Post by Naj on Jan 26, 2006 20:09:14 GMT -5
Sacramento 'Cold Case' Unit Neck Deep In Cases
Brandi Hitt
Reporting
(CBS 13) SACRAMENTO Three weeks ago, we first told you about a 20-year-old Sacramento murder case police finally cracked and made an arrest. That same "cold case" unit is now neck-deep in trying to solve hundreds of other cases that have been sitting on the shelf - some for several decades.
It's not the large police team you see every Sunday night on the hit CBS TV show "Cold Case". No, these two detectives are Sacramento's cold case unit - and one is part time. They have more than 200 unsolved murders to crack, some dating back 30 years.
"We try to focus on the cases that would most likely produce DNA evidence," says Detective Tony Sall.
It's genetic evidence that years ago, no one knew existed. Now, criminalists are testing everything from old autopsy kits, to old clothing that may have the tiniest amount of DNA fluid on it. If a match isn't made with an old suspect, the DNA is filed into a computer.
"We are accumulating a data base of profiles from convicted offenders, so when we take these profiles we generate from these really cold cases, we can compare them to the data base," says Criminalist Joy Viray.
Of the 50 cases detectives have looked through this past year, they're not revealing which ones they're close to solving. Just three weeks ago, they did crack the 20-year-old murder of Lisa Haston at a Sacramento motel. Detectives arrested her former husband, Michael Debreceny, in North Carolina. He's now 47.
Another part of this "Cold Case" team includes a lawyer from the District Attorney's office, who prosecutes the cases to the end.
article
Brandi Hitt
Reporting
(CBS 13) SACRAMENTO Three weeks ago, we first told you about a 20-year-old Sacramento murder case police finally cracked and made an arrest. That same "cold case" unit is now neck-deep in trying to solve hundreds of other cases that have been sitting on the shelf - some for several decades.
It's not the large police team you see every Sunday night on the hit CBS TV show "Cold Case". No, these two detectives are Sacramento's cold case unit - and one is part time. They have more than 200 unsolved murders to crack, some dating back 30 years.
"We try to focus on the cases that would most likely produce DNA evidence," says Detective Tony Sall.
It's genetic evidence that years ago, no one knew existed. Now, criminalists are testing everything from old autopsy kits, to old clothing that may have the tiniest amount of DNA fluid on it. If a match isn't made with an old suspect, the DNA is filed into a computer.
"We are accumulating a data base of profiles from convicted offenders, so when we take these profiles we generate from these really cold cases, we can compare them to the data base," says Criminalist Joy Viray.
Of the 50 cases detectives have looked through this past year, they're not revealing which ones they're close to solving. Just three weeks ago, they did crack the 20-year-old murder of Lisa Haston at a Sacramento motel. Detectives arrested her former husband, Michael Debreceny, in North Carolina. He's now 47.
Another part of this "Cold Case" team includes a lawyer from the District Attorney's office, who prosecutes the cases to the end.
article
