Bellevue names top officer of '99

BELLEVUE

The lead Bellevue detective who helped crack the 1997 quadruple murder of the Wilson family has been named the Bellevue Police Department's Officer of the Year for 1999.

Jeff Gomes, a 25-year veteran, was honored for sticking with the case from the day he discovered the bodies of three of the Wilsons to the sentencing of the second of the two murderers earlier this year.

"Jeff Gomes had the weight of the Wilson-family murders on his shoulders for almost three years," Lt. Jim Gasperetti wrote in nominating the detective for the award. "The emotional price paid by Detective Gomes as a result of the investigation and subsequent three murder trials cannot be (overestimated)."

On Jan. 5, 1997, Gomes was sent to notify the Wilson family that 20-year-old Kimberly Wilson had been found strangled in Woodridge Watertower Park near their home. When he went inside, he walked into the scene of Bellevue's worst multiple murder, finding William and Rose Wilson, 52 and 46, respectively, and their younger daughter, Julia, 17, beaten and stabbed to death.

Later, as Gomes testified in court, the memories made him cry.

Gomes headed the investigation and sat through trials that led to the convictions and life sentences of Alex Baranyi and David Anderson. Anderson's first trial had ended with a hung jury.

By the time the case was over, Gomes had managed 800 pieces of evidence, 900 photographs and more than 50 witnesses.

Before becoming a violent-crimes detective, Gomes worked patrol and traffic duties and served on the property-crimes detective squad.

"None of us cops ever do anything alone," Gomes said. "It's always a team effort."