The Key That Unlocks

By: La Tasha C. Williams

As a result of posting the Giovanni Reid story on this web site (ref. “The Case”), a new witness who says that he was an eyewitness to the horrific event surfaced. He is the friend and former roommate of Robert Janke (the victim).

The Giovanni Reid Support Team first learned of Mr. Richman on February 6, 2006, which was when he first contacted us through this web site. His message gave no indication as to what kind of information he had. See RICHMAN’S E-MAIL, Documents.

In that missive, Richman mentioned that he was Bob’s roommate at the time of the murder. Through investigative work, I verified the authenticity of the e-mail and confirmed Mr. Richman’s identity.

In a subsequent communications between Reid’s appellate attorney Kevin Mincey and me, Mr. Richman revealed that he had actually witnessed everything from the moment when Bob was hemmed up by a lone assailant who later shot him, to when the coward who did it ran away.

Mr. Richman recalled that when the shooter fled the area, that the five other males, who earlier like himself had been some distance away from the perpetrator when he shot Bob, also took off running.