Police Beat by Tom Geyer

My Times colleague Dustin Lemmon has been following the unsolved murder of Harriet Crandall, 96 of Milan. Here’s the latest from Dustin:

This is an update on the murder investigation of 96-year-old Harriet Crandall, who was found dead in her Milan home August 30 after the house was set on fire. An autopsy of the womean who lived at 325 W. 4th Ave., determined she had been strangled.

The author of an unsigned letter, that contained details that investigators though legitimate and that Milan police received in November, has now spoken with detectives.

Milan Police Chief Mark Beckwith said it’s too soon to tell if new information they’ve received in the unsolved homicide of Crandall will help lead to an arrest.
In November police received an unsigned letter from someone with information about Crandall’s death. Two weeks ago police released a picture of the envelope the letter came in to the media in hopes of getting the author to come forward.
Beckwith said Tuesday that they made contact with the author shortly after the photo was distributed, but he wouldn’t say how. He said their information provided a new lead in the case that will be checked out.
“I’m not going to say it’s going to lead us to those responsible,” Beckwith said. “The detective will determine whether we’ll be able to go down this path.”