POLICE PLEAD FOR TIPS ON MOUNTIES' SLAYINGS

RCMP Won't Comment On Rumours, Leaks

CALGARY -- Police are so desperate for information about how a lone gunman
cut down four RCMP officers this month that they are pleading for tips and
interviewing anyone connected to the killer -- even a man once attacked by
him -- while they also battle a whirlwind of rumours and leaks.

Investigators had hoped to offer some preliminary findings yesterday about
what happened on a farm near Mayerthorpe, Alta., where Jim Roszko shot the
officers before killing himself, but an update may not be approved until
today at the earliest, RCMP Corporal Wayne Oakes said.

Meanwhile, Cpl. Oakes asked for help. He urged anyone to contact the RCMP
who may have seen Mr. Roszko between the afternoon of March 2 when he was
seen driving off his property in a 2005 white Ford pickup truck, and 9:15
a.m. March 3, when he ambushed the Mounties.

"It would fill in a huge gap," he said.

Media reports that Mr. Roszko's truck was found 24 kilometres from the
crime scene and talk of a possible accomplice might be scaring witnesses
from coming forward, Cpl. Oakes said.

At the same time, police have been contacting anyone who knew the
46-year-old killer and asking them to account for their whereabouts between
March 2 and March 3.

"They're just questioning everybody," said Reco Fast, who was interviewed
this week, but said he hadn't talked to his former friend or been on Mr.
Roszko's property in six years.

"They don't have a clue," said Mr. Fast, referring to how Mr. Roszko
sneaked onto the farm and into a Quonset hut that police were guarding,
which according to a source familiar with the building, has three doors and
a walled office.

Police have also questioned a man Mr. Roszko was charged with threatening,
kidnapping and sexually assaulting at gunpoint in 1993. The man and his
wife, who spoke to The Globe and Mail on the condition of anonymity, said
police even drove them to Mr. Roszko's farm this week. Investigators asked
the man to point out where a 45-gallon drum, in which Mr. Roszko a dozen
years earlier had threatened to dump the man's body, was buried.

When he took them to the spot, 350 metres south of the Quonset hut, police
told the man they didn't know that Mr. Roszko's property extended that far.

They also asked the man, who spent the last 12 years terrified that Mr.
Roszko would kill him or his family, to prove he didn't drive Mr. Roszko
back to the farm.

Investigators are wrapping up the on-site investigation and have collected
an array of evidence from Mr. Roszko's property, including remnants from a
marijuana-grow operation, stolen vehicles and auto parts. Police have done
a grid search of the property, brought in digging equipment and sifted
through dirt. They have combed through the Quonset where Mr. Roszko lay in
wait before he ambushed the officers, Anthony Gordon, Lionide (Leo)
Johnston, Brock Myrol and Peter Schiemann, all RCMP constables.

Since the slayings, police have tried to combat innuendo and speculation
that has swirled around Mayerthorpe, a community of 1,600 about 130
kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

There was talk that Mr. Roszko used an elaborate tunnel system to return to
the farm undetected.

"Our investigation failed to yield any signs of tunnels," Cpl. Oakes said.

There were also rumours that crosses were found on the property that either
marked graves or were inscribed with names of people --including a local
police officer -- who Mr. Roszko hated.

"There have been no bodies and no crosses," Cpl. Oakes said.

This week, an Edmonton radio station, quoting police sources, reported that
Mr. Roszko used a white sheet as cover against the snow to sneak back onto
the property and obscured his tracks by slipping socks over his boots. The
report also said Mr. Roszko was armed with a semi-automatic rifle, a
hunting rifle and a handgun that could have been hidden in a compartment
under the dirt floor of the Quonset.

Mr. Roszko, who, police have confirmed, was wounded in the attack, was
reported to have been shot twice in the groin while a third bullet lodged
in the pistol that he had shoved in his pants.

Cpl. Oakes, the official spokesman for investigations, said the RCMP don't
have time to police leaks. He also wouldn't confirm or deny the radio
station's report.

"It doesn't mean it's true," he said.

The media briefing is aimed at addressing many of these issues, he added.