News, Culture and NPR for Central & Northern Michigan
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
91.7FM Alpena and WCML-TV Channel 6 Alpena have been restored. Click here to learn more.

Genesee County Sheriff credits "red herring" with helping to catch a suspected killer

“This is an investigative tool that was used…and your ability to tell that story…to identify and find a killer," Swanson told reporters Monday outside the Fenton Township home where  38-year-old Orhan Hosic was found dead July 6.
Steve Carmody
/
Michigan Public
“This is an investigative tool that was used…and your ability to tell that story…to identify and find a killer," Swanson told reporters Monday outside the Fenton Township home where 38-year-old Orhan Hosic was found dead July 6.

Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson says he used a “red herring” through the news media to help catch a suspected killer.

On July 6, 38-year-old Orhan Hosic was found dead in his Fenton Township home.

Within days, investigators believed 29-year-old Omar Brogdon was their likely suspect. Swanson says the two men were involved in a business transaction, after meeting through Facebook Marketplace.

But investigators did not know Brogdon’s whereabouts.

Just before a July 9 press briefing, the sheriff’s department obtained information suggesting Brogdon was monitoring news media coverage of the case and may watch Sheriff Swanson’s Facebook live broadcast of his news media briefing.

Swanson said at a news conference Monday, he decided to tell reporters the investigation was in fact “stalled”, when in fact it was not.

“I wanted him to know that he could come out from under the shadows…he could not destroy evidence…he doesn’t need to cause we didn’t know who it was,” said Swanson, “All the while we knew he was following those stories.”

Brogdon was arrested last week. He’s been charged with multiple felony crimes, including murder.

The sheriff describes his use of what he calls “a red herring” through the news media as an “investigative tool.”

Copyright 2024 Michigan Public

Steve Carmody has been a reporter for Michigan Public since 2005.
Related Content