One person of interest has been eliminated as a target in the 20-year investigation into a Jamestown homicide, leaving just one person under investigation, Chautauqua County Sheriff James Quattrone announced Wednesday.
Quattrone said at a news conference that former Jamestown Police Officer Michael Watson has been ruled out as a person of interest in the death of Yolanda Bindics, leaving Clarence Carl Carte, who had a daughter with Bindics before her death, as the sole remaining person of interest.
"Since June of 2022 a total of 176 interviews have been conducted by the investigators, including multiple interviews of Michael Watson, who has cooperated fully with the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office investigation," Quatronne said.
The Sheriff's Office also released new photos from video surveillance footage of Carte at a gas station across from the Family Dollar Store in Jamestown where Bindics worked on the night that she went missing. The office also released photos of the vehicle that Carte was driving that night, asking members of the public to provide any information they have about the Bindics disappearance.
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"The Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office has continued to actively investigate the murder of the Yolanda Bindics and will provide further information as warranted," he said.
Quattrone declined to answer questions from reporters after the news conference.
Bindics, 25 at the time, had been missing since August 2004, never returning from her shift at the Family Dollar Store. More than two years later, in September 2006, her remains were located in Boutwell Hill State Forest in the town of Charlotte. The Chautauqua County Coroner's Office ruled her death a homicide after an investigation.
18 years after Yolanda Bindics went missing, investigators revisit old clue
Eighteen years after a Jamestown mother of four was last seen alive, cold case investigators with the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office are revisiting possible clues in her disappearance and death.
The Sheriff's Office unsolved unit received federal funding this spring to help pay for investigations into cold cases. And Unsolved Chautauqua, a Facebook group dedicated to investigating unsolved cases in the county, highlighted the Bindics case with a post asking people who had posted to a forum where the case was often discussed from 2005 to 2009.
Anne Chmielewski, Bindics' sister, urged anyone with information to come forward, reminding the public of the $16,000 reward offered by the FBI for information leading to an arrest in the homicide investigation.
"We're constantly fighting for justice for Yolanda and with the new investigators on this team, we are confident that we are so close, so close to having this solved," she said.
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