NBC Action News obtained West's official death certificate which lists "homicide."
The coroner ruled "cause unknown," citing decay and the victim's butchered condition.
“It turns out he was a member of 4-H and that he had had some training in butchering livestock,” Bell said.
Judge threw out most of the evidence because police botched the arrest.
“He had ropes and knots in his trunk that were the same ropes that the same ropes and knots that were found on Raymond West's body,” the former prosecutor said.
“He never seemed to me to be a killer,” said Riederer about his former client.
Riederer says police focused on James Lewis because the day Raymond West disappeared, Lewis tried to cash a $5,000 check on West's bank account.
He still believes Lewis never killed Raymond West.
“It's entirely possible that he found Raymond Lewis dead,” Riederer said.
Riederer theorizes at worst Lewis may have dismembered West's already dead body to hide it long enough to cash a forged check.
“I think that probably Lewis' motivation in this whole case was to get that $5,000,” Riederer speculated. “To get the money, is my guess.”
We asked retired FBI special agent in charge Michael Tabman to review West's 30-year-old autopsy report in Kansas City.
“There's no indication of toxicology,” Tabman said after sorting through several pages of medical examiner notes and photos of West’s dismembered body.
Without toxicology reports, there’s no indication whether West have been poisoned with a drug like the cyanide used in the Tylenol case, an answer that may have been taken to West's grave.
Tabman believes exhuming the body could lead to a crack in the case.
“Looking for traces or other toxicology reports that may provide leads,” Tabman said.
If the body was exhumed, nationally recognized forensic pathologist William R. Morrone said levels of cyanide could still be detected despite years of decomposition.
“There's just as much cyanide there today as there was if he died of it 30 years ago,” Dr. Morrone said.
“Let's reactivate this investigation,” Tabman wrote in an analysis Tuesday morning posted on the
Web site of his private security consulting firm. “These are questions that must be answered.”
Several hours after Tabman posted the comment, Kansas City Police Captain Richard Lockhart said the cold case squad is re-opening the case.
Lockhart says detectives have been reviewing the case for several weeks.
Because the case never went to trial and there is no statute of limitations on murder, if prosecutors obtained enough evidence to convince a judge, charges could be refiled.
“No doubt in my mind that James Lewis killed Raymond West,” Bell said.
