Police seek tips in Nielsen slaying

RALEIGH -- Raleigh police today renewed their request for information from the public one year after the unsolved slaying of newspaper carrier Jenna Nielsen.

"We want people to try to remember what they were doing that day," said Major Rick Grayson, the commander of the Detective Division, at a press conference this morning.

Nielsen, 22, of Fuquay-Varina was found stabbed to death in the early morning of June 14, 2007, behind the AmeriKing Food Mart and Exxon station near the State Farmers Market. She was delivering USA Today newspapers to the convenience store.

Police spokesman Jim Sughrue said police want people to contact them if they have information they have not previously provided, "no matter how important or unimportant it may seem to them -- especially if they were in the area surrounding the crime scene" at the time.

Detectives have documented more than 700 interviews and other contacts with people concerning the case in the past year, Sughrue said. They have received more than 1,000 tips.

Police remain confident that the case will be cleared by the arrest of the responsible suspect or suspects, he said.

"I would characterize this case as very solvable," Grayson said this morning.

Grayson, however, would not explain why police are confident, saying he could not discuss evidence.

Last year police released a sketch of an unidentified man and asked for the public's help in finding him. But today, Sughrue asked the news media not to print or broadcast the sketch, because it might have kept people from providing tips that could be helpful.

Sughrue said officers are continuing to seek information about the man who was seen nearby about the time of the crime. He was described as short ad slightly built and in his late teens or early twenties. His black hair was pulled back into a long ponytail. He was wearing a dark colored sleeveless shirt and baggy blue jeans shorts. His ethnicity is not known.

Grayson said officers do not know who the man is, but they would like to talk to him. In addition to local leads, the department has tracked a number of tips related to cases outside the Raleigh area, but none of the suspects in those other cases have been connected to the Nielsen case.

An autopsy determined Nielsen died as the result of a stab wound to the left side of her neck. Police recovered a knife from the scene, but Grayson would not say whether it was the weapon that killed Nielsen.

The Nielsen case has been featured on the television show "America's Most Wanted," and a reward of $15,000 has been offered for information leading to an arrest.

A detective is still assigned to the case, and a tip hot line remains up and running and is answered 24 hours a day, police said. That number is (919) 227-6220.

The family of Jenna Nielsen maintains a Web site, www.justice4jenna.org, which provides additional information.

Read The News & Observer on Sunday for a report on how Nielsen's family has been faring in the year since her death.