Cold case
Encyclopedia
Cold case refers to a scene of a crime or an accident that has not yet been solved to the full and is not the subject of a recent criminal investigation
, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, retained material evidence, as well as fresh activities of the suspect (e.g. repeated deaths of wives of a suspect, who marries a lady and then does away with her for insurance gain). New technical methods developed after the case can be used on the surviving evidence to re-analyze the causes, often with conclusive results.
or other major felony
crimes, such as murder
or rape
which unlike unsolved minor crimes are generally not subject to a statute of limitations
.
Sometimes disappearances can also be considered cold cases if the victim has been not seen or heard from for some time, such as the case of Natalee Holloway
.
In about 35% of those cases are not really cold cases at all. Some cases become instantly cold when a seeming closed (solved) case is re-opened due to the discovery of new evidence pointing away from the original suspect(s). This happens in a surprising number of cases, and is the result of a miscarriage of justice
. Other cases are cold when the crime, usually through discovery of human remains, is discovered well after the fact. Other cases are classified cold cases when a case that had been originally ruled an accident or suicide is re-designated a murder when new evidence emerges.
The John Christie murders is a classic case, when Timothy Evans
was wrongly executed for the alleged murders of his wife and child. Many other bodies were later found in the house where they lived with Christie, and he in turn was executed for those crimes. The case helped a campaign against capital punishment
in Britain.
has been identified, charged
, and tried
for the crime. A case that goes to trial and does not result in a conviction can also be kept on the books pending new evidence
.
Often a case is not solved but forensic evidence helps to determine that the crimes are serial crimes. The BTK
case and Original Night Stalker
(still unsolved) cases are such examples.
technology, many cold cases are being re-opened and prosecuted. Police
departments are opening cold case units whose job is to re-examine cold case files. DNA evidence helps in such cases but as in the case of fingerprints, it is of no value unless there is evidence on file to compare it to.
The identity of Jack the Ripper
is a notorious example of an outstanding cold case, with numerous suggestions as to the identity of the serial killer
. Similarly, the Zodiac Killer
has been studied extensively for 40 years with numerous suspects discussed and debated. The perpetrators of the Wall Street bombing
of 1920 have never been positively identified, though the Galleanists, a group of Italian anarchists, are widely believed to have planned the explosion. The burning of the
Reichstag building in 1933 remains controversial and although Marinus van der Lubbe
was tried, convicted and executed for arson
, it is possible that the Reichstag fire was perpetrated by the Nazis to enhance their power and destroy democracy in Germany.
of 1987 and the Bradford City stadium fire of 1985 in Britain. The causes of many early railway accidents are often obscure although they can sometimes be inferred from later research, such as the Versailles train crash
of 1842 and the Tay Bridge disaster
of 1879. The French disaster was one of the first major rail accidents and caused the deaths of at least 55 passengers when two locomotives derailed and the carriages piled into them and one another. They were then set on fire by coals from the engine, and passengers could not escape because the carriage doors were locked.
The first Tay rail bridge collapsed in a storm on the evening of December 28, 1879, and an entire express train fell into the river below the bridge. It is still one of the worst structural failure
s in Britain. It is likely that metal fatigue
in critical components contributed and the parts broke suddenly, precipitating disaster. Many key joints were also loosened by the vibrations of trains passing overhead. The public inquiry
in 1880 concluded that the bridge was "badly designed, badly built and badly maintained".
The wheel axles were the weak link on the Versailles locomotive, and the lugs holding the tie bars on the Tay bridge. The same fatigue theory may explain the Boston Molasses disaster
of 1919, when a large storage tank suddenly failed, releasing a wave of molasses
onto the dockside in Boston, Massachusetts. It killed 21 people, including a fire fighter from an adjacent firehouse.
The loss of the RMS Titanic has also been revisited following the discovery of the remains of the ship at the bottom of the Atlantic. Modern analysis of the steel
appears to show that the wrought iron
rivets used to fasten the steel sheet of the hull
were weaker than expected. When the ship received a glancing blow from the iceberg, they failed sequentially and allowed seawater to pour through the gaps between the plates of the hull.
Criminal procedure
Criminal procedure refers to the legal process for adjudicating claims that someone has violated criminal law.-Basic rights:Currently, in many countries with a democratic system and the rule of law, criminal procedure puts the burden of proof on the prosecution – that is, it is up to the...
, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, retained material evidence, as well as fresh activities of the suspect (e.g. repeated deaths of wives of a suspect, who marries a lady and then does away with her for insurance gain). New technical methods developed after the case can be used on the surviving evidence to re-analyze the causes, often with conclusive results.
Violent or major crime
Typically, cold cases are violentViolent crime
A violent crime or crime of violence is a crime in which the offender uses or threatens to use violent force upon the victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objective, such as murder, as well as crimes in which violence is the means to an end, such as robbery. Violent...
or other major felony
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
crimes, such as murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
or rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
which unlike unsolved minor crimes are generally not subject to a statute of limitations
Statute of limitations
A statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...
.
Sometimes disappearances can also be considered cold cases if the victim has been not seen or heard from for some time, such as the case of Natalee Holloway
Natalee Holloway
Natalee Ann Holloway disappeared on May 30, 2005, during a high school graduation trip to Aruba, a Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. An American student from Mountain Brook, Alabama, Holloway graduated from Mountain Brook High School on May 24, 2005, shortly before the trip...
.
In about 35% of those cases are not really cold cases at all. Some cases become instantly cold when a seeming closed (solved) case is re-opened due to the discovery of new evidence pointing away from the original suspect(s). This happens in a surprising number of cases, and is the result of a miscarriage of justice
Miscarriage of justice
A miscarriage of justice primarily is the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. The term can also apply to errors in the other direction—"errors of impunity", and to civil cases. Most criminal justice systems have some means to overturn, or "quash", a wrongful...
. Other cases are cold when the crime, usually through discovery of human remains, is discovered well after the fact. Other cases are classified cold cases when a case that had been originally ruled an accident or suicide is re-designated a murder when new evidence emerges.
The John Christie murders is a classic case, when Timothy Evans
Timothy Evans
Timothy John Evans was a Welshman accused of murdering his wife and daughter at their residence in Notting Hill, London in November 1949. In January 1950 Evans was tried and convicted of the murder of his daughter, and he was sentenced to death by hanging...
was wrongly executed for the alleged murders of his wife and child. Many other bodies were later found in the house where they lived with Christie, and he in turn was executed for those crimes. The case helped a campaign against capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
in Britain.
Identifying a suspect
A case is considered unsolved until a suspectSuspect
In the parlance of criminal justice, a suspect is a known person suspected of committing a crime.Police and reporters often incorrectly use the word suspect when referring to the...
has been identified, charged
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
, and tried
Jury trial
A jury trial is a legal proceeding in which a jury either makes a decision or makes findings of fact which are then applied by a judge...
for the crime. A case that goes to trial and does not result in a conviction can also be kept on the books pending new evidence
Evidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...
.
Often a case is not solved but forensic evidence helps to determine that the crimes are serial crimes. The BTK
Dennis Rader
Dennis Lynn Rader is an American serial killer who murdered ten people in Sedgwick County , between 1974 and 1991....
case and Original Night Stalker
Original Night Stalker
The Original Night Stalker is the moniker for an unidentified serial killer and rapist who murdered at least ten people in Southern California from 1979 through 1986 and sexually assaulted at least fifty in Northern California from June 1976 to July 1979...
(still unsolved) cases are such examples.
Notable examples
- In 2005 Edmond Jay Marr pleaded guilty to 2nd degree murder to the March 1983 kidnap and murder of Elaine Graham, 29, a nurse and student at California State University at Northridge. He became a suspect when acquaintances noted that he was in the immediate area of her disappearance and was seen at a sister's home only a few blocks where the victim's car was found. Her skeletal remains were found by hikers in a wooded area halfway between where she was last seen alive and where the car was found some six months later. A knife found in the suspect's possession (when he was arrested for armed robbery a month later) was later proven to be the murder weapon when DNA evidence, unavailable in 1983, provided by Elaine's daughter matched blood found in the knife's crevices.
- In 2002 Edward Freiburger was found guilty of 1st degree murder in the February 1961 murder of 60-year old John Orner, a cab driver in Columbia, South Carolina. Orner was robbed and murdered on the job with a .32 H&R pistol. Freiburger, then 19 and a soldier stationed at nearby Fort Jackson, became a suspect when it was discovered that he purchased such a pistol at a local pawnshop only hours before Orner received the dispatch call that would be his last. It was bolstered by the fact he went AWOL that night. He was picked up by Tennessee State Police a month later who found the gun in his possession. However ballistics tests were inconclusive and Freiburger was never charged. In 2002 a private firearms examiner working for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (or SLED) took the time to clean up the slugs and matched the bullets to the gun.
