Holiday Inn Fire: 34 Years Later
By: Ashley Zilka
Updated: November 26, 2012
34 years ago tonight, a fire ripped through a Holiday Inn in Greece killing 10 people and injuring dozens more. At first, it was considered an accident but later it was ruled arson. Last year, Greece police reopened the investigation.
Now, the case is moving forward. In the last year, they've received more than 200 leads and they just met with the district attorney.
After 34 years, the 1978 Holiday Inn fire is still the biggest homicide case ever in Monroe County.
"It was deemed an arson. That makes it a murder of 10 people and the right thing to do is investigate it," said Greece Police Chief, Todd Baxter.
The case was reopened last year. Greece Chief, Todd Baxter, wanted to look at the evidence with modern technology. He says it's something the community deserves.
"I was getting calls from people from Canada still looking for answers after all these years of family members that were lost and I really didn't have a lot of answers for them so I wanted to do it right and do it at our own pace," said Baxter.
Within the past year, there have been more than 220 new leads. Plus, there have been more than 100 interviews with first responders, firefighters and people who stayed in the hotel on November 26, 1978.
"We are pretty happy. We have done some good investigations and presented information to the district attorney just a few short weeks ago. She has asked for us to do a little more work on the investigation process that were currently doing, and we are doing some of that with the ATF down in Virginia and they are doing some evidence gathering for us still," said Baxter.
While the case isn't solved, Baxter believes it was important to take another look.
"As a police chief, I wouldn't be putting this time and resources into this investigation unless I thought there was hope, and hope is usually based on some grounding, so we are pretty excited about it," said Baxter.
Chief Baxter says he will investigate every lead they get and they are still looking for people who were there that night in 1978. All you have to do is call 911.
Now, the case is moving forward. In the last year, they've received more than 200 leads and they just met with the district attorney.
After 34 years, the 1978 Holiday Inn fire is still the biggest homicide case ever in Monroe County.
"It was deemed an arson. That makes it a murder of 10 people and the right thing to do is investigate it," said Greece Police Chief, Todd Baxter.
The case was reopened last year. Greece Chief, Todd Baxter, wanted to look at the evidence with modern technology. He says it's something the community deserves.
"I was getting calls from people from Canada still looking for answers after all these years of family members that were lost and I really didn't have a lot of answers for them so I wanted to do it right and do it at our own pace," said Baxter.
Within the past year, there have been more than 220 new leads. Plus, there have been more than 100 interviews with first responders, firefighters and people who stayed in the hotel on November 26, 1978.
"We are pretty happy. We have done some good investigations and presented information to the district attorney just a few short weeks ago. She has asked for us to do a little more work on the investigation process that were currently doing, and we are doing some of that with the ATF down in Virginia and they are doing some evidence gathering for us still," said Baxter.
While the case isn't solved, Baxter believes it was important to take another look.
"As a police chief, I wouldn't be putting this time and resources into this investigation unless I thought there was hope, and hope is usually based on some grounding, so we are pretty excited about it," said Baxter.
Chief Baxter says he will investigate every lead they get and they are still looking for people who were there that night in 1978. All you have to do is call 911.
