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Attorney General To Join Probe Into Dentist's Murder

POSTED: 8:42 am EDT April 5, 2007
UPDATED: 6:08 pm EDT April 5, 2007

Nearly a year after a dentist was found slain in his home, the state attorney general's office is joining the stalled investigation.

Nobody has been charged in the April 13 slaying of Dr. John Yelenic of Blairsville, Indiana County.

District Attorney Robert Bell invited state prosecutors to help with the investigation because Bell said Wednesday his office doesn't have the resources necessary to solve the case.

"That is a very effective tool in case you have witnesses that you want to get in front of a jury and get a sworn statement by the witness," said Attorney General Tom Corbett. "We also have our own specialists. We have a number of attorneys that have done murder cases in the past, a number of investigators. They can provide assistance maybe from a different perspective."

Authorities have not specified how Yelenic died, though Yelenic family's has said he was found with his throat cut.

The dentist was found dead the day before he was supposed to sign and notarize papers finalizing a bitter divorce.

Yelenic's killing was the first homicide in Blairsville in more than 20 years.

The case drew additional attention last year when Yelenic's divorce attorney asked a county judge to issue a posthumous divorce decree, saying the dentist would have wanted it that way. The judge refused.

The $10,000 reward posters still hang in Blairsville. Yelenic's family has remained vigilant in supporting the investigation by getting the attention of local and even national media.

"We are not going away, and we are not going to stop," said Yelenic's cousin, Mary Anne Clark. "We will find out who did this."

Friends plan to hold a candlelight vigil for Yelenic on April 13.


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