ID TV special on slain York worker, with Herald columnist, airs tonight

The Investigation Discovery channel show “True Crime with Aphrodite Jones” will air “A Deadly Dream” at 9 p.m. Monday about the death of York garbageman Ernest Tolbert. Andrew Dys, columnist for The Herald who covered Tolbert’s death and the eventual arrest and conviction of a drug dealer for the killing, was interviewed for the special.

Tolbert, 63, was shot and killed in 2008 while working a second job where he was cleaning a coin laundry at night. The case went unsolved for two years before York police officers arrested Jomar Robinson for the killing.

Robinson, a convicted felon already in prison in 2010 for other convictions, was charged with murder and later pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He is serving 18 years for the killing.

Detective Billy Mumaw spent two years working the case and finally was able to crack it. Mumaw and several others from the York Police Department were interviewed for the show.

Also interviewed were York Mayor Eddie Lee, who knew Tolbert and lowered the city’s flags to half-mast when he was killed; Willy Thompson, deputy 16th Circuit solicitor; and members of Tolbert’s family.

The show, now in its sixth season, is a favorite in the true crime genre and has been to York when producers worked on a special about the killing of former Mayor Melvin Roberts and the conviction of his former girlfriend, Julia Phillips.

This story was originally published June 13, 2016 at 5:38 PM with the headline "ID TV special on slain York worker, with Herald columnist, airs tonight."