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"We're hoping we get lucky," Homicide Capt. James Clark said yesterday. "We're hoping somebody will remember something and come forward with information."
Beau Zabel, 23, was killed, apparently for his iPod, about 1:30 a.m. June 15 as he walked home from his temporary job at a South Street Starbucks.
Although a $20,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the killer - and police have a surveillance tape that they believe captured images of the killer fleeing the area - detectives said they still haven't received that one tip that can identify the gunman.
They hope the Fox show, which boasts that it has helped capture 1,000 felons nationwide, will help.
Zabel had moved to South Philadelphia from a small southern Minnesota town just six weeks before his death. He picked Philadelphia because it offered a fellowship program where he could work in the classroom while he attended Drexel University to receive his certification.
He was on his way to his apartment in the 900 block of Ellsworth Street when he stopped for a soda near the Italian Market. As he got closer to home, a gunman shot him in the neck and snatched his iPod from his left front pocket, police believe.
Fox, which recreates the crime using actors, recently sent a camera crew and correspondent Jon Leiberman to the crime scene. The segment will air this month, perhaps on the July 12 show, said associate producer Olivia Clayton. Fox 29 carries the show locally, usually at 9 p.m. Saturdays.
The show also will highlight cloudy surveillance video from security cameras. One camera recorded Zabel buying the soda and the other recorded the unidentified person hiding an object in a flower pot near the crime scene, returning later and concealing the object under his shirt as he fled.
(A copy of the video is posted at right. A larger version can be viewed at http://go.philly.com/zabelvideo).
"We're really hoping that someone's going to recognize the guy in the video and to get some good tips," Clayton said.
The male's face isn't clearly visible, but viewers could also pick up clues from his clothing, shoes, hair or gait, she said.
"People have identified the grainiest images you can imagine," she said. "It really is about getting it out there to as many people as possible, and we provide a national forum for that."
The $20,000 reward may also generate information. To collect the reward, information must be called in to the Crime Commission of Delaware Valley Tipline. Tipsters may remain anonymous, but must receive a code number from the operator. The crime commission number is 215-546-8477 (TIPS).
When America's Most Wanted airs, Fox will show the number for the show's tipline. At least one Philadelphia Police detective will help answer phones from the show's new studio at the National Museum of Crime and Punishment in Washington.
As one of the show's three producers for the Mid-Atlantic region, Clayton, a graduate of Conestoga High School in Berwyn, urged the show to spotlight this tragedy.
It stood out from more familiar types of urban crime, involving gangs, drugs or retaliation, she said.
"In this particular case, Beau was so young, such an upstanding guy, and obviously he did not deserve for this to happen. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
If leads don't pan out this time, the show will likely follow up, Clayton said.
"We're going to stay with this case until it's solved," Clayton said.
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