Search for gun in fatal 2001 Wagoner shooting comes up empty

Image: KTUL

WAGONER, Okla. (AP) – The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says that divers were unsuccessful in searching the Verdigris River just south of Wagoner for the gun used in a nearly 20-year-old unsolved homicide.
OSBI spokeswoman Brooke Arbeitman says that divers were unable to locate the weapon on Friday during the search under the Highway 69 bridge about 35 miles (56 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa.
Arbeitman said that the search was for the weapon used in the fatal April 9, 2001, shooting of 59-year-old convenience store clerk Richard Piersall.
Police found Piersall shot to death in a back room of the store on the western edge of Wagoner after a customer reported finding no one in the store about 1:30 a.m. and an empty cash register drawer on the floor.
No arrests have been made in the case.