to her as "Daisy Doe" up until 2015 because of her tattoo. She was eventually identified using her fingerprints by the Office of the Medical Examiner's Office.
Undersheriff Chennault said Vogel was identified as a suspect several years ago in the case, but investigators did not have enough evidence to prove it was him until now.
Prosecutors took the new witnesses testimony and evidence and numerous investigators had collected over the years to a multi-county Grand Jury in Oklahoma City.
Thursday, the jury determined there was enough evidence to charge Vogel. He was arrested Friday and is now being held without bond in the Cherokee County Detention Center.
"When I saw him today he seemed really relaxed," Undersheriff Chennault said. "To me, it seemed like he knew this was coming eventually. He just did not know when, but he wasn't surprised."
While it is a big break in a case ongoing for almost three decades, lead prosecutor on the case Jack Thorp and Undersheriff Chennault know it is far from over.
"I'm confident that the case has been handled well and that we are going to go forward and we have experience," Thorp said. "We are good at these types of cases and I'm confident that at the end of the case, justice will be served."
The sheriff's office is still looking for other persons of interest in this case. If you have any information, contact Undersheriff Chennault at 918-456-2583.
"We are not done by any means," Undersheriff Chennault said. "We still have a long way to go. We have other suspects that we would like to get charged and get arrested. We are going to continue to work on it, but I am relieved that we do have one suspect off the street and in the jail. That is a relief, but I know it is not over yet."
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