February 7, 2018 at 5:00 p.m.
Minocqua man charged in cold case murder
Mendez accused of bludgeoning wife in 1982
Minocqua man charged in cold case murder
According to sheriff's captain Terri Hook, investigators decided several months ago to take a fresh look at the unsolved murder of Barbara Mendez of Minocqua.
Mendez, 33, was found bludgeoned to death at her place of employment, the former Park City Credit Union in Minocqua, the evening of April 28, 1982.
After re-interviewing multiple witnesses and combing through several boxes of information, Hook and the sheriff's department's detective bureau compiled a comprehensive report on the case and turned it over to district attorney Michael Schiek who filed a 36-page criminal complaint Tuesday charging Robin "Bob" Mendez, 69, of Minocqua, with the murder of his wife.
"This is an old case and the Oneida County Sheriff's Office has continued to work it," Schiek said in a press release announcing the arrest. "The Oneida County Sheriff's Office and the Oneida County District Attorney's Office have been working together for years to ensure the person who did this is held accountable. We feel, at this time, the evidence supports the arrest."
Mendez made his initial appearance Tuesday afternoon before Judge Patrick O'Melia. Appearing by video from the county jail, Mendez confirmed he had received a copy of the complaint and planned to hire a lawyer. Bail was set at $250,000 cash after Schiek expressed concern that Mendez could pose a flight risk and noted he has a criminal history that includes convictions for child sexual assault.
After setting bond, O'Melia announced he would recuse himself from the case and expects Branch II circuit judge Michael Bloom to do the same.
According to online court records, the district court administrator has appointed Judge Leon Stenz of Forest County to hear the case.
According to the complaint, Barbara Mendez was left alone in the credit union office, then located at U.S. Highway 51 and County J, [it has since been torn down] after the manager went home sick on April 28, 1982. She was expected to close up for the day at approximately 5 p.m.
This was the first and only time Mendez closed the credit union alone, according to a statement the manager gave investigators.
Computerized records show Mendez had begun entering the balance sheet, a key part of her closing activities, at 5:02 p.m. and finished at 5:13 p.m.
Approximately two hours later, the manager received a call from Robin Mendez reporting that Barbara was expected at the Assembly of God Church in Woodruff at 6:15 p.m. and had not arrived. According to the manager, Robin asked her to drive to the credit union office and look for Barabara. Although the church was actually closer to the credit union than her home, the manager agreed to go look for Barbara.
According to the complaint, the manager told investigators she immediately noticed Barbara's car was still in the credit union parking lot and became alarmed after realizing that the door to the office was unlocked. After walking inside, she discovered Barbara's body face down on the floor in front of the credit union's safe.
She later noted that a deposit bag containing approximately $2,700 was missing but approximately $17,000 was plainly visible in the open safe.
The first officer to respond to the scene, Norm McMahon (who later became Chief of Police in Minocqua), made the same observations, according to the complaint.
"Chief McMahon stated that he noted that the safe was open and a large amount of money was visible in the safe, which immediately led Chief McMahon to believe robbery had not been the motive for the murder," the complaint states.
McMahon also noted there were no signs of forced entry to the building and Mendez had no defensive wounds on her body.
After conducting an autopsy, forensic pathologist Dr. Robert W. Huntington III found Mendez died of "multiple blunt injuries, abrasions and lacerations to the head, with extensive skull fractures."
He theorized that the injuries were caused by a blunt instrument with a long striking surface "and there's a strong suggestion of an angle in an instrument," according to the complaint.
According to Chris Robinson, an expert forensics consultant who is retired from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the injuries found on the left side of Barbara's face and head are "consistent with being made by a flat, elongated tool" such as a pry bar or a Wonder Bar, tools that are routinely used in the furniture upholstery business. The family of Robin Mendez operates an upholstery business, the complaint notes.
"Robinson also stated that the injuries to Barbara Mendez were consistent with Barbara Mendez being struck from behind by a left-handed person," the complaint states. "Robinson stated that the evidence was consistent with Barbara Mendez being struck multiple times after being knocked to the ground."
