Feb 7, 2007 7:49 pm US/Central
New Clue In Murder Of Michigan Ave. Doctor
Man Bearing Resemblence To Suspect Captured On Tape In Lincoln Park Home Depot Store
CBS 2's Dana Kozlov and Derrick Blakley contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Surveillance footage from a Lincoln Park Home Depot shows a man who bears resemblance to the suspected murderer of Dr. David Cornbleet.
Courtesy Chicago Police and Home Depot
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Dr. David Cornbleet was found murdered in his Michigan Avenue office in Oct. 2006.
CBS
Police may have found a key clue in the search for a suspected killer. They just released surveillance tape shot at a Lincoln Park Home Depot store.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports detectives want to talk to the man captured on that tape.
Police were very careful in how they described the man pictured in the video, but he has clearly emerged as a key figure in the investigation of a Chicago dermatologist.
Police insist he is not a suspect, and not even a person of interest. But they acknowledge the man making a purchase in security video from the Home Depot bears a resemblance to the suspected murderer of David Cornbleet, M.D.
"We would like to ask the public's assistance in helping identify this person who purchased this item," said Commander Steve Patterson, an Area 4 detective.
The purchase was made using cash Sept. 30, 2006 at a Lincoln Park Home Depot.
Police will not say what the man bought, but the same item was found in Cornbleet's Michigan Avenue office, where he was stabbed to death Oct. 24, 2006.
"We went through the bar code and name of the product and the detectives did an excellent job with following up and found out that this product is sold only by Home Depot," Patterson said at a news conference Wednesday.
Security video shows Cornbleet's suspected killer both entering and leaving Cornbleet's office building.
Family members offered a $25, 000 reward and set up a MySpace page to gather tips. So far, there are few leads.
Police are now hoping the Home Depot video and the public's help in identifying the shopper will change that.
"This is someone we want to talk to," Patterson said.
Jon Cornbleet, the victim's son, believes this is the strongest lead yet.
"I think this is the big break that the case needed," Cornbleet said.
He has believed all along that this was not a random murder, and hopes this latest video prompts people to come forward, visit the MySpace page created about the case and call police.
As for a motive, Cornbleet believes the murderer had to have been someone who knew his father.
"It was obviously someone who had a great deal of anger toward my father," he said.
From the beginning, Chicago Police said a great deal of evidence was recovered from the murder scene. They will not, however, say what this item in question, purchased at the Home Depot, is.
Authorities were very grateful for the cooperation of Home Depot. They say they have scanned more than 25 videos of people who purchased the same item in Home Depot stores in Chicago and Northwest Indiana in the month before Cornbleet was murdered.
For now it is this purchaser on the tape they are anxious to locate.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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