Cold Cases Get Hot at New Mexico Department of Justice
Deputy Attorney Greer Staley talked with KSFR reporter Mary Lou Cooper about the first-ever Cold Case Unit at the New Mexico Department of Justice. The small unit of four will work with law enforcement agencies all over the state to reopen major homicide and sexual assault cases. Such cases number at least in the hundreds and likely more.
Staley said that her group will prioritize investigations based on factors like physical evidence that can be tested or re-tested and whether or not the statute of limitations would permit prosecution if suspects are found guilty.
When Cooper asked for examples of cold cases being pursued by the new unit, Staley discussed the murders of Annie Tapia who was killed with a blunt instrument at a local Santa Fe business and Stephen Sandlin, a law enforcement officer who was killed inside a Mountainair police station.
So how does the Cold Case Unit expect to solve violent crimes that in some cases are decades in the past? Staley said technology such as DNA testing will be key. And a new procedure known as forensic genealogy. Forensic genealogy compares physical evidence at a crime scene with DNA results from commercial tests (viewed with permission) like Ancestry.com. A genealogist then works back from any “hits” from this database to family members who might assist in locating a suspect. In the end, good old-fashioned police work or reviewing old files for new insights will play a major role in solving old cases.
For more information about New Mexico’s new cold case unit, visit
https://www.dps.nm.gov/nmsp/cold-case-unit/. Call 505-570-5244 if you have a tip on an unsolved major crime featured on the cold case website.
