AMBOY,Indiana — Wednesday evening, a cold case bank robbery investigation by Indiana State Police Detective Josh Maller resulted in the arrest of William Stinemetz, 52, Palm City, Florida. Indiana State Trooper Jessie Reason served Stinemetz with a Miami Circuit Court arrest warrant alleging a felony charge for robbery with a deadly weapon. The warrant was served at the Fulton County Jail (IN) where Stinemetz is currently incarcerated on criminal charges stemming from Fulton County.
On December 18, 1997 at approximately 3:37 p.m., police officers responded to an active hold up alarm at the First Farmers Bank and Trust located on 101 Main Street, Amboy, IN. When officers arrived, the suspect had already exited the bank. A subsequent search of the area did not reveal the suspect who had escaped with United States’ currency.
The initial investigation by detectives from the Indiana State Police revealed that a white male approximately 5’09” tall, weighing approximately 200 pounds, with brown hair entered the bank and indicated he had a handgun. He allegedly demanded money from a bank teller. The teller complied with the request and the man exited the bank and purportedly ran to a vehicle. The suspect was last seen wearing gold tinted glasses, a blue bib snow suit, and a brown sock cap.
Despite efforts by detectives from the Indiana State Police to identify the bank robbery suspect, the case went stale. Evidence which had been collected during the initial phase of the investigations was submitted to an Indiana State Police Laboratory for DNA analysis. The results were entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). A subsequent search of CODIS revealed an alleged match to Stinemetz.
The DNA evidence and previous evidence gathered during the investigation, led to officers presenting enough probable cause to obtain an arrest warrant for Stinemetz.