Cold Case Investigations

Ok! You have a cold case.

A loved one was murdered, and it’s never been solved, or you disagree with the police finding.

• You have an alleged rape and the police have yet to find him and arrest him.
• You have a missing family member (adult or child) and every day you’re waiting for the knock at the door or your loved one to show up. Police have hit a no leads left spot.
• I have worked and resolved one of each of the above and others, but for this site I will show you how I worked them.

In one cold case an arson homicide a small town police did not want the help of the Virginia State Police.

1. They poorly gathered evidence.
2. Their interviews were not taped. So in a second interview you can compare testimony and see if there were different accounts of the happening by the same person being interviewed.

Cold case investigations are usually an expensive investigation as many hours and much time must be involved. WE have worked as much as 2 years before solving one case.

1. We review every detail of the police file.
2. We go back and conduct our interviews of the same witnesses several times. Over time some of the interviewees will have additional information that they now recall.
3. It’s important that we closely examine and study the overall crime scene photos.
4. Take a long look at the autopsy report.
5. If it is an arson homicide like the one I worked. Go to an experience arson retired investigator and show him or her photos of the crime scene. I went to ATF. I always draw on other investigators with specialized fields.
6. On an investigation it may be necessary to go undercover with the suspected offender and interview them. We have done this and will do this.
7. Undercover we will gather difference types of evidence. Example; finger prints, hair, and fibers. I will not rest until the family has an understanding of what happened. This may turn out to be unsettling or it may bring peace.

A missing person.

1. The first thing I do is to gather all the information about their everyday life before they went
   missing and the names and address of the last people seen close to them.
2. Their computer again needs down loaded.
3. Their cell phone and all calls need examined.
4. I make fliers with information and a picture of the missing.
5. If it’s a teen I speak to all their friends.

On some cold case the family refuses to accept the finding of the police investigation. Like in suicide. Another I worked was a police shooting. The family in these cases sometimes thinks it’s maybe a police cover up.

My procedures are basic old police work. I am a former police officer. Today’s police are over loaded and in some cases under equipped.

Let our experience investigator help you. Our private investigators have a good relationship with the local police.

“The dead cannot cry out for Justice.  It is a duty of the living to do so for them”

by Lois McMaster Bujoid

 Topic: Cold Case Investigations