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Great News For The Sgt Chris Reyka Murder Case!!!
Posted: July 2, 2013
Evidence collected in the last 18 months suggests that Shawn Labeet, who was killed in a shootout with police the following month, may have been involved in Reyka’s slaying.
Reyka, 51, was gunned down in a Pompano Beach Walgreens parking lot.
BSO declined to release any further information about their evidence.
Although Labeet is dead, the reward of $278,225 remains.
Detectives ask that anyone who knows Labeet’s friends, or saw him with a gun, or saw him in a white vehicle should call a tip-line at 954-880-3950.
Labeet spent many years living in Miami-Dade under the alias of Kevin Wehner. He had a fraudulent driver’s license, and when he was stopped by police, he received traffic tickets and even paid them. He also purchased firearms under this alias and completed the necessary paperwork to comply with federal law.
BSO homicide detectives have been able to determine that Labeet had strong ties to Broward County, specifically the Palm Aire community in Pompano Beach, which was not far from the murder scene. He also had ties to the Oakland Park area, where the license plate on the suspect vehicle was stolen.
More importantly, detectives believe that Labeet, who went to high school in Oakland Park and had friends and associates in Pompano Beach and Oakland Park, was near the Walgreens, 960 S. Pompano Parkway, on the night of Aug.10. Two witnesses have given sworn statements placing Labeet at a business and an apartment complex the night Reyka was murdered.
It was a murder that weighed heavily on his BSO colleagues.
Investigators traveled overseas to check out new forensic technology. More investigators were added to the team. During his swearing-in ceremony in January, Sheriff Scott Israel said the solving of the Reyka’s slaying was one of his four priorities. Former Sheriff Al Lamberti wore a replica of Reyka’s badge number 9463 near his own sheriff’s star.
However, in nearly six years of investigating, deputies have not been able to arrest the gunman who sprayed Reyka with bullets from a semi-automatic weapon before disappearing into darkness.
Reyka, on patrol, had pulled into the parking lot of the Walgreens and noticed a suspicious car. He entered the license tag F168UJ into his computer system and stepped out of his cruiser.
That’s when the killer opened fire, striking him five times. Moments later, surveillance footage showed an American-made, white, four-door sedan pulling away.
Deputies believed the murder weapon was tossed into a canal. Divers scoured nearby waterways. They found several guns but none matched ballistics taken from the bullets that struck Reyka.
The shootout Labeet had with Miami-Dade police was just 34 days after the murder of Sgt. Reyka. Police officers working a crime suppression operation tried pulling him over in his own neighborhood. Labeet kept driving, and then went into his home where he armed himself with an assault rifle and shot four police officers.
One officer, Jose Somohano, was killed. Later that day, Miami-Dade police tracked Labeet to an apartment complex in Pembroke Pines, and Labeet was shot and killed by the Miami-Dade SWAT team.
Miami-Dade police were not able to uncover a clear motive for what led to Labeet’s actions.
Reyka was sworn in as a BSO deputy in 1999 after the sheriff’s office took over the Pompano Beach department. He had a decorated career and received several commendations. He reached the rank of sergeant in June 2004 and began working the night shift.
Reyka, who lived in Wellington with his wife Kim, was the father of four: Ashley, Sean, Autumn and Spencer.
Sean Reyka has followed in his father’s footsteps, and was sworn in as a BSO deputy last September.
Brian Donnelly / 954-695-0260