The Dallas district attorney has dismissed the capital murder case against a man indicted last year in the 1983 slaying of a Farmers Branch police officer.
In a statement released Friday, the spokeswoman for District Attorney Craig Watkins said dismissing the case against Gary Wayne Pettigrew was "the right thing to do in the interest of justice."
The statement referred to information leading to additional suspects, but gave no details. The case remains under investigation.
Last summer, Watkins announced that then-63-year-old Pettigrew faced a capital murder charge in the 1983 slaying of Officer Lowell Tribble.
Tribble was 37 and married with children when he was killed. He remains the only fallen officer in the history of Farmers Branch.
Pettigrew is still being held in Dallas on unrelated charges in Arlington and Tarrant County. He faces charges of drug possession, failure to have proof of auto insurance and an expired inspection sticker.
He will be transferred to either the Arlington or Tarrant County jail at a later date.
