Over 13 years later, a man has been charged with the 1999 murder of Christopher Pierre.
The St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s office charged James Stewart with murder on Friday in relation to shooting death of Pierre.
Back on Sep. 17, 1999, Pierre was found shot to death at the corner of Fremont and Humbolt St. in South Bend.
At the time of the death Dr. Joseph Prahlow conducted the autopsy on Pierre’s body and ruled his death a homicide as the result of gunshot wound to the back of his neck.
This is not the first time Stewart has been charged for this particular crime, the first charges were filed on May 15, 2000. However, a critical witness refused to testify just before the trial was set to begin, and the state ended up dismissing the murder charge in June of 2002.
The investigation resumed in April of 2012 when the County Metro Homicide Unit working on “cold cases” talked to that critical witness once again, this time the witness affirmed his initial statements were true.
Stewart is being held without bond at the St. Joseph County Jail.
