The East Cocalico Chief of Police has been extremely busy, and he recently made it a point to thank those who have helped with the workload.

In one report to West Cocalico Township supervisors Thursday and another to Denver Borough Council on Monday, Chief George Beever said the investigation into the death of Jan E. Roseboro could not have been as productive without the help of other local law-enforcement agencies.

Police arrested Michael A. Roseboro on Aug. 2 and charged him with criminal homicide in the death of his wife. According to court documents, Roseboro's extramarital affair was motive for the July 22 killing.

In published accounts, police alleged Michael Roseboro beat and strangled his wife at their Reinholds home and dumped her body into the family swimming pool before calling 911. Allan L. Sodomsky, Roseboro's defense attorney, maintains his client's innocence.

"Obviously, this is a situation that has really affected the community," Beever told West Cocalico officials. "It's a real tragedy; our officers and people involved have always kept that in the back of their minds as they've done their jobs."

He said the department's work force has been logging many extra hours.

"We've been extremely busy the last few weeks," Beever said. "We're really reaping the dividends and benefits of our participation in the major crimes unit over the past 17 years."

He specifically cited the support of Warwick, New Holland, Ephrata, East Lampeter and Lititz police departments in the Roseboro case. Beever also thanked Lancaster County detectives for their assistance in the investigation.

"Our participation in (the major crimes unit) and our assistance to those municipalities when they had these types of situations (helped) our people gain experience and knowledge," Beever said.

He said being a part of the major crimes unit allows officers from different departments to form unique relationships, which produce great interdepartmental cooperation.

"When we needed the help there was no question," Beever said. "They put in a lot of hours, too."

The Roseboro residence is located in Reinholds, an unincorporated village in West Cocalico, which is served by the East Cocalico Police Department. The department provides police coverage to East and West Cocalico townships and Denver and Adamstown boroughs.

West Cocalico Township manager Norma Enck wanted to thank Beever and everyone involved in the investigation.

"We had several people from the community in here (with) questions," Enck said. "I felt comfortable in assuring them that the officers were doing everything within their power."

In Denver, Beever repeated his sentiments about the major crimes unit.

The work associated with the investigation is far from being finished, and Beever's department will continue to log long hours on the job. Nevertheless, Beever said, this work and the investigation would be a lot different without assistance from the major crimes unit.

"There's still a lot of work to be done in this investigation," Beever said. "We foresee the number of man-hours we have to dedicate will drop off as time goes on. There are still another couple of months of pretty intense work to do."