JSO awarded federal money to solve cold cases

The JSO received a $500,000 grant from the Justice Department to help test DNA evidence from cold cases.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Justice Department to help solve "cold" cases.  So far the JSO has reviewed 304 unsolved homicide cases and selected 42 for further review by detectives.

The money will go to the crime labs at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for testing and retesting of DNA evidence from the crimes selected by the JSO.

“Every cold case we have is being reviewed, and we never….never stop trying to solve those cases,” Sheriff John Rutherford said.

The DNA tested will be compared to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS.   It’s the world’s largest database of known offender DNA records.  The JSO hopes that some of the evidence from their cold cases will match CODIS records and eventually lead to more arrests.

“I don’t want this to sound like CSI or anything, but it is true enough that many crimes today are solved through science,” Rutherford said.

Only crimes that took place between 1990 and 2001 can be tested in this program, as CODIS did not exist during that period.

Sheriff Rutherford says that they submit about four items for case, each costing about $869.  So each case sent for review costs about $3,400.

Rutherford says they spend hours reviewing cases to see if DNA was present at the crime scene and whether testing will help solve it.  The JSO looked at 304 unsolved homicides for an initial review and then chose 173 of them.  Of the 173, they’ve selected 42 of them for further examination by detectives to see if DNA testing is necessary.  They’re now reviewing 354 sex crimes to select those that will need further examinations.

Executive Director of Crime Stoppers Wyllie Hodges says they still need tips from the community because not all cold cases can be solved through DNA testing.

Crime Stoppers are increasing their tips reward from $1,000 to $1,500 for any tips that lead to an arrest.

“Please help us. Please help us in getting this information,” Hodges said. “The suspects that we’re talking about have killed once.  They may very well kill again.  And it could be someone in your family.   So please, someone has information.  Even though these cases are very old, someone still has information. I know it.”

Hodges says it makes a difference when they increase the rewards for cases.   Since 2005, crime tips have led to 83 arrests.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has added a section about these cold cases to its Web site.  More information can be found on the 42 homicide cases as well as links to the cases from each year between 1990 to 2001.