Still, Spellman and the other detectives pressed forward. On the morning of June 11, two homicide detectives interviewed LaBranche at his girlfriend’s house. LaBranche claimed that, on the day of the Gallagher shooting, he picked up his girlfriend at work, and at 5:15 pm they arrived at the house of his mother, who was babysitting their son. They all remained there, and played cards with LaBranche’s brother until 10 pm. LaBranche’s girlfriend was also interviewed and confirmed his story.
Despite this alibi, Spellman arrested LaBranche later that day, on outstanding warrants for violating parole on two older cases. LaBranche was brought to the homicide unit, where he was given his Miranda rights and told that he was suspected of shooting Gallagher.
This continued interest in LaBranche, without any evidence, leads one defense attorney who has worked on the case to wonder whether the fingerprint unit did initially tell Spellman that his prints matched those from the crime scene.
But it’s also possible that detectives were just working the case backward, trying to find a case to fit their suspect. And when it failed to develop, they cut LaBranche loose. That same day — and, still on June 11 — Spellman and Gallagher held a press conference renewing their plea to the public to assist in identifying the shooter.
Not long after, the police turned to Stephan Cowans. Detectives later said that they first received Cowans’s name on June 10. Cowans was arrested and given his Miranda rights on the 18th; unlike with LaBranche, detectives followed through on the charges against him.
