311 West Monroe Street Office of the State Attorney Jacksonville, FL 32202-4242 Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida TEL: (904) 255-2500 www.sao4th.com MELISSA W. NELSON STATE ATTORNEY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: David Chapman Phone: (904) 255-3004 Cell: (904) 524-6626 [email protected]

Jan. 28, 2021

SAO4 RECEIVES $470,000 GRANT FOR INITIATIVE

The State Attorney’s Office for Florida’s Fourth Judicial Circuit has been awarded a $470,000 U.S. Department of Justice grant to pursue justice in violent crime cold cases dating back decades.

The grant, provided by the department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, primarily provides funding to support investigative activities and prosecution of violent crime cold cases where DNA from a suspect has been identified. An unsolved homicide is considered a cold case after going unsolved for three years.

“Family members never forget. And neither do we,” said State Attorney Melissa Nelson. “Cold cases are challenging to investigate and rewarding to solve. This funding will help us continue our search for truth and bring answers to their loved ones.”

The State Attorney’s Office began its Cold Case Initiative in 2017 to re-examine how cold cases are reviewed and to develop forward-thinking processes to solve these cases. Part of this initiative included a nationwide review of other jurisdictions, in order to develop best practices.

Attorneys leading the initiative, together with a multidisciplinary team including law enforcement and forensic experts, have begun to analyze a large volume of cold cases to determine potential solvability based on several factors, including DNA evidence. All these cases will be systematically reviewed and re-evaluated to determine whether new forensic examination methods present viable investigative opportunities.

RECENT COLD CASES MAKING NEWS IN THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

Source: news4jax.com, 11/30/2018 Source: firstcoastnews.com, 7/2/2020

DNA was used to solve each of these three local cold cases in recent years. As the forensic sciences advance and the application of DNA technology expands, unsolved cases from the past have another opportunity to be solved.

The State Attorney’s Cold Case Initiative, with the assistance of the recent U.S. Department of Justice grant, is now equipped to investigate and solve these cases.

Look for future announcements about this initiative and cases that seek public help.

Source: Fox News, 1/25/2021