Gibbons Case

Timeline created by DemocratAndChronicle

Timeline Text view

Event Date:	Event Title:	Event Description:
12/02/1987	Unsolved murder	Damien McClinton, a Genesee Brewery employee, is shot to death at the company's Ferrano Street facility as he was ending his work shift. Police considered the slaying a possible Irish Republican Army assassination. Thomas O'Connor, a retired Rochester police officer, worked for the Brewery as a security guard and was questioned in the case. Read the Democrat and Chronicle's 1987 coverage of the case.
01/05/1993	Brink's Robbery	Masked gunmen enter the Brink's armored car depot, tie up two guards, and make off with $7.4 million in cash. One of the guards, 55-year old Thomas O'Connor, is abducted by the robbers and released a short time later. O'Connor, a retired Rochester police officer, was suspected of beng an "inside man" in the heist. Read articles from the morning after the robbery and following days.
11/11/1993	Arrests in Brinks case	FBI agents arrest three men in connection with the Brink's robbery. Thomas O'Connor is the only person charged with the robbery itself. Rev. Patrick Moloney and Samuel Millar are charged with receiving the stolen money. All three allegedly have links to groups that supported the Irish Republican Army. Read O'Connor's statement to police and the criminal complaint.
05/18/1994	Indictments issued	A grand jury indicts Thomas O'Connor on five counts related to the Brink's robbery, and Patrick Moloney and Samuel Millar (pictured) on three counts each. Read the Grand Jury indictment
11/28/1994	Verdicts in Brink's trial	A jury convicts Millar and Moloney on all counts and acquits O'Connor (pictured). Read verdict coverage from Democrat & Chronicle. Trial transcripts: Thomas O'Connor: pt 1, pt 2 Leonard Hatton, FBI agent Brian Murphy, NYPD detective Patrick Farrelly, reporter
03/01/1995	Sentencing for Millar, O'Connor	Samuel Millar is given the maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for his role in the Brink's robbery. Father Patrick Moloney receives a sentence of 51 months.
08/10/1995	Gibbons disappears from Greece restaurant	Ten months after the Brink's trial ends, Ronnie Gibbons borrows a car to drive from New York City to Rochester. He tells the car's owner that he believed $5 million in missing loot from the heist was still in the city and he wanted a cut. A witness recalls seeing Gibbons get out of his car in the parking lot of Applebee's restaurant on West Ridge Road and leave with another person. Gibbons didn't return for his car and wasn't publicly seen again.
09/04/1996	Missing persons report filed	More than a year after Ronnie Gibbons disappears, a missing persons report is filed with Greece police. The report mentions that Gibbons is the subject of an FBI investigation. Read the missing persons report.
06/08/1999	Foot found in Cape Vincent	On June 9, 1999 hikers find a New Balance runner's sneaker with a sock and foot in it on the shore of Lake Ontario at Mud Bay in Cape Vincent, NY.
09/03/2000	Torso found in Cape Vincent	A hiker finds a human torso on Grenadier Island in Lake Ontario, Jefferson County, NY. DNA testing links it to a foot found nearby fifteen months earlier. Flyer from the Doe Network seeking information.
08/24/2011	Body exhumed in Jefferson County	Officials in Jefferson County exhume remains that were found along the Lake Ontario shore in 1999 and 2000. They hope that DNA testing can determine whether the remains are those of Ronnie Gibbons, missing since 1995.
11/20/2011	Remains identified	DNA testing confirms the remains found in Jefferson County belong to Ronnie Gibbons. Dr. Michael Baden, the renowned forensics pathologist conducted the initial examination.