Cape man charged with 1996 shooting of police officer
Four years after allegedly shooting and killing a North Carolina police officer, a Cape Coral man was sentenced to prison for an unrelated armed robbery.
Scott Vincent Sica, 36, of 2059 Ottersrest Lane, is accused in the fatal shooting of Sgt. Gregory Keith Martin of the Jonesville Police Department, on Oct. 5, 1996. He was picked up Wednesday on a warrant for murder.
In January 2000, Sica was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison after being found guilty in Lee County of armed robbery with a firearm deadly weapon. He was released in November 2004, according to records.
At about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office came into contact with Sica at his Cape home, where he was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. He is being held at the Lee County Jail without bond.
Officials reported that the LCSO, Jonesville Police Department, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations and Federal Bureau of Investigation worked together the last several months in an effort to close the case.
On Oct. 5, 1996, Martin was on Interstate 77 when he radioed in a traffic stop at 2:42 a.m. on a red Dodge Ram pickup truck, according to information from the Jonesville PD. The suspect fatally shot Martin and fled the area.
The shooter reportedly later stole a van from the company Lucia.
The LCSO could not provide specifics on how Sica was tied to the crime.
In May 2005, the well-know television show “America’s Most Wanted” spotlighted the case. It re-aired the story two times the following year.
According to the show’s Web site, the Dodge truck had been stolen from a car dealership in Princeton, W.V. Witnesses reported that a man was looking at the truck on Oct. 1, 1996, days before its theft and the fatal shooting.
Composite drawings were created based on witness statements.
The Lucia van stolen the morning that Martin was shot was taken from a parking lot located approximately five miles from the crime scene.
In June 2009, a task force was created to look into the unsolved case.
The Jonesville PD could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Martin, 30, had been with the department for three years.
He left behind a wife and three children, according to authorities.