The Valley’s Forgotten: Can AI help solve a cold case?

EDITOR'S NOTE: For part one of The Valley's Forgotten, click HERE. For part two of The Valley's Forgotten, click HERE.

IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA) - Can advances in technology help solve a cold case murder?

"With the rise of AI, it may be even helpful to look into those kind of things that are helpful to reconstruct crime scenes. So those kind of things we're looking into and that might be a possibility," Imperial Police Deprtment Detective Daniel told KYMA.

We asked Imperial County's District Attorney George Marquez about AI, and he said his office is currently in the process of purchasing new AI technology.

"So the advantage that's going to have, for example, in cold cases, when we have maybe a mountain of evidence and maybe there's something that we missed, it's going to be able to analyze it for us, it's going to be able to summarize it for us, and it's going to be able to tell if a suspect, that a person's lying," he explained.

The family of Josue Arviso Lopez is still searching for answers. Lopez was murdered on September 20, 2020 in Brawley. He was shot near the cross streets of Leonard and South 11th Streets.

There have been no leads, no arrests, and no reward.

"No justice has been served for him," Melanie Saiza, the mother of Lopez's children told KYMA.

Lopez leaves behind a grieving family and two children.

"He was a good father. I mean, his, that's all he ever talked about was his kids," she reflected.

"Everybody loved him. He would help anybody out. And I just feel like justice should be served for him," Saiza added.

Right now, there are still no answers, and the case remains unsolved. If you have any information about this case please contact the City of Brawley Police Department and the office of the District Attorney.