After more than three decades, the Miramar Police Department has reached a critical juncture in a unsettling cold case. The 1986 murder of William "Billy" Halpern, a former South Florida firefighter and bodybuilder, has been "exceptionally cleared" with the posthumous identification of a suspect. According to Local 10 News, detectives now believe Harry Collier, who himself was murdered in 1987, was responsible for Halpern's death.
Halpern, found dead in his home at the age of 28, worked out at The Apollo Gym in Hollywood—a venue linked to law enforcement, firefighters, and eventually, crime circuits. As detailed in WSVN's report, investigators note that Halpern may have been privy to criminal activities by associates at the gym, possibly motivating his murder to silence potential testimony. WSVN also mentioned the involvement of former Miami-Dade Police Officer Gil Fernandez, who was previously a suspect but was cleared by DNA evidence for Halpern's murder yet is serving a life sentence for other crimes.
Collier's implication comes from fingerprints found at a double murder in Tamarac, revealing similarities in the modus operandi to Halpern's killing. "Because we have Harry Collier’s fingerprint at the Tamarac double murder scene, and the similarities between that murder scene and the scene of Billy Halpern’s murder, along with numerous interviews we conducted, we are confident that if Harry Collier were alive today, we would be charging him with murder and he would stand trial," said Miramar Police Detective Danny Smith, in a statement obtained by Local 10 News.
However, the case is not yet closed, with detectives actively pursuing additional parties possibly related to Halpern's murder. Halpern, who was tied up and slain in his home, had not been involved in criminal activities, said Detective Smith when told NBC Miami. Instead, he was likely eliminated due to the sensitive information he might have heard through his association with individuals at the gym.
For those who might hold pieces of this decades-old puzzle, authorities are still urging the public to reach out with any details that could lead to a full resolution. "We're still looking and that's kind of the reason that we wanted to speak to you guys and the public we wanted people to look at Harry Collier's picture, we wanted people to hear the name Harry Collier and hopefully get some kind of an idea, maybe jog their memory and come forward with information that may assist us in finding the additional perpetrators in Billy Halpern’s murder," Detective Smith explained to NBC Miami. Tips can be directed to the Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS for a potential reward of up to $5,000.
