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Cleveland Police Search For Suspect Who Posted Murder Video On Facebook

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And let's catch up on a shocking story in Cleveland. Police are hunting for a man they've identified as Steve Stephens. They say he murdered an elderly man and posted video of this killing on Facebook. Annie Wu of member station WCPN ideastream is on the line. And Annie, what's the latest on this?

ANNIE WU, BYLINE: Well, the police still don't know where he is. They say he could be a lot of places - nearby, far away. And they've expanded their search to the Midwest. They said that a woman who was mentioned in the video that he put on Facebook, the woman is cooperating with police. But they declined to identify her or to say where she was.

GREENE: So they're trying to piece this together. And this is a woman's name who someone - someone said the name on this video?

WU: The man identified by police is Steve Stephens. He talks about this woman in the video that he posted on Facebook.

GREENE: OK. So that's one lead that they're following. And it sounds like, Annie, the police were actually in touch with the suspect pretty shortly after the alleged shooting - the alleged crime. Is that right?

WU: Yes. The investigators spoke to Stephens by cellphone early on and tried to convince him to turn himself in. That obviously did not work.

GREENE: And remind us here. I mean, this is just extraordinary, he posted this video. It was not livestreaming. We actually - police actually think that he filmed this and then posted it on to Facebook afterwards.

WU: Yes. A spokesperson for Facebook says that it was in fact uploaded to Facebook. It was not livestreamed. But what we do know is that the crime committed was committed at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon on Sunday in a Cleveland neighborhood. And the man is 74-year-old Robert Godwin, Sr. And the investigation continues, and police are still on the lookout. And they are putting notices up on billboards to identify - try to identify Steve Stephens.

GREENE: Wow. So still searching for him, and that must have people in Cleveland and surrounding areas a bit nervous. Annie Wu of member station WCPN ideastream. Thanks so much.

WU: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Annie Wu
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