Jasper County Sheriff John Halferty issued a press release Tuesday afternoon announcing the sheriff’s office has been working with TNT’s “Cold Justice” on the Copper Dollar Ranch cold case murders since December of 2012 and that an episode on the murders will air Friday, March 21.
“The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office has utilized many resources while investigating the homicides of Steven Fisher and Melisa Gregory,” Halferty stated in the news release. “The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office and the Jasper County Attorney’s Office both made the decision that ‘Cold Justice’ could offer resources, experience, insight and guidance to the investigation. Members of ‘Cold Justice’ offered over 40 years of homicide investigation experience, equipment and technology, and prior successful prosecutions of numerous cold case homicides.”
Authorities have not specified what led to the break in the 31-year-old cold case.
“There will be no additional comments, in order to ensure that Theresa Supino receives a fair trial,” Halferty concluded in the statement.
The bodies of Fisher, 20, and Gregory, 17, were found shortly before 8 a.m. March 3, 1983, at the former Copper Dollar Ranch, located about four miles northwest of Newton. Both died as a result of multiple “chop wounds” — 13 to Fisher’s head and 17 to Gregory’s face and head — by a heavy-edged instrument, according to court documents.
Supino, 53, of Altoona and formerly of Newton, was charged Monday with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the case. Supino was married to but separated from Fisher at the time of his death, and Fisher and Gregory had been in an ongoing dating relationship with each other.
Supino will appear in court for a preliminary hearing at 9:30 a.m. March 10.