The U.S. Justice Department has turned down a request by the state conference of NAACP branches to investigate the slaying of Glenn Lamont Jones, a case that has baffled county authorities.
"We believe there is insufficient evidence at this point to suggest there is any violation of federal criminal civil rights statutes," said Myron Marlin, a department spokesman. "If any further evidence comes to light, we would welcome that evidence."
State and county officials of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said authorities have not done enough to solve what they consider the "racially motivated" and "execution-style" killing of Mr. Jones, who was black.
"We are not confident that the law enforcement agency handling the investigation has the capacity or motivation to develop leads from what has become a cold trail," W. Gregory Wims wrote in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno in May. Mr. Wims is stepping down tomorrow as president of the Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches.
The victim's mother, Edna Jones of Aberdeen, said she accepted the NAACP's offer of help in pressing the investigation of her son's killing because she does not want his death to be forgotten.
"I'm not a pushy person, and I understand that my son's case is not the only case they have to work on," she said. "I just don't want them to feel that it is dropped."
A spokesman for the Harford County sheriff's office said officers are vigorously investigating the slaying of Mr. Jones.
"The case has been actively pursued," said Sgt. Edward Hopkins, a sheriff's office spokesman. "The problem is, the information just isn't there."
A muskrat trapper found Mr. Jones' body in a cornfield off Oakington Road near Aberdeen on Feb. 24, 46 days after his wife reported to Havre de Grace police that he was missing. She could not be reached for comment.
The 25-year-old Havre de Grace resident had been shot several times in the head and appeared to have been killed where he was found, the sheriff's office said. He last was seen early Jan. 8, near Tim's Tavern in the 400 block of St. John's Street in Havre de Grace.
The Aberdeen High School graduate worked at the Pepsi Cola plant in Havre de Grace and often went to Tim's Tavern, his mother said. He had been married less than four months when he disappeared.
