Retired lead investigator from Jennifer Servo cold case murder speaks out

This is the first part of a two-part series on "The Jennifer Servo case: A dogged pursuit of justice." The second part, featuring an interview with retired Detective David Atkins, will be published next Sunday — March 17.

It's the case that shocked the nation in 2002. Jennifer Olsen Servo was found dead in her apartment in Abilene two months after moving to the city. She was just shy of her 23rd birthday.

Up until now, there have been no arrests in the case that left many television reporters haunted by a girl cut down in the beginning of her journalism career.

Retired lead investigator Jeff Bell sat down with Reporter-News for an interview to recount the cold case that has haunted him for nearly 22 years.

While retired from the Abilene Police Department, he continues his work in law enforcement as a detective for the Criminal Investigations Division in the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office.

The first lead detective on the Servo case

In September 2002, Bell was promoted to lead investigator with APD after working many homicide cases. His first lead case, however, would be the brutal murder of Servo, a beloved TV reporter.

Bell retired from the Abilene Police Department in 2013, and the Servo case was his only open case left. Now, he sees hope with the new cold case unit, headed up by Detective Jeff Cowan.

Bell says Cowan is "a bulldog who won't quit."

Cowan was unable to comment on the case since it is active and open. He did say, however, that he began working the case in 2020, and he hopes more tips will come to APD to help solve it.

Cowan stressed that while some readers may be curious, releasing information could possibly jeopardize the investigation.

Anyone with tips is urged to contact Abilene Crime Stoppers online or at 1-800-868-8477.

A star with a bright future

Servo was born in Columbia Falls, Montana, and was inspired to become the next Katie Couric as a young girl. She moved to Abilene in the summer of 2002 at the age of 22 to start her job as a field reporter for KRBC.

According to the official police report, Servo was found dead in her apartment Sept. 18, 2002, after coworkers had not heard from her in two days. Police initially noted signs of head trauma. The last line of the police report read, "Investigation to continue."

When Bell talked about arriving on the scene, he had a faraway look in his eyes. He recalled that there had been a nationwide outrage after the brutal murder because Servo "was obviously moving up" with so much potential for her future.

'A state of upheaval'

Bell was one of the first detectives on scene after patrol had initially responded to the call. It was visible in his eyes just how much this cold case has weighed on him and how much it has affected him over the years.

What struck him most about the scene, however, was that Servo's apartment was "in a state of upheaval."

Despite that, Bell said APD "never had any issue deciphering" DNA at the scene, but the DNA they discovered belonged to individuals with explainable reasons for being there.

Ralph Sepulveda, Servo's ex-boyfriend, had previously lived in the apartment. Brian Travers, the local weatherman, was a friend who had visited her apartment often.

Detectives did not find any unknown DNA, Bell said. He also noted Servo was "kind of scared being a new town. She was not one that would leave the door unlocked." Coupled with those two pieces of evidence, the theory of an unknown assailant doesn't hold water.

The "first and major problem" detectives had, however, was the sheer number of fibers and samples they needed to collect, he said. Servo's cat had complicated the scene and "made for a rough start" for the detectives.

Bell confirmed the autopsy stated Servo had died from strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head.

The report stated, "Either one of those could have caused her to die."

Bell also confirmed she had been sexually assaulted.

Evidence also showed the alleged murder likely took place in the living room in the front of the house because of the bulk of physical evidence there.

'Not emotional in any way'

While Bell confirmed APD looked into multiple suspects, he declined to release those names, saying that they had been ruled out, and he would not "throw them under the bus."

Bell noted that Brian Travers, the local weatherman, was initially a person of interest because Travers had been the last known person to see Servo alive after a late-night shopping trip. Walmart surveillance had caught the pair on camera. It is the last known footage of Servo alive.

Bell said, however, that he does "not personally think Brian Travers is a suspect."

Ralph Sepulveda, Servo's ex-boyfriend, on the other hand, left "just weeks after" Servo's body was found. Bell also confirmed Sepulveda never took a polygraph test.

Bell said Sepulveda was "not emotional in any way" and "seemed inconvenienced by our involvement with him." The more they contacted him, the more agitated he became.

"At the end of the day, his name was still on top of the list," Bell said.

The Reporter-News reached out multiple times to Sepulveda for comment Wednesday. He did not respond by deadline.

APD has kept tabs on Sepulveda, interviewing him in San Antonio and later in Washington State.

Retired Detective David Atkins said Sepulveda never changed his story through the years.

"His story always has been 100% I had nothing to do with it," Atkins said.

All suspects are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

'We spent a lot of years looking at every rabbit trail'

While the trail did go cold, that never meant the team had given up on finding justice for Jennifer Servo.

Bell said APD "spent a lot of years looking at every rabbit trail." They even met with a psychic called in by Servo's mother, but unfortunately it did not result in any new leads.

The team later took their case to the VIDOCQ Society in 2008. There, they presented their findings to a panel of experts from law enforcement, the private sector, the military and the medical field to see if they had missed anything.

But the VIDOCQ Society's feedback was that the team had "done a great investigation." While this was a blow to Bell, it was also reassuring because the team had left no stone unturned.

Remaining questions

Could this case be related to the murder of reporter Ann Presley in 2008 in Arkansas? In Bell's opinion, the answer is no.

He said these two cases are "not related" despite being "looked into pretty thoroughly."

A separate suspect was found guilty in 2009 for the Presley case and subsequently sentenced to life in prison.

Several other questions remain, such as what library books were checked out on Servo's library card after she was murdered.

Bell said one of the books was a textbook. The team spoke extensively to the library, and it was likely an anomaly.

Unfortunately, no video surveillance existed to see who actually checked out the books.

Bell did say, however, that it also is another circumstantial piece of evidence that gives credence to Sepulveda being the person of interest.

Bell also confirmed "Sex and the City" DVDs were missing from Servo's apartment in addition to the movie, "Saving Private Ryan." He noted Servo's friends had said that they were missing from her shelf.

Bell was quick to emphasize, however, that it did not appear as though someone had rummaged through her apartment. This piece of evidence could kill the theory that this was a random home burglary case.

There were no definitive signs of a struggle, and that led investigators to believe she was acquainted with her attacker, he said.

Hope for the future

Cowan, lead investigator of the cold case unit, now carries the baton.

Bell said he hopes Cowan's team is going to take this case "across the finish line."

Cowan "has always been a very motivated guy, kind of a bulldog when he gets on something," Bell said with a smile on the corner of his face.

It seems the Cold Case Unit of APD could be that much closer to an arrest with additional resources from the show "Cold Justice." The episode featuring Jennifer Servo will air this season on the Oxygen network.

For now, police are doing everything in their power to solve this heinous crime.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Retired lead investigator on Servo cold case speaks out