Eighteen years ago, Corrie Jo Wood was murdered by an unknown assailant in Grant, a town located about 70 miles southwest of North Platte.

Despite the passage of time, her high school classmate, Deanne Roberts, still wants the murderer brought to justice.

In November 2008, Frank L. Graham of the Bulletin published a story with a painfully straightforward headline: “Small town murder remains unsolved.”

Eighteen years later, those words are still true, Roberts said.

“Corrie was my longtime friend and high school classmate,” Roberts in a Sept. 25 email to the Bulletin. “She was 28 years old and the mother of a four-year-old daughter when she was found dead in her home in Grant, on Sept. 20, 2008. At the time, news reports said that an autopsy determined she died from blows to her head and body. Her death was investigated as a homicide. Yet, no one has been charged with Corrie’s murder.”

Sept. 22 would have been her 47th birthday.

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According to Graham’s report:

Wood had been out with her boyfriend, Scott R. Petro, 38, at the Cactus Palace bar in Vanango on Friday, Sept. 19. They were accompanied by Melissa Dutton, nicknamed Red, 25, and Kent Walters, nicknamed Loomis, 40, both of Venango.

Venango is about 19 miles west of Grant.

A source close to the investigation said Corrie and Scott had some kind of altercation while drinking at the bar and Melissa Dutton and Corrie decided to leave.

Dutton drove Corrie to her home at 427 W. Sixth Street in Grant — the house she shared with Scott. Scott did not accompany them, according to the source.

Dutton called Scott to let him know that Corrie was at home and in bed, according to the source. Scott reportedly left the Cactus and drove to his and Corrie’s house, but was locked out, so he slept in his truck.

It was Scott who discovered Corrie’s body shortly before 10 a.m. the next morning, Saturday, Sept. 20.

Investigators from the Nebraska State Patrol declined to comment if the house was secure or had been broken into, since Scott claimed he had been locked out. Perkins County Sheriff James D. Brueggeman rushed to the scene as did Roberts, the county attorney, in his official capacity as County Coroner. Wood was pronounced dead at the scene.

What happened next was a concern to the residents of the tiny Nebraska town, as well as most everyone who has looked at the case since.

Brueggeman and Roberts were unable to determine Wood cause of death but did not think it was suspicious. They released the crime scene. However, on Monday, Sept. 22, Corrie’s body was in Scottsbluff where an autopsy was performed.

It turned out that Corrie had been brutally murdered as a result of blows to her head and body, Roberts announced. Then, Sheriff Brueggeman called in the Nebraska State Patrol to lead the murder investigation.

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Roberts said the question that remains isn’t simply who killed Corrie, but questions such as these are now at the forefront — Which law-enforcement agency currently has responsibility for Corrie’s homicide investigation? When was the complete case last comprehensively reviewed? What physical evidence collected in 2008 still exists?

Has preserved evidence been reevaluated to determine whether advances in DNA analysis, latent-print examination or other forensic methods could provide investigative opportunities that weren’t available 18 years ago? Have witnesses been reinterviewed?

And what became of the investigative avenues being pursued when the Bulletin reported on Corrie’s case in 2008?

September is national Cold Case Month, a call to action to focus attention on cold cases of murder, missing persons, unidentified persons, fugitives and other serial offenses. And, the anniversary of Wood’s unsolved murder coincides with Forensic Science Week. Possibly, new forensic tests have been developed that might help solve her homicide.

“Has everything that can reasonably be done with Corrie’s case today been done?” Roberts asked.

Corrie Jo Wood was a daughter, sister, mother and Roberts’ friend. What investigative opportunities may still remain?

Roberts wants to know.

For 17 years, she has made some version of this plea:

“If you know something — something you saw, something you heard, something someone told you, something you dismissed years ago because you didn’t think it mattered — please tell law enforcement.

“You don’t have to tell me. You don’t have to tell Facebook. You don’t have to publicly accuse anyone. Tell the people who can investigate it. Nebraska Crime Stoppers accepts anonymous tips at 1-800-422-1494.

“Eighteen years can change loyalties, relationships and circumstances. It doesn’t change what happened to Corrie.”

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