Prosecutor Blames Poor Police Work For Acquittal

(Council Bluffs, IA)  —  The prosecutor says poor police work is to blame for the acquittal of a man who had been accused of killing his sister more than two decades ago.  Fifty-two-year-old Matt Kennedy was facing a first-degree murder charge after his arrest in Montana last October.  His sister, 22-year-old Kimberly Ratliff, was found dead in a car in January 1999.  Her throat had been slit.  Pottawatomie County Attorney Matt Wilber says the state’s case was hurt by the lack of police work done when the victim died.  Interviews were conducted or recorded soon after the crime occurred and Ratliff’s car disappeared from the Council Bluffs impound lot about 15 years ago and has never been recovered.