- In 2003 John Henry Horton, 56, was arrested for the July 1974 murder of 13-year old Lizbeth Wilson in Prairie Village, Kansas. She had been last seen running across the field of the Shawnee Mission East High School by her brother John who was racing ahead of her about 7pm. Her remains were found in an empty field some six months later. Horton became a suspect when it became evident that she was last known to be alive at the school. He was the only known adult working on the school grounds that night. This was bolstered when other girls reported that he had tried to lure them into the school. Moreover the police found he took an extended break from 8:30pm until nearly midnight that night. They also searched his car and found a duffel bag and a bottle of chloroform. He explained it by saying he used the chloroform to "get high". However the evidence was circumstantial and he went free until 2002 when investigators interviewed a witness overlooked in 1974. She, then 15, had been given chloroform by Horton and while unconscious had been sexually molested by him. This led to his arrest and conviction in 2003. However, the story did not end there. The Kansas State Supreme Court in 2005 overturned the conviction on the basis that the "prior bad act" had not been placed on public record so the witness' testimony should not have been allowed. However they did grant leave to re-try and re-file the case. This time the evidence which was purely circumstantial, as well as the testimony of two of Horton's fellow inmates, was enough for a second jury to declare him guilty.
- In 2003, Gerald MasonGerald MasonGerald Fit Mason is an American cop killer and rapist. Mason's 2003 arrest and prosecution for the 1957 murder of two El Segundo police officers made national headlines.-Criminal career:...
was arrested and charged with the murder of two El SegundoEl Segundo, CaliforniaEl Segundo is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located on the Santa Monica Bay, it was incorporated on January 18, 1917, and is one of the Beach Cities of Los Angeles County and part of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments...
police officers, as well as rape and robbery, dating back to 1957.
- In 2011, 73-year old Samuel Evans plead guilty to 1968 & 1972 cold cases after DNA evidence linked him to the slayings. The 1968 cold case solved by scientists at the Seattle Crime Lab is the oldest case ever solved using DNA Evidence.
Tunnel vision
Sometimes a viable suspect has been overlooked or simply ignored due to then-flimsy circumstantial evidence, the presence of a likelier suspect (who is later proven to be innocent), or a tendency of investigators to zero in on someone else to the exclusion of other possibilities (which goes back to the likelier suspect angle) -- known as "tunnel vision":- A notable example is the Peggy Hettrick murder casePeggy Hettrick murder caseThe Peggy Hettrick Murder Case concerns the unsolved 1987 death of Peggy Hettrick in Fort Collins, Colorado. Timothy Lee Masters was charged and convicted of the crime in 1999, and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. His sentence was vacated in 2008...
in Colorado.
- Another example is the Carol Hutto murder case in FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. In December 1976 the 16-year old's body was found in a lake near an abandoned house in Largo, Florida. She was last seen alive the night before when she received a call. Suspicion fell on her half-brother Jerry Irwin, then 17, who had stayed out all night and whose route home took him past the house and lake. Moreover he had a long juvenile record of troublemaking and some violence. As a result the police focused in on him even though they could not make a case against him. This however allowed a better suspect to escape detection for nearly 18 years and even then four more were needed to bring the suspect, Carol's boyfriend Jimmy Kuenn, to trial for the crime.
Improvements in forensics
With the advent and improving DNA testing and other forensicsForensics
Forensic science is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to a legal system. This may be in relation to a crime or a civil action...
technology, many cold cases are being re-opened and prosecuted. Police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
departments are opening cold case units whose job is to re-examine cold case files. DNA evidence helps in such cases but as in the case of fingerprints, it is of no value unless there is evidence on file to compare it to.
Famous criminal examples
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
is a notorious example of an outstanding cold case, with numerous suggestions as to the identity of the serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
. Similarly, the Zodiac Killer
Zodiac Killer
The Zodiac Killer was a serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The killer's identity remains unknown. The Zodiac murdered victims in Benicia, Vallejo, Lake Berryessa and San Francisco between December 1968 and October 1969. Four men and three women...
has been studied extensively for 40 years with numerous suspects discussed and debated. The perpetrators of the Wall Street bombing
Wall Street bombing
The Wall Street bombing occurred at 12:01 p.m. on Thursday, September 16, 1920, in the Financial District of New York City. The blast killed 38 and seriously injured 143...
of 1920 have never been positively identified, though the Galleanists, a group of Italian anarchists, are widely believed to have planned the explosion. The burning of the
Reichstag fire
The Reichstag fire was an arson attack on the Reichstag building in Berlin on 27 February 1933. The event is seen as pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany....
