The criminal investigation into the bomb threat that caused the evacuation of five Cazenovia College residence halls three weeks ago has stalled and, unless a new lead emerges, the case will soon be closed without an arrest.
“We had a very viable suspect last Saturday, but ultimately we ended up proving that he was not involved at all,” Cazenovia Police Chief Michael Hayes told the village board this week.
The Sept. 16 bomb threat was issued against the college on the social media application Yik Yak. The college immediately called police and evacuated more than 750 students in five residence halls, after which police spent 90 minutes investigating the college but found no explosive devices.
Cazenovia police, working together with New York State Police and Madison County Sheriff’s officers, undertook an intensive investigation, which included cooperation from officials at Yik Yak and various cell phone carriers in an attempt to identify the subscriber of the account form which the threat originated.
Hayes said the phone used in the crime was a “burner” phone — a prepaid cell phone that contains no subscriber identification — and therefore all attempts to track the suspect came up empty.
Experts in Cazenovia College’s information technology department reviewed “second by second” all college IT logs from Sept. 16 to see if the suspect accessed the college’s Wi-Fi system, but also found nothing, Hayes said.
“We can’t get any further in the investigation; we’ve gone as far as we can,” Hayes said. He said his investigators are likely to close the case “shortly.”
“We and Cazenovia College are being diligent about this. If, in future, we get new leads, we’ll reopen the case,” he said.
Hayes said shortly after the incident occurred that a bomb threat is not a harmless misdemeanor joke, but, in the post-9/11 world, is considered a “terrorist act,” that is a class D felony, the punishment for which is time in state prison.
Cazenovia College officials have said that if and when the perpetrator is caught they will press charges.
Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican. He can be reached at [email protected].
