WHEN MURDER CASES GO COLD
- Lynn Bohart
- Aug 16
- 4 min read
Did you know there is a virtual mountain of unsolved cases in this country? Since 1995, the FBI reports that the annual national average of solved homicides in the United States is only about 64%— leaving 36% of the murders unsolved. Part of the reason for this is the amount of personnel time and resources it takes to solve even one case. There is also a compounding financial and workload effect on police departments as new cases are assigned.
Sadly, many families who have lost a loved one to murder are left frozen in time when their case goes cold.
A case may go cold for several reasons, including a lack of sufficient evidence to ID the killer, or not enough irrefutable evidence, making the prosecuting attorney feel the case can’t be won in court. When that happens, a case can go cold for years or even decades until someone chooses to reopen it.
When does a cold case get reopened?
Investigators will consider reopening a case when they’ve been made aware of new forensic evidence, when something (or someone) has prompted them to take a fresh look at old evidence, or they become aware of new circumstantial evidence. Reopening a cold case first involves a thorough examination of the original case file. Then, investigators will begin re-evaluating witnesses with an eye toward fresh information, talking to new witnesses or suspects previously overlooked, re-interviewing alibi witnesses who may recant their original stories, or using new forensic techniques not available when the crime first occurred.
According to the Cold Case Foundation, “It is not for lack of interest that cases turn cold and are sometimes seemingly forgotten; they are never forgotten by the victims, their families, or by the investigators who have worked them.” Instead, they often go cold because of a lack of resources to continue investigating. The numbers aren’t good. The Cold Case Foundation reports that an estimated 5,737 ‘cold-blooded killers’ get away with murder each year.
While law enforcement may be restrained by a lack of funds and personnel, a host of additional resources have cropped up to take up some of the slack. One such organization is the Cold Case Foundation, which has dedicated itself to providing hope and resources to families affected by violent crime. The Cold Case Foundation is “devoted to raising public awareness and creating partnerships to assist and provide law enforcement with whatever resources are needed to bring about closure.”
There is also Uncovered, an online information source that calls itself the “nation’s largest database of information powered by the public on cold cases.” They go on to say that they are where the “most passionate true crime enthusiasts can learn from and teach others.” Their goal is to dive deep into cold case stories in ways that may help to solve them. Taking advantage of society’s obsession with true crime, Uncovered relies on the true crime audience and their need for “activism, contribution, and community to solve the stories of real people.”
Then, there is Crime Online, hosted by Nancy Grace. Regardless of your feelings about Nancy Grace and her controversial reputation, her website says its goal is to create “a platform to ensure there is equity for BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and other underserved victims not prioritized in the true crime community.” More power to them. On this website you can read up on cold cases and even look at video and crime scene photos.
Do you listen to true crime podcasts? Crime Junkie is a popular weekly true crime podcast hosted by lifelong friends, Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat. Each episode discusses the gripping cases these women “can’t get out of their heads.” The cases they cover are almost always cold cases, and the hosts ask for listeners’ help at the end of each episode. Another podcast which covers unresolved murder and abduction cases in Canada is True North True Crime. Both podcasts give enough information about the crimes they report on to allow listeners to get involved.
There is also Cold Case Explorations, a website hosted by Skylar Aries. The website explores “the forgotten mysteries that continue to haunt communities and families.” Skylar writes about these cases after conducting meticulous research along with document, news, interview, and video analysis. Her goal is to “shine a new light” on cases that have gone cold for years or even decades. She writes, “Every cold case represents more than just an unsolved mystery; it represents lives forever changed, questions unanswered, and justice delayed and therefore denied.”
I especially love Skylar’s tagline—Justice Has No Expiration Date. She is serious about what she does and says that her work, “serves as a reminder that no victim should be forgotten simply because their case proved difficult to solve, and no family should feel abandoned by a system that promised them justice.”
You may remember NecroSearch International. I have interviewed several of their members in this newsletter. NecroSearch is a volunteer organization comprised of a multidisciplinary team of specialists dedicated to assisting law enforcement in the location of clandestine graves and the documentation and recovery of evidence (including human remains). Since 1988, they have assisted in over 480 cases in 42 states, Washington DC, and 7 foreign countries. You can see my interviews with NecroSearch on my website at www.lynnbohart-author.com.
In the end, cold cases are solvable given the right resources and a little bit of luck. If you have a passion for learning about cold cases, solving them, and giving relief to families that have lived ‘frozen in time’ for way too long, then I encourage you to look into one of these organizations or podcasts to see how you can help.
Sources to explore include:
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