COLD CASE RESEARCH: Resources for Unidentified, Missing, and Cold Homicide Cases

by Silvia Pettem

Cases in which all investigative leads appear to be exhausted are frustrating for both investigators and victims’ families. Cold cases can range from those only a few months old to others that go back for decades. Presenting profiles and actual case histories, Cold Case Resources for Unidentified, Missing and Cold Homicide Cases illustrates how investigators can successfully apply resources that will enable them to reopen and solve cases gathering dust in the file room. Today’s investigators have found that, to solve cold cases, they need to be internet savvy and make the best use of the rapidly changing methodologies of the twenty-first century, but they also have to be time travelers and open the door to the past. This volume weaves together the nearly forgotten skill sets of traditional historical researchers with the latest online tools, including TLO, a premier investigative system; and NamUs, the revolutionary database for missing persons and unidentified remains. Along with practical applications, Cold Case Research gives investigators the tools they need to save time and money and to jump-start their cold cases, while keeping others from going cold in the future. Topics discussed Using a thinking-outside-the-box approach, this volume helps fill major gaps in traditional cold case investigation training and techniques, enabling investigators to confidently reopen and crack the mystery of cases long thought unsolvable. Silvia Pettem was quoted in a January 29, 2012 article on missing persons in the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Genres: Nonfiction

312 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2012

About the author

Silvia Pettem (www.silviapettem.com) is a longtime historical researcher, newspaper columnist, and author of more than twenty books. Just released is IN SEARCH OF THE BLONDE TIGRESS: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ELEANOR JARMAN.

After decades of work for individuals and governments, her life took a new turn in 1996, when she stumbled upon the gravestone of a Jane Doe –– a murder victim from 1954. Pettem then applied her research skills to both old-fashioned detective work and the power of the internet by entering into a partnership with her local sheriff and with forensic experts of the Vidocq Society to successfully determine the young woman's identity. Pettem chronicled their work in "Someone's Daughter: In Search of Justice for Jane Doe," recently republished as an "Updated Edition."

Reviews

[Silvia Pettem]

"Cold Case Research" was written for law enforcement investigators working homicide, missing persons, and unidentified remains cases, but is also of interest to readers of "Someone's Daughter: In Search of Justice for Jane Doe" and members of the general public who are searching for missing persons.