The Radio Detective

On July 15th at approximately 1643 hrs, deputies were dispatched to the Goble residence regarding a home invasion style robbery with an injured subject.

Upon arrival, contact was made with 75 year old Ruth Goble who had also been injured during the incident. She directed deputies to a back bedroom where William Ivan Goble was found deceased. He had been the victim of a gunshot wound to the torso.

Earlier, Mrs. Goble had been standing in the kitchen area of her residence when she saw a small red car pull into their driveway. Mrs. Goble thought that the car belonged to a former neighbor. When no one came to the front door, Mrs. Goble walked into the garage and saw the vehicle parked in the driveway. She saw that there were three subjects seated in the vehicle and called out to them to see if they were lost. Mrs. Goble was then immediately grabbed from behind and dragged back into the garage. While she struggled with the subject, the other three ran past her into the house through the garage door. Mrs. Goble was then dragged back into the house and thrown to the kitchen floor. She continued to struggle with the subject and at one point, bit him in the finger. The subject then struck her in the head with a handgun he was holding. Moments later, all of the subjects ran out of the house through the garage door.

Two pieces of jewelry were found at the scene. The first, a gold colored nugget type bracelet was located under Mr. Goble’s body. The second, a gold colored ring with a square, green colored stone in the center, was located in the driveway where the red car had been parked.

It was also later determined that Mr. Goble’s money clip had been stolen. It was described as having an older silver dollar on the clip itself, and another older silver dollar in the clip.

The subsequent investigation revealed that all four suspects were black males in their late teens to early twenties, and that the vehicle was a small or mid sized, red colored four door vehicle.

As the investigation progressed, it started to focus on four individuals who matched the descriptions given by Mrs. Goble.

On May 10, 2000, detectives arrested 23 year old Steven Andre Barber as being one of the suspects involved in Mr. Goble’s murder. Barber was held in custody through the preliminary hearing. Right before trial, he was released as the District Attorney’s Office did not feel there was enough evidence to get a guilty verdict. He remains free today.

It should be mentioned that during the time of the murder, there were several other take over style robberies and shootings in and around Fresno with similar suspects involved. Less than a week before the murder, four African American males were responsible for a home invasion robbery that occurred in an Easton area home. During that robbery, one of the suspects held a gun to a teenagers head while the other three stole items from the house. In March of 2006, four home invasion robberies were reported, one of which resulted in a homicide. At least two of those incidents involved suspects reported to be African American males.

Friends of the Gobles put together a reward fund of $5000 in an effort to help find the persons responsible for Mr. Goble’s death. The State Governor’s Office also has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person’s responsible.

theradiodetective@hotmail.com

All sources will be considered confidential.

Jerry Pearce
The Radio Detective