Reichstag building in 1933 remains controversial and although Marinus van der Lubbe
Marinus van der Lubbe
Marinus van der Lubbe was a Dutch council communist convicted of, and controversially executed for, setting fire to the German Reichstag building on February 27, 1933, an event known as the Reichstag fire. ....
was tried, convicted and executed for arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
, it is possible that the Reichstag fire was perpetrated by the Nazis to enhance their power and destroy democracy in Germany.
Famous disasters
Many disasters and accidents remain obscure, especially involving major fires, where any evidence of how they started is destroyed by the fire itself. They include the King's Cross fireKing's Cross fire
The King's Cross St. Pancras tube station fire was a fatal fire on the London Underground. It broke out at approximately 19:30 on 18 November 1987, and killed 31 people....
of 1987 and the Bradford City stadium fire of 1985 in Britain. The causes of many early railway accidents are often obscure although they can sometimes be inferred from later research, such as the Versailles train crash
Versailles train crash
The Versailles rail accident occurred on May 8, 1842 in the cutting at Meudon Bellevue , France. Following the King's fete celebrations at the Palace of Versailles, a train returning to Paris crashed at Meudon after the leading locomotive broke an axle. The carriages behind piled into the wrecked...
of 1842 and the Tay Bridge disaster
Tay Bridge disaster
The Tay Bridge disaster occurred on 28 December 1879, when the first Tay Rail Bridge, which crossed the Firth of Tay between Dundee and Wormit in Scotland, collapsed during a violent storm while a train was passing over it. The bridge was designed by the noted railway engineer Sir Thomas Bouch,...
of 1879. The French disaster was one of the first major rail accidents and caused the deaths of at least 55 passengers when two locomotives derailed and the carriages piled into them and one another. They were then set on fire by coals from the engine, and passengers could not escape because the carriage doors were locked.
The first Tay rail bridge collapsed in a storm on the evening of December 28, 1879, and an entire express train fell into the river below the bridge. It is still one of the worst structural failure
Structural failure
Structural failure refers to loss of the load-carrying capacity of a component or member within a structure or of the structure itself. Structural failure is initiated when the material is stressed to its strength limit, thus causing fracture or excessive deformations...
s in Britain. It is likely that metal fatigue
Metal Fatigue
Metal Fatigue , is a futuristic science fiction, real-time strategy computer game developed by Zono Incorporated and published by Psygnosis and TalonSoft .-Plot:...
in critical components contributed and the parts broke suddenly, precipitating disaster. Many key joints were also loosened by the vibrations of trains passing overhead. The public inquiry
Public inquiry
A Tribunal of Inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body in Common Law countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland or Canada. Such a public inquiry differs from a Royal Commission in that a public inquiry accepts evidence and conducts its hearings in a more...
in 1880 concluded that the bridge was "badly designed, badly built and badly maintained".
The wheel axles were the weak link on the Versailles locomotive, and the lugs holding the tie bars on the Tay bridge. The same fatigue theory may explain the Boston Molasses disaster
Boston molasses disaster
The Boston Molasses Disaster, also known as the Great Molasses Flood and the Great Boston Molasses Tragedy, occurred on January 15, 1919, in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts in the United States. A large molasses storage tank burst, and a wave of molasses rushed through the...
of 1919, when a large storage tank suddenly failed, releasing a wave of molasses
Molasses
Molasses is a viscous by-product of the processing of sugar cane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar. The word molasses comes from the Portuguese word melaço, which ultimately comes from mel, the Latin word for "honey". The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet,...
onto the dockside in Boston, Massachusetts. It killed 21 people, including a fire fighter from an adjacent firehouse.
The loss of the RMS Titanic has also been revisited following the discovery of the remains of the ship at the bottom of the Atlantic. Modern analysis of the steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
appears to show that the wrought iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
rivets used to fasten the steel sheet of the hull
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...
were weaker than expected. When the ship received a glancing blow from the iceberg, they failed sequentially and allowed seawater to pour through the gaps between the plates of the hull.
