Maryland State Police Complete Investigation Into Robert Vicosa's Killing Spree As Pennsylvania Probe Reveals 'Concerns'
BALTIMORE (WJZ) --Maryland State Police tell WJZ they have completed their investigation into the Robert Vicosa case, saying it was a murder-suicide, but no further details were immediately available.
That development comes as Pennsylvania's attorney general said he will not pursue criminal charges against police in York County, Pennsylvania who were accused of stalling enforcement of a protective order. But the attorney general still has concerns about the police response.
Robert Vicosa is a former Baltimore County police officer who investigators said killed his friend, Baltimore County Sergeant Tia Bynum, then his two young daughters, before shooting himself.
He was at the center of a four-day manhunt in Pennsylvania and Maryland last November.
Pennsylvania's attorney general has concluded his investigation into a criminal complaint filed by Vicosa's estranged wife, Marisa Vicosa, which she later withdrew.
Police said the crime spree began when Marisa Vicosa was tied up and drugged inside Robert Vicosa's Pennsylvania home last November. She managed to escape but without the children.
A judge quickly approved a protective order against Robert Vicosa but police waited more than 18 hours to serve it, according to published reports.
By then, Robert Vicosa had fled with their kids.
In her handwritten complaint last November, Marisa Vicosa said, "I was informed by two York Area Regional officers that the Chief of Police put a stop to this order. I was given no explanation for the stop and am still unaware of the reason for stopping the order. In the meantime, my two daughters continue to be in the custody of their father, who is a danger to them, me and himself."
Three days later, her daughters and estranged husband were dead.
The chief of the York Area Regional Police, Tim Damon, declined comment at the time. WJZ reached out to him Thursday and have not heard back.
Pennsylvania's attorney general wrote a letter to the York County district attorney detailing what his office calls "major concerns about certain lapses and decisions leading up to this tragic situation." The district attorney has yet to publicly release it. WJZ has fled a Right To Know request for the letter.
D.A. David Sunday's office said they will "fully consider" the attorney general's findings.
Harold Goodman, an attorney representing Marisa Vicosa, told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren she maintains the case was "mishandled" by police and plans to take civil action against them.
In their separate investigation, Maryland State Police have classified the case a murder-suicide.
MSP said just days after the killings that Robert Vicosa fired the shots that killed Bynum, who was driving his getaway car in Smithsburg, Maryland, before shooting his daughters.
They were being pursued by Pennsylvania State Police at the time. "Investigators believe it was less than 30 seconds after police activated emergency equipment before that vehicle veered off the road and into oncoming traffic," Maryland State Police spokesperson Elena Russo said on November 19th.
Robert Vicosa's mother previously told WJZ her son was on medication for severe depression at the time of the killings.
"My baby snapped and killed himself and his babies," she said during a November news conference.
Vicosa had been fired from his job in the Baltimore County Police Department in August.
Records show Vicosa was the subject of five internal affairs cases over a 13-year span, including one two years ago involving sexually inappropriate behavior that led to a demotion.
In March, Vicosa was accused of insubordination and sleeping on the job. Allegations in that case were supported by an internal investigation. A trial board found him guilty in that case and determined that he should be fired.
