Maurice HOLVOET

30 APR 1926 - 12 FEB 1998

• BIRTH: 30 APR 1926, South Bend, IN
• DEATH: 12 FEB 1998, South Bend, IN

• MARRIAGE: 24 JAN 1948, St Joseph County IN

1.  Jody HOLVOET
2.  Stacy HOLVOET
3.  Tracy HOLVOET

INDEX

[N10346] Maurice Holvoet

Birth 1926
South Bend, IN

Death Feb 1998 (aged 71-72)
South Bend,IN

Burial
Saint Joseph Valley Memorial Park
Granger, St. Joseph County, Indiana, USA
Memorial ID 176114783 · View Source
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Celebration ! Loss by prosecutor in last week's election seems just to family of 1990 homicide victim.

Barnes did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment about his defeat. The case that apparently helped defeat Barnes is known as the Osco pharmacy slayings. For most of two decades, St Joseph County Prosecutor Michael P Barnes had been the Democratic Party's ticket leader, easily winning election after election, helping ensure the victory of other Democrats. That changed last week. On Tuesday, St Joseph County's mostly Democratic voters dumped Barnes in favor of Christopher A Toth, a Republican whose only other foray into politics was a failed bid for circuit court judge. It turns out that while Barnes' national reputation had been growing Attorney General Janet Reno described him two years ago as "one of our nation's outstanding prosecutors" an unsolved, 8-year-old murder case might have come back to haunt him. "I think it's big in people's minds," said County Republican Chairman Todd Gardner. "Especially when the police say they know who did it, and the prosecutor won't prosecute." Three employees were found slain, execution-style on Aug 25, 1990, in the South Bend drugstore on Western Avenue. The victims were pharmacist Tracy Holvoet, 24, store manager Scott A Dick, 26, and clerk Connie Zalewski, 43. Police learned that a former store manager, who had moved to Indianapolis, had been seen near the store the day of the killings. And investigators seized on the man as their most likely suspect. But Barnes steadfastly refused to press charges. He insisted the evidence was circumstantial, and that he did not want to risk prosecuting the case until he had more solid evidence. Barnes argued that if he tried the case and lost, he could not retry the man later, even if better evidence came up. And since there's no statute of limitations for a murder prosecution, prosecution should wait until then. For families mourning the victims, though, Barnes hit the statute of limitations on their patience. Until his death in February, Holvoet's father, Maurice Holvoet, had kept pressing Barnes to file charges in the case. "They'd come up and say, 'I've never voted for a Republican in my life, but I'm voting for Chris Toth. For your family " Chris Holvoet, cousin of one of the Osco murder victims

Indianapolis Star
9 November 1998