News

Five charged in 2001 murder of Michigan armored carrier

December 26, 2004

The Detroit News: On Dec. 27, FBI agents arrested two suspects in the Dec. 14, 2001 murder of Norman Anthony Stephens, a 30-year-old father of six children who was shot repeatedly as he was refilling an ATM at a Dearborn, Mich., credit union in the early morning hours.

Three others in state custody were charged in the federal case, which could carry the death penalty. Eleven days before Christmas in 2001, three hooded men opened fire on Stephens and stole $204,000.

Despite an extensive three-year investigation by the Detroit FBI and Dearborn police, the case remained unsolved until agents got a break in August -- an inmate wrote a letter claiming a fellow prisoner had admitted to the crime.

FBI Special Agent Barry Higginbotham said in an affidavit that the men also are believed to be responsible for a June 2003 robbery of an armored car at a Comerica Bank in Detroit in which the men shot at the car and escaped with $170,000.