The Valley’s Forgotten: What happens when a case goes cold?
IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA) - For criminals in Imperial County there are a million places to disappear. The Valley stretches for miles with vast desert terrains, mountains, and fields.
When a homicide happens, investigators follow every lead they can, but eventually some cases hit a dead end. The files are stored away, waiting for new evidence, a new witness, or a new break.
"Witnesses' memories fade. They move, they change address, they change names. As the years pass, the challenges grow," Imperial County Judge Ben Salorio said in an interview with KYMA.
Many of these cases were investigated long before digital records were common. Evidence logs were kept on paper, files were stored in boxes, and sometimes important information becomes harder to track down.
"Papers get lost, people forget where things are placed, or sometimes just a clerical error where somebody checked out a piece of evidence to document and they forgot to check in or out in the log," Judge Solario explained.
But a cold case doesn't mean a closed case. Advances in DNA technology, digital forensics, and new investigative techniques have helped solve murders decades after they happened.
So, what kind of evidence can reopen an investigation, and what does it take to finally identify a killer?
Det. Daniel Schleyer has been investigating several unsolved murders in Imperial Valley.
"If there's any new information that comes up from the public or something that we decide to have DNA come back from the Department of Justice or anything that would spark the case to be reopened. And the possibility of identifying suspects is there, then we make a decision to open up the case and continue the investigation," Det. Schleyer shared.
Next Wednesday in part two of The Valley's Forgotten, we hear from one mother who is still waiting for answers and why she refuses to give up hope that her daughter's case might still be solved.
