"The Cuyahoga Falls Police have never given up on this case, it's one that they've worked on tirelessly since 1987, they just didn't have the tools to catch him until now." May 28, 2020 Blatnik Cold Case By: Courtney Shaw , Joe Pagonakis Posted at 4:29 PM, May 06, 2020 and last updated 8:30 PM, May 06, 2020 CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — After more than 30...

680 pounds of drugs and drug paraphernalia to be incinerated May 19, 2020 On May 5, the Eden Prairie Police Department's evidence technician and a supervisor took a road trip to a waste management facility in Alexandria where they delivered 680 pounds of drugs and drug paraphernalia to be incinerated. The items transported were once evidence for ca...

Firearms and a machete reported missing two months ago from an evidence room at the Sandusky County Courthouse have been found, or never were missing, or something. May 15, 2020 FREMONT — Firearms and a machete reported missing two months ago from an evidence room at the Sandusky County Courthouse have been found, or never were missing, or somethin...

Porchlight Project, a nonprofit that provides assistance to families of the missing and murdered in Ohio, paid for DNA testing May 7, 2020 Cuyahoga Falls police today announced the arrest of 67-year-old James Zastawnik of Cleveland for the December 1987 murder of Barbara Blatnik. Blatnik was just 17 when her nude, strangled body was found near Blos...

Detectives used Parabon Nanolabs, a DNA/genealogical database April 29, 2020 DELAWARE COUNTY, Ohio (WCMH) – Detectives with the Delaware County Sheriff's Office say they've solved a homicide from 1983. On October 16, 1983 the body of 15-year-old John Anthony Muncy was found by a deputy along the side of the road in northern Delaware County. Investi...

The identification was recently made through the combined efforts of Southeast anthropology professors and students, genetic and forensic experts, DNA studies and advances in technology. April 25, 2020 After more than 40 years, an identification has been made in a cold case involving burned, unidentified human remains recovered on a farm near Charl...

One locker is refrigerated for evidence, such as blood or urine, that needs to be kept cold. April 25, 2020 The Columbus Police Department officially started operations earlier this month in its new downtown station at 2330 14th St. Funded by half of a $16 million bond issue approved by voters in 2018, the new facility is intended to help the depar...

He is accused of stealing $12,000 from a Normal house while responding to a 911 call about an overdose, then trying to return the money December 22, 2020 NORMAL — A Normal police officer who tried to return money stolen during a call was caught during a sting operation in Pontiac, authorities say. Brian Williams is charged with felony theft and off...

The lawsuit is centered on the theft of $12,000 from Holzhauer's home. She claims a police officer took the money while in the house to investigate her husband's death. Enter Article DATE HERE NORMAL — The attorney for a Normal widow has asked a federal judge to deny a request from the town to dismiss a pending lawsuit involving an alleged the...

Only a few weeks ago, in February, his defense attorneys found long-lost bullets that were removed from the victim's body and shell casings that were collected at the scene of the crime, all sitting in envelopes at the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office Enter Article DATE HERE Documents filed this morning with the Ohio Supreme Court argue tha...

Her case ran cold until detectives spent nearly a year reviewing evidence, conducting forensic testing, and interview multiple witnesses in several states including the suspect. March 25, 2020 FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA21) - Fort Wayne Police homicide detectives made an arrest in a cold case stemming from a 2002 stabbing that left a 17-year-old girl de...

"Investigating a cold homicide case is extremely difficult but investigating a decades-old case with no body means an extraordinary amount of legwork, patience and tenacity," March 20, 2020 NEWAYGO COUNTY, Mich. — Nearly 37 years after a 25-year-old White Cloud man disappeared, a man has been charged with his murder. Roy Snell, 55, was charged with...

She's also accused of theft for allegedly taking contraband being held as evidence from the locker that was valued over $500. March 6, 2020 FAYETTE COUNTY, IL — A former Vandalia Police Department employee has been charged in Fayette County Court with official misconduct and theft. According to court records, 29-year old Cheyenne Haxton is free on ...

"He's a ghost in the investigation,"​ March 13, 2020 A single mother's cold case murder in Ohio has been solved with an arrest after nearly 29 years. Rachael Johnson was 23 when she was raped, beaten, stabbed and set on fire on March 30, 1991. Her daughter was three at the time. On Thursday, Akron police charged Daniel Rees, 57, with the murder. Po...

March 10, 2020 INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An arrest has been made in a 20-year-old murder case in Indianapolis. William Swain is charged in the October 2000 murder of 39-year-old Arthur McPhaul. Swain faces felony charges of murder, criminal deviate conduct resulting in a serious bodily injury and criminal confinement. In October of 2000, police were ca...

motion-activated surveillance camera in a bedroom caught officer stuffing a phone charger into his pocket while executing a search warran February 7, 2020 ST. PAUL -- A sergeant with the Ramsey County sheriff's office was convicted of misconduct of a public officer this week and subsequently resigned from his post in law enforcement, his defense at...

