GONE COLD: Killer of off-duty police officer remains unknown nearly 50 years later

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - Almost 50 years ago a Charleston family lost a husband, father and sworn officer of the law but despite countless detectives’ efforts to track down the killer of William “Bill” Cribb, they’ve never been brought to justice.

“Many, many people really wanted to solve that case,” Special Operations Captain Paul Tittle with the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office. “When a law enforcement officer loses his life. That’s basically an attack on our society.”

Tittle was also a close friend and neighbor of the Cribb family.

He’s joined a long list of investigators, including some of the most high-profile in Lowcountry law enforcement like former Sheriff Al Cannon, to look into the case.

“There was tremendous pressure outside and internal pressure to find the people that committed this murder,” Cannon said in previous interviews.

The late former State Representative Mickey Whatley, then a Charleston County officer, and the late former North Charleston Police Chief Eddie Driggers have also investigated the case.

At one point, a private investigator was brought on, who suggested that it was possible the suspects had connections to other areas, like New York City, and had fled the area.

No one has been successful in finally closing the case. It remains the only unsolved officer murder in the tri-county area.

The investigation is now on Detective Barry Goldstein’s desk.

“It was a bad situation,” he said. “These guys are heroes.”

Cribb had been with the Charleston County Police Department for three years before his death. His legacy now lives on within the agency, now the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, on its walls and in its memorial garden.

“I honestly believe that this case, if it is ever solved, it will be solved with science,” Tittle said.

Tittle worked with the Cribbs to create a DNA profile for Bill, separating his from other DNA collected on evidence.

Goldstein says there was “an excessive amount of blood” at the crime scene and casings collected. He says he’s sent off additional evidence to be examined.

“It’s just a matter of if we put something together along with if somebody comes forward where we can corroborate what we need to get into a courtroom and have a successful prosecution,” Goldstein said.

Armed robbery turned deadly

On Nov. 15, 1974, Bill Cribb and fellow officer Grover Tompkins were preparing for a cookout and headed to the Red and White store on Folly and Camp Road. Cribb would ultimately pay for the trip with his life.

“I have never forgotten that night, most awful night of my life,” Winifred Cribb recalled during a 2010 interview.

She died never knowing who killed her son.

Both officers were off duty at the time, but the store became the target of an armed robbery with three suspects. Two were up front, a third was acting as a lookout.

“It’s early in the evening, 6:45 is early. There’s a lot of traffic going in and out of that store and for three people to come in.. it’s pretty brazen,” Goldstein said.

Both officers jumped into action. But they didn’t see the third suspect coming. And that’s what cost Cribb his life. They shot him in the chest and left him to die. They got away with $5,000 in blood-soaked cash.

Around the same time, crowds were gathered for a football game just blocks away at James Island High School, which is now Camp Road Middle School.

“Anybody who may have been at that game, anybody that lived in that surrounding neighborhood or even still lives there has heard or saw anything or even heard somebody recently talking about it. We’d like to know about it,” Tittle said.

Sketches of the suspects failed to garner any tips.

Cribb left behind a family, his young daughter, his pregnant wife Carolyn Carrasquillo.

“I would like to know what they were thinking. How they felt to take a life, to know that someone has died, to know that they did it,” she said in a 2010 interview.

Remembering the father he never met

Six months after the shooting that took Cribb’s life, his wife gave birth to a baby boy. A son they were planning to celebrate with a cookout that Cribb was getting supplies for the night he died.

“I feel a little, oddly enough, a little guilty,” William “Tommy” Cribb Jr. said. “You wonder what would have been.”

He never knew his father, but says his family was sure to pass down every story.

“They say he wanted to help people,” he said. “For a time he was a boat captain and he decided to give up being a boat captain because he wanted to be a police officer.”

Cribb hasn’t followed in his father’s career footsteps, choosing a more artistic route, but says his final sacrifice has inspired him.

“He did what he believed was right and what needed to be done,” he said. " I mean, it cost him his life. But you know, he was doing his duty. I just try to be the best person I can be.”

Anyone with information is asked to directly contact Detective Goldstein at 843-554-2241 and bgoldstein@charlestoncounty.org or to call the main Sheriff’s Office line at 843-202-1700.

You can also call Lowcountry Crime Stoppers at 843-554-1111.

Watch extended interviews and more archive footage from the case on the free Live 5+ streaming TV app.

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