LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Police Department is planning a town hall in the new year to discuss its approach to investigations and offer an overview of the ongoing Barbara LaForge murder case.

Sgt. Jason Ferguson said the public is encouraged to attend the meeting, which will take place starting at 6 p.m. Feb. 2, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

Ferguson said the meeting will cover the department's investigation tactics and include a discussion of the LaForge homicide case.

LaForge was shot several times with a .22-caliber weapon after arriving for work at her downtown frame shop on the morning of Oct. 8, 2002. Her murder is the city's only unsolved homicide.

Det. Lou Riccardi, a retired San Mateo homicide detective who joined the Lakeport Police Department in 2009 to work on the LaForge case, will discuss investigations in general and how they work, Ferguson said.

“He's just going to give a simple overview of the LaForge case and where it's at,” said Ferguson.

Because the case is the subject of an ongoing investigation, Ferguson said they won't be giving out a lot of new details on it.

He added, however, that Riccardi – who has decades of experience as a detective – will bring a good perspective to the meeting and will offer insight into how police handle investigations.

While the police have been careful about public statements about the case, earlier this month Riccardi identified a person of interest – Linda Ann Mafrice, 55, the longtime girlfriend of LaForge's husband, Dan Hamblin, as Lake County News has reported.

It was the first time in the eight years since the murder that the police have identified a person of interest in the case.

On Dec. 3 Mafrice was sentenced to four years, eight months in state prison for violating probation in two 2002 criminal cases.

She was alleged to have stolen more than $113,000 from the Royale Shores Homeowners Association as well as having stolen from an elderly woman for whom she had been a caregiver, according to court records. She had failed to repay more than $44,000 in restitution and was arrested on the probation violation in October 2009.

The Feb. 2 meeting will be the second in a series of town hall meetings the department is hosting as part of a community outreach effort.

Ferguson said the first meeting, held on Dec. 1, went very well.

“We received a lot of positive feedback,” he said.

He said he thinks the Feb. 2 town hall will be even better.

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