An old run down casino, an old safe discovered and a murder that has not been solved for years sounds like the making for a movie but this is a true story happening in South Lake Tahoe.
Bill's Casino was being torn down so new stores and restaurants can be built in it's place. About a week and half ago, the workers who were tearing the building down found a 3 foot tall safe hidden within a wall.
The man who owned the building back in the 60's was killed in a car bombing and the case has never been solved.
Was that his safe hidden in the second story wall? No one knows yet because the safe has not been cracked yet and it's been almost 2 weeks since the discovery.
People are guessing at what might be in it such as gold bricks, important papers, mob related items? It's anyone's guess.
Oprah Winfrey even wants in on this story because her network asked if they could do a show and if they could have a shot at cracking the safe with another safecracker
The current property owner just wants this mystery solved so he can get on with his building projects.
The safe is said to look like someone in the past tried to break into it unsuccessfully and that they are many compartments inside of it.
It is scheduled to be cracked next week after Labor Day.
Local media denied access to opening of safe at old Bills Casino
Posted by admin in News on September 14th, 2011 | no responses
By Linda Fine Conaboy
Oprah Winfrey Network has reportedly been given exclusive media rights to witness the opening of the safe found at the old Bills Casino in Stateline.
Lake Tahoe News was at the casino Tuesday at 2pm the time Douglas County sheriffs Sgt. Jim Halsey had said the safe would be cracked.
Instead, a construction worker said Oprahs people would be allowed in when they arrived, but he would not let this reporter in.
Several calls to Mike Laub, the current owner of the property, about this new development have gone unanswered. So, what he might have been paid to keep the news away from local and other media is not known, nor is it known if the safe was opened or if it was taken elsewhere.
The construction worker told LTN the contents of the safe would be revealed in January when the results of the filming would be disclosed.
Laub had brought in other locksmiths to try to open the safe, but all were unsuccessful.
The safe was discovered during the major remodel of Bills Casino. (A CVS and Dottys casino will be the two anchors.) Previous owners Harrahs Entertainment did not know about the safe that was discovered in the walls of the building, under a stairway.
Before it was Bills the site was Barneys Casino. According to authorities, the safe could be linked to the 1968 murder of the old Barneys proprietor, Richard Chartrand.
Because Chartrand was killed in 1968 in a spectacular car bombing as he departed his home in the Skyland neighborhood, and because the killing has never been solved, the buzz is this may have been a mob-style murder. Rumors have it that there is a great deal of money still missing, leaving investigators wondering if it could be stashed in the newly-discovered safe.
