Marc Thompson, Eyewitness News
Greenwood, Aug. 1 - When Greenwood police searched the home of 53-year-old Joseph Nowicki they were looking for evidence connecting Nowicki to the June 24th disappearance of 19-year-old Brookley Louks. It turns out there was also another investigation underway at the Nowicki house that day.
Major Terry Nichalson of the Johnson County Sheriff's deparment told Eyewitness News, "One of my officers was inside looking for specific items that might be connected to the Derringer case."
Gene Derringer lived in Greenwood back in 1996 when he suddenly disappeared.
Johnson County authorities say the last person to see him was Joseph Nowicki. Investigators in the now six-year-old Derringer case say they do have other more likely suspects, but Nowicki is not above suspicion.
Nichalson says, "The likelihood that one guy is involved in two missing persons that disappeared off the face of the earth without a trace is unusual."
Nowicki and Derringer became more than just acquaintances when they worked together at Southport High School as maintenance employees. Police found blood evidence in the Derringer house six-years-ago and now want to compare it to blood evidence found in Nowicki's house during the Louks investigation.
Both Greenwood and Johnson County authorities are taking into account Nowicki's extensive criminal history, which includes the shootings of his sister and brother-in-law in 1965 and the shooting death of a man in South Bend back in 1973.
Nowicki is currently behind bars on gun charges.