Stonington Police made an arrest earlier this month in the March 6 hit-and-run death of bicyclist Gary Piver and released a timeline of their investigation, answering many questions and perhaps providing relief to some members of the community.

These past three months, it must have pained Piver’s grieving friends and family to know the driver who struck the 69-year-old school custodian and fled the scene was at large.

We’re certain it bothered members of the community, who emailed and called The Day every couple of days to see if there was any news.

A couple of people speculated via email that a cover up for a prominent person was under way, and one suggested The Day was part of the scheme.

One reader wrote a letter to the editor saying he was “losing confidence in the local justice system as the months pass by without any updates.”

Maybe folks heard the name of the suspect, Jonathan Olsen, and thought he was related to the police department spokesman, Capt. Todd Olson, or to other prominent members of the community. Different spelling.

You kept the pressure on the police and the press, and that’s OK.

But real-life crime investigations are complex and time-consuming, unlike TV shows in which evidence and confessions are seized and guilty verdicts are acquired within an hour.

The gap between fiction and reality could be closing as technology advances. Our phones follow our every movement, and surveillance cameras that aid police in tracking us ― for better or worse ― are multiplying in our streets, highways and homes.

Still, forensic evidence remains imperfect, and police often rely on witness testimony and confessions to make their cases. Suspects have the right to remain silent and often “lawyer up,” as did Mr. Olsen, who refused to answer investigators’ questions at the advice of his attorney.

Though we wish this case and others could be resolved more quickly, we recognize the value of a justice system that upholds the U.S. Constitution, along with the principle that one is innocent until proven guilty.

We want to tell you how we tracked this tragic case, and to let you know we remained committed to holding the police and courts accountable, though we didn’t report every phone call and inquiry we made as the case proceeded.

Night News Editor Joe Wojtas, who as a reporter covered Stonington for more than 20 years, checked in with the town police every couple of days.

The cops never tell us all the details of a pending investigation, but Wojtas was able to discern that the investigation was moving along and that the person of interest was not a well-known member of the community.

Once the police determined they had the proof they needed, they submitted an arrest warrant for review by prosecutors and a judge. Reporter Greg Smith, who has years of experience covering crime and courts, kept tabs on the case from the court angle.

We still didn’t know all the details, and like you, we had to wait.

More information became available this past week when we obtained the arrest warrant affidavit. In case you missed our story, we are linking it to the digital version of this column and attaching the affidavit.

The stories and supporting documents we’ve published should provide a better understanding of why it took so long.

Police seized the suspect’s car, obtained video from 32 surveillance cameras, conducted numerous interviews and submitted evidence to the state crime laboratory. The results of some of the forensic testing remained unavailable as they prepared the arrest warrant.

We don’t see any evidence that the police did anything but solid and honorable work, but we’ll continue to report on the case.

We know you care, and we do too.

This the opinion of Karen Florin, managing editor. Reach her at k.florin@theday.com or (860) 701-4217.