An Open Case
Ronald J. Abboud, forty at the time, a real estate broker in Omaha, Nebraska, was listed as missing on Oct. 28th, 1975. His body was found on November 1 of that year on a farm property his firm had listed to sell. He was shot three times in the back and was estimated to have been killed one to three days earlier.
A year and a half later two men, C. Michael Anderson and Peter Hochstein, were arrested for the killing. A year after that they were convicted of first degree murder for hire, the prosecution claiming that Anderson paid Hochstein $1500 to kill Abboud, Anderson's former boss. They were sentenced to death and spent twenty-three years on death row before their sentence was overturned on a technicality and they were resentenced to life in prison.
There were no witnesses to the killing, no murder weapon was ever found, and there was no physical evidence at the scene of the crime or in their homes or businesses linking Hochstein or Anderson to the murder. The only real evidence against them was the testimony of Lon Reams, a sometimes business partner of Anderson, who claimed that he had been present when Anderson and Hochstein had planned the murder and that he had picked Hochstein up from a mall after the killing.
A recent reinvestigation of the case has cast doubt on the truthfulness of Reams' testimony. Chief among the many discrepancies, inconsistencies and illogic of the supposed confession is the undeniable fact that Ron Abboud was alive many hours at least, if not several days after Reams claimed that he had been killed.
Do You Have Any Information About This Case?
A private, independent journalist is conducting the reinvestigation of Ron Abboud's murder. If you have information about the case you may contact him in the following ways:
You can send an email by clicking here
You can reach the investigator by phone at 917-623-8582
You can send regular mail to: Reellies Inc., 1659 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10029
All information will be held in the strictest of confidentiality. This investigator is not connected to any law enforcement agency.