Two of the cold-case detectives -- Hrecho and Hall -- punched up a MapQuest address for Comics World in Windber, Penn., and motored southeast.

It was Aug. 3, 2007. And like commandoes synchronizing their watches, the detectives had decided to execute simultaneous surprise interviews on Michael George’s turf.

Hrecho: We had teams of detectives go to all three locations exactly the same time.

It would be Michael at the store, his wife Renee at the house, and Michael’s mother at her home, back in Hazel Park, Mich.

Dennis Murphy: Unannounced?

Craig Keith: Unannounced.

When they found Comics World, the two detectives waited for some customers to leave, checked their watches, then sauntered in.

Hrecho: We were probably about a minute behind the other detectives. So, when we walked in Mike George was on the phone. And, we assume he's talking to Renee, his wife. And, he says, "No, there's nobody here." And, he had his back to us as we walked through the door. He turned around, he goes, "They're here." And he got off the phone and he just looked pretty sick at that point.

Det. Hall switched on the tape recorder he'd concealed in his jacket.

Hrecho: Introduced ourselves. Mike was pretty much unemotional. He said, "Hey, come on in. Have a seat." Started talking to him.

This is some of that conversation:

(audiotape interview)

Det. Hrecho: We are re-opening that case. We have a few questions for you. Want to talk to you about it.

Michael George: OK.

Det. Hrecho: What did the police tell you back then, our department?

Michael George: They had leads. They never, you know, told me what the leads were.

Lenny Hrecho: He didn't say much at the beginning.

Dennis Murphy: I mean, does he say “This is great news”?

Jim Hall: No, very unemotional.

Dennis Murphy: “I've wondered for 17 years. What's happening? I've been waiting for you guys”?

Lenny Hrecho: No, he doesn't give--

Dennis Murphy: “…solve it”?

Jim Hall: No.

Lenny Hrecho: Does not give the typical response like, “You found somebody?” Or, “Well, that's good.” You know, like you said--

Jim Hall: “What do you have?”

Lenny Hrecho: Nothing. He just started stammering.

After 17 years, Michael George claimed a flickering memory for events.

(audiotape interview)

Michael George: I remember the funeral. I don't remember anything. I remember the funeral because there were so many cars.

Dennis Murphy: Is he getting sweaty, twitchy, anything?

Lenny Hrecho: Oh, he was very nervous.

Jim Hall: He was very pale.

Lenny Hrecho: Very nervous.

Jim Hall: Didn't make eye contact. Most of the interview his head was looking down towards the table.

His memory was fuzzy on things like how he got the news about his wife's death.

Michael George: I don't know if I learned at the store, or either at the morgue, or hospital. I don't know exactly when.

In 1990, in his late-night conversation with the lead detective at the store after the murder, Michael George had speculated that Barb was killed in a botched robbery, someone after valuable vintage comic books.

But now the cops sitting before him were telling George that they'd explored all that anew and found no evidence of any comics being taken from the store.

George said the cops had to be wrong. He knew he'd been ripped off.

(audiotape interview)

Michael George: I knew stuff was gone.

Det. Hrecho: OK. What was taken, maybe the cops are missing something.

Michael George: Very old books.

Det. Hrecho: OK. What kind of books were they?

Michael George: They were golden age books. The whole case was gone, the whole box was gone.

Hrecho: He couldn't remember exactly how many comics were taken or the amount. And he never offered up that robbery motive, until we brought it up.

Dennis Murphy: Is that as interesting as anything else you heard that afternoon?

Lenny Hrecho: Oh, absolutely.

Jim Hall: Well, very interesting he'd come up with a new motive.

Michael George gave the detectives a totally new theory of the murder, not simply about stealing vintage comic books anymore, but about revenge.

(audiotape interview)

Michael George: I think Barb was at the wrong place at the wrong time. I think somebody wanted to get back at me. I don't know who it was, but I should have been there so they could get back at me. And so she could raise these two girls instead of me.

Dennis Murphy: So this was a vendetta and what, Barbara took the bullet that was meant for him?

Jim Hall: Exactly, and that was something entirely different from what he told the police back in 1990.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor back in Michigan -- the son of the onetime police chief -- was deeply curious about how the swoop-down interview was going.

Dennis Murphy: Were you surprised to hear that he talked to them? That he hadn't lawyered up or said, "I’m getting on the phone to my attorney right now"?

Eric Smith: Very surprised. But I really think he was so shocked by the fact that we're still looking at him. So shocked that he didn't know what to do. and that's why we didn't call him. That's why we didn't give him a heads up.

As the interview continued, Michael George now owned up to his philandering and a marriage in trouble -- as he hadn't in 1990.

(audiotape interview)

Det. Hrecho: Describe for me your marriage to her at the time of her death?

Michael George: It was rocky because we had all the pressures. I'd just quit my job to open up that store. You know, we would have our fights, we would have our arguments.

Det. Hrecho: You say it's rocky, and people have fights and arguments like that. What was the cause (of) most of it? Anything like extra-marital affair?"

Michael George: Yeah, yeah.

Det. Hrecho: On her side or on your side?

Michael George: My side.

Late in the 90-minute interview, the conversation circled back to an earlier theme: the supposed theft of valuable comics he'd reported as a $30,000 insurance loss. The detectives asked if anyone knew that he kept pricey books in the back storage room. That's when things got testy and George’s previously passive tone becomes more direct and confrontational.

(audiotape interview)

Det. Hall: Then I’m just trying to find out how that that individual, the suspect, would have known they were there, that's all. Unless it was an inside job, or unless –

Det. Hrecho: They weren't taken.

Det. Hall: -- they weren't taken, it was big insurance fraud.

Michael George: So you're saying I’m lying now.

Det. Hall: No, no, I, no. I'm just, I’m just saying that, that's a possibility, Mike. you have to look at all options."

Michael George: So now you're saying that I lied about the books being gone. So now, so now what you're saying is I better get a lawyer.

Det. Hall: We didn't say that.

Michael George: Yeah, you did. You just said one of the possibilities.

Det. Hall: That is a possibility.

Michael George: Insurance. OK, stop. If you're going to show up tomorrow, let me know, I’ll get a lawyer, because this is bulls---- now.

The next day, in fact, he would need a lawyer, a criminal defense lawyer. The Michigan detectives, and the Pennsylvania state police, arrested him at his workplace, the comic book store.

As he was led away after a later court appearance, he loudly proclaimed that police had nabbed the wrong man. Was he right?

(Extradition hearing)

Michael George: No, I didn't do it. I was with my daughters and my mom. They know. They know I didn't do this.

The cold case had turned red-hot. After 17 years, Michael George was returning to Michigan.

And like superman himself, the cold case detectives were seeking truth, justice, and the American way, i.e., a trial before a jury of his peers.

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