416 were from victims who didn't want to proceed, 1,669 were identified as false reports, and 751 were from cases that had already gone through the court system where the suspect might have confessed. Enter Article DATE HERE More than 2,500 rape kits from potentially viable cases currently sit unprocessed in police and sheriff evidence rooms a...

We need the BCA to be responsive to some of these kits," said audit committee Enter Article DATE HERE Updated: February 03, 2020 10:10 PM A new audit shows dozens of rape kits on the shelves of the Minneapolis Police Department have gone untested, even months after a backlog was first announced. Over the last two months, MPD said it had sent m...

That inventory also found that a gun held as evidence and checked out by the deputy, Roy Hardt, was not in the department's possession. It was one of 21 guns checked out by deputies from the evidence collection for use on duty. The guns were not attached to active cases, Nichols said. February 1, 2020 The Randolph County Sheriff's Department will r...

The magic elixir for solving the case was DNA and genetic genealogy. Enter Article DATE HERE On Jan. 12, 1976, Pamela Maurer left a pal's house to get a soda from a bodega. The 16-year-old vanished into thin air and was never seen alive again. Her frozen body was found the next morning on the frozen plains outside Lisle, Illinois. She had been...

Leyton said in the last five years, they've been able to process all 736 backlogged rape kits, sending them to the lab. Enter Article DATE HERE FLINT, Mich — In 2015, between 230 and 250 untested rape kits were found in the city of Flint. The police chief at the time, Jim Tolbert, said authorities in the past dropped the ball. "When we were al...

The men were caught after one of their cell phones was searched during an investigation into prescription drugs missing from a police department take-back box, January 17, 2020 MARQUETTE, MI – Two former Upper Peninsula police officers are facing felony charges related to using and selling anabolic steroids, which are schedule three controlled subs...

"After all these years, my dad will finally be able to rest in peace and our family will be able to rest a little better at night knowing that the person who did this is finally getting what he deserves, January 14, 2020 OMAHA, Neb. (FOX 42 KPTM) — The family of a man who was murdered 19 years ago is now getting justice. Metro Area Fugitive Task Fo...

"it was found that you mishandled seized prescription drugs and were untruthful when asked about their whereabouts, January 8, 2020​ MANSFIELD -- A former Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper at the Mansfield post has been indicted on three felony charges after an internal investigation into missing drugs seized at a car stop. According to a Dec. 27 t...

Leer said anyone with ownership interest or can prove ownership should contact the Boone County Sheriff's Department by Jan. 10 and ask to speak with the evidence custodians. January 7, 2020 COLUMBIA — The Boone County Sheriff's Department said Monday it is preparing to destroy any weapons left unclaimed by Jan. 10. For more than a decade, departme...

Property cards dating back to the early 1900s provide a log of everything once there. Enter Article DATE HERE Every time Sgt. Edward Mack passes the box of evidence in Jane Doe's unsolved 1987 homicide, he raps his knuckles on the cardboard and tells her, "I'll find you." And sometimes, she seems to answer back — once after pulling her box he ...

The Lawrenceburg Police Department knew when they posted about it on Facebook, they needed to be vague yet specific December 15, 2020 LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. (WKRC) - Nearly $900 found in downtown Lawrenceburg is back with its rightful owner. The Good Samaritan who discovered the cash only hesitated for a moment before turning it over to police. Decorat...

In 2012, the Ramsey County Attorney's Office opened a specialized unit focused on closing cold cases. December 13, 20-19 Updated: December 11, 2019 10:09 PM A man has been arrested and charged in connection to the 1992 death of Annette Seymour, according to attorneys and court records. A criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County, states John Robert...

Officials noticed that the phone was damaged when the woman left then-Superintendent Eddie Johnson's security detail to join the evidence and recovered property unit, December 2019 CHICAGO - A female Chicago police officer who was reportedly seen on video drinking with and kissing the now-fired police superintendent the night he was found asleep be...

We have failed survivors of sexual assault," said Matthew Huffman, spokesman for Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. November 30, 2019 Jackson County has the highest number of untested sexual assault kits in the state, with more than 2,300 kits stored at area police departments and health facilities, a report from the Missouri ...

no one told Bell's staff after he defeated seven-term incumbent Bob McCulloch last year there were cases in which the work of the crime lab employee, who was fired in 2017, could be called into question November 11, 2019 CLAYTON, Mo. -- A pattern of improper analysis in the St. Louis County Police Department's crime lab by a forensic scientist has ...

Sheriff Dan Bullock explained to the commission why the department is in possession of the firearms. November 1, 2019 Disposing of surplus firearms at the sheriff's department was a topic of business during the St. Francois County Commission's regular session Tuesday. Sheriff Dan Bullock explained to the commission why the department is in possessi...

Missouri has more than 10,000 untested rape kits sitting on shelves in police departments and hospital — some have been there for decades — October 16, 2019 Missouri has more than 10,000 untested rape kits sitting on shelves in police departments and hospital — some have been there for decades — but the state is finally set to have a full inventory...

