Detroit's Question

At 1:40 a. m. last July 23, Gerald E. ("Jerry") Buckley, radio announcer, sat in the lobby of the La Salle Hotel in Detroit. He had just finished broadcasting the returns of the referendum which recalled Mayor Charles Bowles from office (TiME, Aug. 4). Jerry Buckley's political broadcasts had made him a marked man in the city. One of Mayor Bowles's severest critics, he had vehemently advocated recall. His life had been threatened. As he sat in the hotel lobby, three men came up and shot him eleven times. Thousands went to his funeral. For weeks feeling ran high in Detroit. The Governor flew over from Lansing to direct the investigation of the murder. From August to last January a special, hand-picked grand jury sifted evidence, some of which later tentled to show that Jerry Buckley had not led a blameless life. The jury indicted Ted Pizzino, Joseph Bommarito and Angelo Livecchi for the murder. All three had been apprehended soon after the killing. Last week, after the trial jury had heard testimony for 34 days and deliberated for 33 hours, a verdict was reached in the Buckley murder case: not guilty. Defendants Livecchi and Pizzino were instantly arrested for other crimes. Still unanswered was Detroit's question--"Who killed Jerry Buckley, and why?"

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