Notable solved criminal cold cases
- 2001 anthrax attacks2001 anthrax attacksThe 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, also known as Amerithrax from its Federal Bureau of Investigation case name, occurred over the course of several weeks beginning on Tuesday, September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 attacks. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to...
- Liz CarmichaelLiz CarmichaelGeraldine Elizabeth "Liz" Carmichael was an American entrepreneur who marketed the three-wheel Dale sports car in 1975.The Dale car, a design of Dale Clift, was supposed to be produced by Twentieth Century Motor Car Corporation in California. According to Twentieth Century's 1975 brochure, it had...
- Centennial Olympic Park bombingCentennial Olympic Park bombingThe Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a terrorist bombing on July 27, 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States during the 1996 Summer Olympics, the first of four committed by Eric Robert Rudolph...
- Oba ChandlerOba ChandlerOba Chandler was an American convicted rapist and murderer who was put to death via lethal injection for the June 1989 triple murders of a woman and her two daughters whose bodies were found in Tampa Bay, Florida. All three were discovered floating with their hands and feet bound, concrete blocks...
- Jaycee Lee DugardKidnapping of Jaycee Lee DugardThe kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard occurred on June 10, 1991 in South Lake Tahoe, California. Dugard was 11 years old at the time and was abducted from a street while she was walking from home to a school bus stop. Searches began immediately after the kidnapping, but no reliable leads were generated...
- Barbara Ann Hackman TaylorBarbara Ann Hackman TaylorBarbara Ann Hackman Taylor , also known as The Tent Girl, was an unidentified young woman found dead near Georgetown, Kentucky on May 17, 1968.- History :Mr...
(The Tent Girl) - Shawn HornbeckShawn Hornbeck FoundationThe ' is a non-profit charitable organization based in Richwoods, Missouri, devoted to the search for and rescue of abducted children. It runs the Search and Rescue Team....
- Jessica KeenJessica KeenJessica Lyn Keen was a murder victim killed in Foster Chapel Cemetery in West Jefferson, Ohio. Her case was profiled on the television program Unsolved Mysteries.- Before the murder :...
- Beverly McGowanElaine ParentElaine Antoinette Parent was an American criminal known as "the world's most wanted woman" in the late nineties and early '00s. She was wanted for the murder of her former roommate, Beverly McGowan. Beverly had placed an ad in the paper looking for a roommate. A woman named "Alice" answered the...
- Elizabeth Smart
- Green River KillerGary RidgwayGary Leon Ridgway is an American serial killer known as the Green River Killer. He murdered numerous women in Washington during the 1980s and 1990s, earning his nickname when the first five victims were found in the Green River. He strangled them, usually with his arm but sometimes using ligatures...
- Chandra LevyChandra LevyChandra Ann Levy was an American intern at the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, D.C., who disappeared in May 2001. She was presumed murdered after her skeletal remains were found in Rock Creek Park in May 2002...
- Holly MadduxIra EinhornIra Samuel Einhorn, known as "the Unicorn Killer" , is a convicted murderer who savagely beat his ex-girlfriend, Holly Maddux, to death and then stored her body in a locker in his apartment for more than a year before it was discovered by the police...
- Nicholas MarkowitzMurder of Nicholas MarkowitzNicholas Samuel "Nick" Markowitz was a American teenager who was kidnapped and murdered at the age of 15 after a feud over drug money between his half-brother Benjamin Markowitz and Jesse James Hollywood...
- Gerald MasonGerald MasonGerald Fit Mason is an American cop killer and rapist. Mason's 2003 arrest and prosecution for the 1957 murder of two El Segundo police officers made national headlines.-Criminal career:...
- Lita McClintonLita McClintonLita McClinton , the daughter of Emory McClinton, a former U. S. Department of Transportation official and his wife, JoAnn McClinton, a Georgia state representative, was murdered the day her divorce was to be settled...
- Lil MissLil Miss"The Lil Miss murder" is the name given to the murder case of Lisa Marie Kimmell , who disappeared while on a trip home from Colorado to Billings, Montana...
- Martha MoxleyMartha MoxleyMartha Elizabeth Moxley was a 15-year-old murder victim in a case that attracted worldwide publicity owing to a "Kennedy connection"....
- Jeanine NicaricoJeanine Nicarico murder caseThe Jeanine Nicarico murder case was a complex and influential homicide investigation and prosecution in DuPage County, Illinois that sent two men to prison who were later exonerated and released, and contributed to the death penalty moratorium imposed by then-Governor George H...
