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Police advance in homicide case

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by Cara Harshman

Monday, February 4, 2008

Madison Police Department continues to investigate the homicide of a Madison resident found with multiple stab wounds on the 700 block of South Park Street.

MPD updated the description of the man Friday, now believed to be a white male, 6-foot to 6-foot-1, last seen wearing a white hat with a red “W” on the front, a tan sheepskin jacket and a gray backpack.

He was last spotted walking around the Monona Bay neighborhood last Monday around the time 31-year-old Joel A. Marino was found in an alley near his home, wounded and unresponsive. He died shortly after being admitted to University Hospital.

Police found an eight-inch knife with wet blood on the blade in Marino’s home at 714 W. Shore Dr. — just three blocks south of the University of Wisconsin campus — along with the suspect’s backpack and a hat near the house.

Marino might have been stabbed in his home and then walked into the alley seeking help, police said. The knife, backpack and hat are currently undergoing forensic tests at the Wisconsin State Crime Lab. Photographs of the items are available on MPD’s website at http://www.cityofmadison.com/incidentReports/incidentDetail.cfm?id=8984.

“We are asking UW students if anyone had a backpack like that stolen and if anyone from campus saw the hat or backpack,” said Joel DeSpain, public information officer for MPD. “It’s likely this person could have been in the campus area.”

The Joel A. Marino Reward Fund is offering more than $30,000 to anyone with information leading to the arrest of Marino’s killer.

Marino was a 1999 UW-Whitewater graduate and was well-liked in his neighborhood, Monona Bay residents said. Marino’s friends said he was instrumental in establishing a neighborhood watch. Family and friends gathered at Lake City Church Saturday afternoon to pay their final respects to Marino.

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Anonymous (February 6, 2008 @ 10:09am):

None of Joel's friends will ever forget him- he was an incredible person.

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