Captain John McCoy
Appearances
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
I think he just felt some work needed to be done on it and then passed it to my chief. He then took a look at the pictures and the story surrounding it and just something just didn't sit right. He's like, wow, you know, there's some things that really need to be kind of looked into here.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
At which time the department made an effort to pitch this to the medical examiner's office to get the death certificate overturned, allowing us to try to get answers for the family. Because meanwhile, you know, they were asking for answers for all these years. And this is just our attempt to hopefully try and give them some answers.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
And they tried their attempts to work on it from 2001 to 2008. But the nature of the beast being the small town, the small resource that we have, not making excuses, but things come in. And we try to work it as hard and as long as we can. There's a lot of knocking on some doors, trying to talk to some people that were around that time.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
But as far as formal interviews and recordings, that doesn't really happen.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
It kind of stayed kind of in limbo based on the facts that you see there until about 2008 when it was reviewed, you know, by myself. You know, you just take one look at it in its totality and you're like... Wow. I'm reading statements and you're going like, where's the... And you're just like, you're wanting to do better, to do more.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
I mean, you just see the pictures of the scene and you automatically have 101 questions. And then you read the report and you got 101 more. And if your main suspect in this break-in is John, he's going to walk these guns in October in Rhode Island, dark.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
multiple you know long guns and everything that from that point to where he was you know through neighborhoods or on the streets or even on a trail for that matter i mean i think your your automatic assumption is when you see that as an investigator like you know something you're right i think it'd be difficult to walk and i think it'd be difficult not to be seen
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
You're thinking, oh, we're going to put this on social media. We're going to get all these wonderful tips. Nothing. Facebook garnered absolutely no leads whatsoever for me. The department hasn't shied away from any platform to try to bring attention to this case in hopes that maybe that one phone call will come in. Because a lot of these hinge on just literally that one detail.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
I'm convinced that they know exactly what I need to know, the final puzzle piece to bring closure to the Phillips family and tell them exactly what happened to their son, their brother, their uncle.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
I mean, the scene itself, you know, it's just, there's a wow factor to it. You know, I mean, there was definitely a dramatic flair to it.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
When a case gets reopened like this one has, I think it can unnecessarily instill fear in the wrong people. We're not here to unnecessarily prosecute people. We just want to know the truth. And we're right there. It's just... Those people need to feel comfortable and know that people have their best interests at heart. I'm just looking to get the facts, the truth.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
And I agree with the Phillips family that that answer truly needs to come out sooner rather than later.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
While this activity is going on, a younger person happened to come from walking from one of the neighborhoods close by and recognize that, hey, that looks like John Phillips, who lives down in the Pottawatomie area. In that particular area, a lot of the kids knew each other. When we find out he's from Potawatomi, we don't have an address.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
So an officer is sent down there to kind of knock on some doors. He eventually finds out that John Phillips lives in Potawatomi.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
And, you know, her response was, possibly could be.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
Everybody seemed to like him. No matter who you talked to, who I've talked to, John was always like the life of the party. He had his ups and downs, but it wasn't as like this was going to happen.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
At that break-in, it's discovered that multiple firearms had been taken from that particular home. The person who had reported it and had been watching over the house, when asked if there was a suspect in the break-in, he provides the name John Phillips. In short order, they were able to figure out that the firearms that were with John did in fact come from that Woodlawn address.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
So that was the connection that was ultimately made.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
Kind of a rainy, dismal night. Around 7 o'clock, this guy Rich sees John walking down the road. Knows John, pulls over and says, hey, do you want to come watch the World Series game? Now, again, this is the seventh game of the World Series, the big game for any Red Sox fans here. We're supposedly going to break the Bambino curse, you know, the Mets versus the Red Sox.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
It wasn't like a rager. You know, it was a bunch of people watching a game and having a few drinks.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
John walked everywhere. That was his style. So I guess it wasn't out of the ordinary for John to do that. Whether or not he said bye, everyone that I've had the privilege of speaking with basically said, no, they didn't hear, you know, bye-bye, see you later. That he just wasn't around. And they give that 10 to 10.30 timeframe as to when he's nowhere to be found.
The Deck
John Phillips (Jack of Diamonds, Rhode Island)
If something gets interjected like a suicide, when people start to put the puzzle pieces to fit that particular narrative... the investigation kind of loses its course.