Bill Cosby’s Sex Assault Investigation Was Abruptly Shut Down in 2005, Detective Testifies

A Pennsylvania detective testified yesterday that he and other investigators were still pursuing leads in Bill Cosby‘s sexual assault case in 2005 when then-Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr., abruptly issued a press release announcing he was terminating the investigation.

“I recall discussing that things we’d discovered just that morning,” Richard Schaffer, a former Cheltenham Township detective, testified Wednesday about Feb. 17, 2005, the day of Castor’s decision.

Schaffer, a prosecution witness and now a sergeant who was also involved with the case when it was reopened in July 2015, read portions of the statement Cosby gave to him and other police on Jan. 26, 2005, as well as Constand’s various statements to police.

There were no surprises in much of his testimony because most of the information had been revealed at prior hearings or in court documents filed in the case.

But the exact chain of events that led to Castor’s declining to prosecute Cosby in 2005 has been cloaked in secrecy for more than 12 years and has become part of Cosby’s defense and an underlying theme of the current case. (Castor could not immediately be reached for comment.Schaffer’s testimony marked the first time anyone in law enforcement who was involved with the case revealed the investigation was still going on the day Castor announced his decision.CLICK FOR MORE