By David Hedges, Publisher
The Times Record
A Roane man whose daughter came up missing more than a decade ago may finally get to hear a 9ll tape he has been asking to listen to for years.
But it may not provide any answers regarding the disappearance of Christian Dawn Starcher Seabolt, who vanished in August 2002 after she left her mother,s apartment in Spencer to get a pack of cigarettes.
At the same time, a man serving life in prison for murder of his best
friend says the woman's father is on the right track regarding police
corruption, but he provided no details to back up his claim in an
interview at the prison where he is serving a life sentence.
*****
Alex Vincent "Tattoo Vince" Golosow, 57, is housed at the St.
Marys Correctional Center, serving life without parole for the murder
of Judson Reid, whose body was discovered in Clay County in
October 2002. Golosow was found guilty the next year after a trial in
Roane Circuit Court.
Prosecutors said the 52-year-old Reid was shot behind Golosow's
home at Tariff, while Reid's family members were in the front yard.
They blamed the shooting on a drug deal gone bad.
Reid had been staying at Golosow's home for weeks before his
death. Defense attorneys claimed Reid was a depressed Vietnam vet
who committed suicide.
"Tattoo Vince", who earned the nickname for the several tattoos
that cover his body, said when he was pursuing an appeal that he
was unable to assist in his defense because he had taken large quantities of crystal meth for a year prior to his arrest in 2002.
The state supreme court rejected his latest appeal in 2009.
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Seabolt's name came up during the trial, although it was not clear
what relationship, if any, she might have had with Golosow.
She was 18 when she disappeared. After family members spent years
wondering if she was alive or dead, her skeletal remains were found along Groundhog Ridge in Wirt County, near the Roane County line, in December 2009.
A forensics expert at the Smithsonian Institution identified the
remains.
Golosow, in an interview with Parkersburg News and Sentinel
reporter Jody Murphy described in Sunday's edition of the newspaper,
maintained his innocence in Reid's death, as well as the disappearance
and death of Seabolt.
He said Seabolt's family is on the right track, but refused to elaborate, fearing he will be blamed for her death. He said Seabolt was not an informant, but was involved with police.
According to the newspaper, Golosow denied having any relationship
with Seabolt, whom he noted was young enough to be his daughter, although he claimed she had been at his house.
He told the newspaper that before Seabolt disappeared, he and Reid
gave her money to travel to Florida to visit her husband.
Transferred to St. Marys from the state's maximum-security facility
at Mt. Olive after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2006, Golosow has
gained 135 pounds and now relies on a wheelchair to go more than a few
steps at a time.
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Trooper J.M. Bragg of the State Police detachment in Spencer is
the latest of several officers to be assigned the investigation into
Seabolt's death.
He said Golosow remains a person of interest" in the case.
"He always has been," Bragg said. "But he's not the only one."
Bragg said the case has been starting to "heat up" of late.
It's been cold for years," the trooper said. "We're finally starting
to get some leads."
Bragg said he could not provide any new details because he did not want to jeopardize the investigation.
*****
Seabolt's father, Jesse "Moe" Starcher, suspects his daughter was
killed because she was cooperating with police in drug investigations.
Represented by attorney David Karr Jr., Starcher filed a lawsuit in
Kanawha Circuit last year suggesting police corruption in CIay and
Roane counties.
The suit asks that the State police, Roane 9ll center and city of Spencer release information regarding the investigation into his daughter's disappearance.
Starcher's suit said his requests to hear the 911 recording of a call
his daughter allegedly made to police just before she disappeared has been denied several times.
But Roane prosecutor Josh Downey said this week that officials
have agreed to allow Starcher to listen to the tape, although it's not clear his daughter placed the call on the recording.
"There's a tape with a female voice," Downey said.
Downey said he planned to contact Starcher's attorney to make arrangements for Starcher to listen to the tape.
"Since he's filed the lawsuit, we have to do it with his counsel to
make sure it's done the right way," Downey said.
But Starcher said he's already been told the woman on the tape is
someone with a similar name, and her call had nothing to do with his
daughter.
"All these years they denied me access to the tape because they said
there was an ongoing investigation," Starcher said. "Now they're saying that tape doesn't exist, it was someone else. If it was really looked into, they could have told me that years
ago."
Based on conversations he's had with former 9ll employees, he believes
his daughter did call to talk with a Spencer Police Dept. officer
shortly before her disappearance and that officer made arrangements
to pick her up. That officer whom Starcher said denied the call was
placed, is now retired.
*****
Bragg said the investigation is continuing, and is starting to produce
some useful leads.
"It's not been put on the back burner by any means," the trooper
said.
"Who knows when it will be solved," he added, "but I believe it
will be."
Starcher, who said he has also been frustrated by authorities in
his unsuccessful efforts to have his daughter's remains released so she can be buried said he hasn't given up hope the person who killed her will someday be found.
"I just want to see someone pay for what they did," he said.
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