- Kevin PoulsenKevin PoulsenKevin Lee Poulsen is a former black hat hacker. He is currently News Editor at Wired.com.-Biography:...
- Samantha Runnion
- Altemio SanchezAltemio SanchezAltemio C. Sanchez is an American serial killer who murdered at least three women and raped at least 14 others in and around Buffalo, New York, over a span of 25 years . He is also known as The Bike Path Rapist...
, The Bike Path Rapist - Steven StaynerSteven StaynerSteven Gregory Stayner was an American kidnap victim. Stayner was abducted from the Northern California city and county of Merced, California at the age of seven and held until he was 14, when he escaped and rescued another victim, Timothy White, in 1980...
- The Unabomber
- Adam Walsh
- Gregory WebbGregory WebbGregory J. Webb is a former police chief of Lyons, Nebraska, who was convicted of killing his neighbor, Anna Anton. He pleaded no contest after being arrested in Holly Hill, Florida, to manslaughter and tampering with evidence...
- Aimee WillardAimee WillardAimee Willard was a star lacrosse player who was murdered on her way home from a night out with friends. Her car was left running and her body was found, but the killer was unknown...
- Mia ZapataMia ZapataMia Katherine Zapata was the lead singer for the Seattle punk band The Gits.-Life and career:Zapata was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky...
In popular culture
- The Canadian television series Cold SquadCold SquadCold Squad is a Canadian police procedural television series first broadcast in 1998 that followed the investigations of a part of the Vancouver Police Department Homicide Division tasked with solving cold cases, the titular Cold Squad, as led by Sergeant Ali McCormick .The cast of Cold Squad was...
(1998–2005), the British television series Waking the DeadWaking the Dead (TV series)Waking the Dead is a British television police procedural crime drama series produced by the BBC featuring a fictional Cold Case Unit comprising CID police officers, a psychological profiler and a forensic scientist. A pilot episode aired in September 2000 and there have been a total of nine series...
(2000–2011) and the US television series Cold Case (2003–2010) all follow groups of fictional homicide detectives who investigate cold cases. They are set in VancouverVancouverVancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Philadelphia, respectively. - Cold Case FilesCold Case FilesCold Case Files is documentary television series on the cable channel A&E Network hosted by Bill Kurtis that documents the investigation of various long-unsolved murders through the use of modern forensic science , and criminal psychology, in addition to recent breakthroughs in the...
(1999–present) is a documentary-style television series recounting actual solved cold cases. - New Tricks is a BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series revolving around retired CIDCriminal Investigation DepartmentThe Crime Investigation Department is the branch of all Territorial police forces within the British Police and many other Commonwealth police forces, to which plain clothes detectives belong. It is thus distinct from the Uniformed Branch and the Special Branch.The Metropolitan Police Service CID,...
officers acting as consultants to serving officers and investigating unsolved cold cases. - In the movie Max PayneMax Payne (film)Max Payne is a 2008 noir action film based on the 2001 video game of the same name by Remedy Entertainment. It was written by Beau Thorne and was directed by John Moore. The film stars Mark Wahlberg in the title role as Max Payne, Mila Kunis as Mona Sax, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges as Jim Bravura and...
, Detective Max Payne, works in Cold Case, NYPD. - RihannaRihannaRobyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...
- Cold Case Love (Song) Rated RRated R (album)Rated R is the second studio album by American rock band Queens of the Stone Age. It was released on June 6, 2000 through Interscope Records. Rated R was a critical and commercial success and became the band's breakthrough album. It peaked at number 16 on the Top Heatseekers and reached high...
.
See also
- DetectiveDetectiveA detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
- FBI Victims Indentification Project
- Forensic engineeringForensic engineeringForensic engineering is the investigation of materials, products, structures or components that fail or do not operate or function as intended, causing personal injury or damage to property. The consequences of failure are dealt with by the law of product liability. The field also deals with...
- Forensic photographyForensic photographyForensic photography, sometimes referred to as forensic imaging or crime scene photography, is the art of producing an accurate reproduction of a crime scene or an accident scene using photography for the benefit of a court or to aid in an investigation. It is part of the process of evidence...
- Forensic science
- Unexplained disappearancesUnexplained disappearancesUnexplained disappearance is the physical disappearance of people or other objects without apparent cause or reason.-Notable disappearances:-Benjamin Bathurst:...