Hundreds of thousands of evidence bags stored at warehouse October 15, 2019 KANSAS CITY, Mo. — New court records reveal an evidence warehouse fire in August 2018 affected more than 50% of the evidence stored there. Defense attorney Dan Ross has been outspoken about wanting to learn more about the fire since in happened. The new records, including a...

If convicted, the Elizondo and Salgado face a maximum prison sentence of 10 years for the embezzlement charge and five years for the conspiracy charge. October 8, 2019 CHICAGO — Two Chicago police officers have been charged with lying to judges to obtain search warrants and then stealing cash and drugs from the properties they searched, federal pro...

The initiative also helps improve investigation and prosecution of rape cases through the collection of evidence through testing. September 28, 2019 The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office has received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Wednesday. The federal funds were awarded for the count...

The investigation found Detective Amy Welsh mishandled evidence in a 2012 sexual assault case and a 2018 kidnapping case, according to Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein. September 18m, 2019 A Columbus Division of Police detective has been charged after an internal investigation found she failed to properly investigate sexual assault and kidnapping ...

In an interview with detectives, a civilian supervisor said Crooks was "always looking for coins" in the property room. September 20, 2019 An Indianapolis police lieutenant is disputing criminal charges filed against him Thursday after investigators say he stole a suspect's "lucky gold coin" from the police department's property room. Lt. George Cr...

"It appeared that the fire was caused by an unknown standalone heat source, possibly a malfunctioning cellphone or other lithium type battery or possibly a chemical reaction," a detective wrote. September 17, 2019 More than a year after fire ravaged a Kansas City Police Department evidence warehouse, destroying an unknown amount of material from sh...

Curtis Stone was sentenced to 4 years probation and 400 hours of community service. Chief Kral called the sentence 'surprisingly lenient.' Enter Article DATE HERE TOLEDO, Ohio — Retired Toledo Police Officer Curtis Stone was sentenced Monday on charges related to a firearm that was stolen from the TPD evidence room. Stone, 56, who retired in 2...

Lawyers for an Iowa inmate serving a life sentence for a 1980 murder conviction will be allowed to search for missing evidence AUGUST 12, 2019 MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) – Lawyers for an Iowa inmate serving a life sentence for a 1980 murder conviction will be allowed to search for missing evidence that they want for DNA testing. Judge Stuart Werling has ...

Minnesota's top law enforcement agency declined KARE 11's request for an on-camera interview about the issue. August 14, 2019 ST PAUL, Minn. — Records obtained by KARE 11 reveal Minnesota has additional rape kits – potentially several thousand of them – that were never fully tested, leaving crucial DNA information out of a nationwide database meant...

She faces up to five years in prison Enter Article DATE HERE RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA TV) - A former Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety evidence technician admits to stealing from the evidence vault. Lorraine Yellow Boy, 45, pleaded guilty to larceny Wednesday afternoon in federal court in Rapid City. In the factual basis statement s...

Yellow Boy was hired as an evidence technician in July 2018 and had access to the evidence room that stored items such as guns, drugs and cash, August 2, 2019 A former evidence technician with the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety stole $30,661 in seized cash from the safe she was supposed to protect and used most of the money at a cas...

She was finally identified through her DNA and genealogy by a nonprofit, the DNA Doe Project, Enter Article DATE HERE For 38 years, the case of the "Belle in the Well" haunted Bill Nenni, an investigator for the Lawrence County, Ohio, coroner's office. He had barely started his job when she was found in 1981—strangled and hidden inside a water...

While the state has completed testing the backlog of 14,000 rape kits, that backlog is now being felt in local police departments. July 25, 2019 With survivors waiting years for answers, more than 400,000 rape kits across the country sat on shelves, untested. Now, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation has finished testing those kits in Ohio, but the...

The listing is varied and includes everything from seized drugs and drug paraphernalia!!!!! Enter Article DATE HERE An empty Marlboro cigarette pack, nine empty video game cases, 2 grams of heroin and more are seized items that could be disposed of by the Clermont County Sheriff's office. Hundreds of items that have been found, abandoned, stol...

The Milwaukee Police Department Cold Case Unit used DNA evidence to link the crime to Jones.​ Enter Article DATE HERE MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee County judge bound over Ronald Jones for trial on Monday, July 15 — after testimony was heard during a preliminary hearing. Jones then pleaded not guilty to the single charge against him. Jones, 55, is c...

Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader was accused in November of stealing cash seized from drug cases handled by the sheriff's office to fund a gambling problem June 28, 2019 Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader has been indicted on 16 charges stemming from allegations that surfaced in November accusing Reader of stealing cash seized from cases handled ...

Enter Headline here June 5, 2019 — The Hamilton Police Department is working to determine where a gravestone apparently meant to recognize the final resting place of a World War I veteran is supposed to be. Sgt. Richard Burkhardt said the gravestone belonging to Elick Maynard was found on the west side of town in an alley and brought to the departm...