Police Officers Who Cracked 20-Year Cold Case Honored

From left, Oakland County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Paul Walton, Detective Scott Rzeppa, Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, Sgt. Greg Hughes, Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Jason Pernick, and Chief Judge Charles Nebus. (Photo submitted)

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Two Farmington Hills police officials whose detective work help solve a two-decade-old cold case have been honored with 2014 Distinguished Service Awards by Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper.

Cooper presented the awards to Sgt. Greg Hughes and Detective Scott Rzeppa on Dec. 17. according to a news release. They were among eight law enforcement officers recognized by the prosecutor.

Cooper said the offices work in the 1993 homicide of Thomas Gilmore “epitomized the finest combination of skill, innovation, dedication and professionalism in the pursuit of justice.”

On June 23, 1993, Thomas Gilmore’s body was discovered outside of his place of employment on Eight Mile Road near Middlebelt Road in Farmington Hills, where he had been brutally beaten to death. The scene was processed by Farmington Hills Police Department evidence technicians and the case was thoroughly investigated by Farmington Hills Police Department detectives.

After police exhausted all leads and conducted an extensive investigation, the case eventually went cold.

Taking a fresh look at the case nearly 20 years later, Hughes realized that new technology had been discovered to assist in identifying a suspect. Additional laboratory tests conducted on DNA evidence recovered at the scene helped police identify Melvin Wofford as a suspect.

Hughes and Rzeppa followed up, and obtained enough evidence to present the case to a grand jury. In May 2012, an Oakland County grand jury indicted Wofford on charges of first-degree murder and felony murder.

Wofford was convicted of both charges by an Oakland County Circuit Court Jury, and on Oct. 3, 2013, Judge Michael Warren sentenced him to life in prison.

Hughes and Rzeppa have been with the Farmington Hills Police Department for 18 and 19 years, respectively.