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GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER
Monday, September 20th, 2010 -- 11:36 am
Posted by Riley Hebert-News Director
The state Department of Justice is hoping a $500,000 grant will help them solve more cold cases.
While a quick resolution is obviously preferred, new technology—like DNA testing—has given investigators new hope of solving some old crimes.
Jed Sperry, a special agent in charge of the Eau Claire office of the Division of Criminal investigation, says there are dozens of unsolved violent crimes around the state. DCI has several investigators looking into them.
"In our Eau Claire office, we're fortunate enough to have one of those agents," Sperry says. "Since 2006, he's had 20 case assigned to him. 16 met the criteria. Of the 16, 4 of them have been solved."
"We look forward with this grant to improving that rate."
Not every cold case is a good candidate for review—they simply don’t have much evidence to work with. But others can really benefit from another look, especially with new technology.
"DNA is probably the primary example. Our banks of suspects' DNA is larger, that comes into affect," Sperry notes.
The number of cases reviewed by the Wisconsin Cold Case Unit jumped from 29 in 2008 to 124 last year.
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