Social Security number solves 1983 cold case

After searching for nearly two dozen years, investigators finally found the man they had always suspected in a southwest Houston homicide. And all it took was his Social Security number.

A Harris County jury this week convicted Orlando Croublet of murder, agreeing with prosecutors that he stabbed to death Eduardo Chaviano during a steak-and-beer dinner.

Croublet's Social Security number was on a payment stub. But investigators never entered that information into a criminal database that searches for suspects.

Last August, Houston police Sgt. Lisa Cruz was helping archive evidence in the crime lab and property room when she realized, unlike many of the other cold cases, the Chaviano slaying had a suspect.

She sorted through the evidence in the 1983 slaying, found the small payment stub, entered the Social Security number into the FBI's National Crime Information Center, and got a hit.

She spent three months comparing mugshots and fingerprints from Chicago, Miami, and Louisiana police departments to make sure it was the Croublet wanted in Houston.

"I just got lucky," Cruz said. "It was about unfolding all of the pieces to the puzzle."

Harris County Assistant District Attorney Wendy Baker said she was not sure why the number was not entered when the investigators suspected Croublet shortly after the slaying.

There were at least 27 efforts in locating Croublet throughout the years, she said. She said Croublet, now 51, has evaded arrest using variations of his name and at least three different birthdates.

The NCIC database has been operative since 1967, and has been the centralized system for law enforcement agencies nationwide.

The agency's Web site lists that an entry for a wanted person must include a name, known vehicle information and at least one of many identifying numbers — including a Social Security number, birthdate and the original agency case number.

Defense attorney Jim Leitner said investigators were careless when they did not enter the Social Security number.

They also failed to enter the date of birth on Croublet's Texas ID card — which was their source for Croublet's photo — and chose to use the date on Croublet's paper license. The ID had the date right.

"The officers that worked this case did nothing to find him," Leitner said. "They just sat on the warrant."

Croublet has been in prisons throughout the country, and has been detained twice by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Leitner said. If the correct information had been in NCIC, Croublet would have been caught years ago, he said.

Leitner argued that Croublet did not know there was a warrant for his arrest until the police picked him up in Calcasieu Parish, La., in December, and has no knowledge of the slaying.

The person that should have been investigated from the beginning, the defense attorney said, is Donald Blunt, now 56.

Homeless at the time, Blunt testified this week that he had been invited by Chaviano for dinner, and Croublet attacked him as he was getting something to drink in the kitchen. Chaviano intervened. Blunt got away, but Croublet dragged Chaviano to the back room, Blunt said.

Chaviano, 30, was found with a knife piercing through his chest, into his lung, and a stab wound in the head — where the medical examiner later found a knife tip jammed in the brain, testified Ana Lopez, a Harris County medical examiner — based on the 1983 autopsy report.

HPD homicide investigators immediately zeroed in on Croublet after speaking to Blunt and a witness — who now cannot be found — told them the suspect and victim had worked on a car together the day before.

The car contained a pay stub and ticket with Croublet's name on it. They obtained a warrant, but could not find Croublet.

Leitner said the situation was a robbery gone bad by Blunt, a man who had been convicted of robbery once before the killing and again three months after.

He will argue to an appellate court that Croublet was denied his right to a speedy trial. He said 24 years later, he was denied the right to expose a star state witness's criminal past.

"Defense attorney Jim Leitner said investigators were careless when they did not enter the Social Security number. "They also failed to enter the date of birth on Croublet's Texas ID card "The officers that worked this case did nothing to find him," Leitner said. "They just sat on the warrant."

Hey, Police pay comes in every two weeks. What the heck. You think anyone is going to be fired, disciplined, fined for cheating the public out of pay money for services not rendered? Nah, that's for peons.

Croublet has been in prisons throughout the country, and has been detained twice by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Leitner said.

It would be nice to have more information about those two detainments, especially since he has been in prisons throughout the country.

"...What the heck. You think anyone is going to be fired, disciplined, fined for cheating the public out of pay money for services not rendered...?"

When I first started working for the Sheriff's office, burglary ("house-breaking") was rampant. The media told everyobody to put their SSN on everything not nailed down.

Later we learned that the Social Security Administration would not reveal—even to a police department—the name that went to that number! I'm thinking the rules have been changed due to the WOT: hence the "hit" this year on the old case SSN.

About 20 years ago, the then Governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis ordered his people to issue fake SSN to illegal immigrants so that they could get benefits. And they did.

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