NOTE: The following column appeared in this week's Pine Country Bulletin Quarterly NewsMagazine in Atlanta, Texas.

BY SONNY LONG
I've been fooled before. And I've been wrong -- bunches of times.

But I'm hoping beyond hope that my new found optimism toward a final resolution in the Butts triple murder case is not unfounded, not false hope.

As the 10th anniversary of the unsolved triple homicide draws closer (January 2002. Only five months away), several recent "developments" have given me reason to believe that the case will indeed be solved.

According to Atlanta Police Chief Mike Dupree, "It's always been an open case. We simply don't have the manpower to assign one person to that one case all the time. We've never stopped looking at the evidence. We've never stopped reviewing the case."

The recent advent of a new web site discussion forum dedicated to the case (www.webbsleuths.com), has also spurred interest in the case from around the country.

The reasons for my new found optimism? Some are old; some are new.
(1) THE REWARD: A $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murders is still in affect. Former Cass County District Attorney Neal Birmingham instituted a $5,000 reward, and according to current Cass County DA Randal Lee, it still stands. The other $5,000 has been pledged by a private individual who came into a substantial windfall about three years ago. No, the reward hasn't started any tongues wagging yet, but loyalties can begin to erode after 10 years and maybe the ties that bind are not as strong as they once were.

Maybe promises to keep secrets become outweighed by the need to sleep at night. Or maybe the need for a little cash.

(2) FRESH EYES: Investigators within the APD who were not involved with the initial investigation in 1992 are reviewing all the evidence, statements, etc. I honestly believe that a fresh perspective can't hurt a thing. It's like on the web site discussion forum. People who had never heard of the case or read anything about the evidence are asking probing, intelligent questions. And you never know
when the right question might produce the right answer.

(3) OUTSIDE HELP: I have not had this officially confirmed, but I have every reason to believe that law enforcement agencies other than the ones that originally investigated the case may be taking a look at the case. This would also incorporate the "fresh eyes" concept as well as possibly bringing some new technology (see below) into play. Stay tuned.

(4) NEW TECHNOLOGY: This may be the most exciting of the recent developments. Some of the evidence collected in 1992 is being re-tested. From something as simple as new methods of enlarging a photograph of a seemingly latent print to advances in DNA testing, law enforcement and crime labs today are simply better equipped to handle the evidence collected from that Walnut St. trailer house on the wet, chilly January morning in 1992.

So maybe I'm a dreamer. I've been known to be. But I have this gut feeling, this internal alarm going off -- this case is going to be solved. I do not know which piece of evidence is going to bring it all together. Which statement is going to lead somewhere? Which DNA test is going to reveal a secret?

But it's going to happen.
I know it. I wish it. I hope it.
I pray for it.