A man who has reportedly told police he is an accomplice in the murder of a suburban Detroit mother is now changing his story.
Published reports say the man initially told investigators he was paid by Jane Bashara’s husband, Bob, to kill the mother of two. But as George Hunter, Crime Reporter for the Detroit News, tells HLN’s Vinnie Politan, that’s not what the suspect is now saying.
“Now he’s saying he was forced to [kill Jane Bashara] at gunpoint,” says Hunter. “That he did choke her in the garage and somebody forced him to do it by gunpoint.”
The 56-year-old woman was found strangled and beaten in the backseat of her Mercedes SUV on January 25. Her body was discovered just eight miles away from her home in Grosse Pointe Parke.
Bob Bashara spoke to reporters in front of his home with his son, Robert, and his mother by his side. He thanked the community for its support as he took a moment to wipe away tears.
“Everyone needs to know how absolutely wonderful and how much this has meant, but they’ll never know,” says Bashara. “We have cooperated with law enforcement agencies and will continue to do so.”
Bashara refused to answer any questions from the press on the alleged suspect in the case and any ties he may have to this individual.
His attorney David Griem says Bashara does know the man who claims to be an accomplice and has, in fact, already given this man’s name to police.
“He was asked if he knew of any potential suspects, and Mr. Bashara gave them a short list of individuals,” Griem tells the Detroit Free Press. “And this person was on that list.”
Bashara says he arrived at his home around 8:00 p.m. on the night of January 24. When he realized his wife wasn’t there, he assumed she was running errands. But when Jane didn’t come home by 11 p.m., Bob said he became worried and called police.
Authorities have been investigating Bob Bashara and brought him in for a polygraph test on January 27. While he spoke to investigators that night, police searched his home with a warrant and removed computers and photos. Griem says his client passed that polygraph, as well as a lie detector test given by an independent administrator. Police say the results of their test were inconsistent.
But Griem says any theory of an alleged accomplice paid by Bashara is an approach that will quickly lose credibility with investigators.
“If this is the horse that the prosecution is going to ride on in this case,” Griem tells affiliate WDIV, “That horse is lame and that horse is never gonna get to the finish line.”
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