The complaint does not explictly state a motive for the murder but it does include multiple statements from witnesses who were concerned that Robin Mendez was involved in an inappropriate relationship with a teenage girl in the months preceding the murder. In an interview with Hook, the female in question confirmed she became sexually active with Mendez in the summer of 1981 when she was 14 years old.
"(The witness) stated she was very much in love with Robin Mendez and believed everything he told her. (She) said Robin Mendez told (her) that (he) was going to marry her," the complaint states.
The witness also admitted to being jealous of Barbara and said "we (herself and Robin Mendez) both said that we wished she (Barbara Mendez) was dead or that we wished she'd get into a car accident or something, just so that we could be with each other," the complaint states.
The witness also told police Mendez told her that getting a divorce would make him look like a "bad guy" in the church and that the Bible forbids divorce.
She also told police she went to the Mendez home with her father the night of the murder and when she asked Mendez how he was doing he responded "I'm footloose and fancy free now."
She also said he only cried when his daughters were in the room and kept looking at her when no one else was paying attention. Mendez was later convicted of sexual assault stemming from his ongoing sexual relations with the teen.
One of the stumbling blocks in the investigation over the years has been alibi statements made by the Mendez daughters, Dawn, who was 13 on the day her mother was killed, and Christy, who was 11, placing their father at home at the time of the murder. However, the women now say their father manipulated and coached them to the point that their memories are too "convoluted to give an accurate recounting of the timeframes" of that day, the complaint states.
"Over the years, the daughters, as they've grown older, have realized that their father was coaching them and creating a timeline for them so that they could give him an alibi," Hook told the River News "They were only 11 and 13 at the time of the murder so it would be easy for him to convince them of what time things really happened."
In a telephone interview with the River News, local attorney John Hogan, who was district attorney in 1982, said he was pleased to hear that Robin Mendez has been charged and noted the importance of the alibi statements made by the Mendez daughters
"I am very surprised and pleased because this was the one case that wasn't solved during my tenure as district attorney," he said. "I am happy that this cold case may finally come to an end."
"It was a difficult case, we spent many, many, many hours trying to get to the bottom of it," he added. "The biggest problem was that his daughters always said he was home with them."
Both women, Dawn Mendez Shape and Christy Mendez Wadas, were present in court Tuesday for their father's bond hearing and they issued a prepared statement to the media afterward.
"We deeply love and miss our mom and are so grateful this day has finally come," Wadas said. "We are so thankful to the Oneida County sheriff's office and district attorney for bringing justice for her and her family. In addition, we'd like to honor Captain Terri Hook for her diligence, dedication and determination in leading this investigation with excellence and passion."
Hook noted that numerous investigators have worked the case over the years and said it is deeply gratifying to finally bring Mendez to a courtroom to be judged by his peers.
Hook also stressed that sheriff Grady Hartman gave her team the time and resources to fully re-examine the case (half of the detective bureau focused solely on this investigation for two weeks leading up to the arrest) and noted that while the case is circumstantial in nature investigators believe it is convincing.
"This case is not a case that's built on a confession or DNA," she noted. "There's a lot of circumstantial evidence that's been pieced together and put into a concise format so that the district attorney can understand the timeline and the evidence out there so that we can bring it together to have it prosecuted. Lots of cases are solved that are primarily circumstantial."
Hartman said it was very satisfying to see a cold case like this one finally make its way to a courtroom.
"I couldn't be happier with the effort that I saw out of all our detectives and Terri Hook and the tenacity of the Mendez family to seek justice over and over again," he said outside the courtroom. "It's very impressive."
Val Mindak, president and CEO of Park City Credit Union, thanked investigators for their diligence in investigating the long-ago murder.
"It's a 36-year-old cold case and we're pleased to see that's its reopened," she said. "We hope the findings provide some resolution for the family of Barbara Mendez."
In their remarks, Wadas and Shape urged others whose loved ones have been murdered to not give up and to continue to communicate with law enforcement.
"Though this sojourn has been very long and arduous, and many times it's been way more than we can bear, there has been some constants through it all," Shape said. "We have great hope in a God who is always good and though many are grateful for the closure this brings to us, we truly see this as a bridge to a new beginning where hope fills us, where faith keeps us, where love compels us, and most of all where redemption lives."
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at jamie @rivernewsonline.com.
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