© 2024 MICHIGAN PUBLIC
91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit 104.1 Grand Rapids 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

A new cold case advisory board will help tackle unsolved murders

Police line - Do Not Cross
Wikimedia Commons http://j.mp/1SPGCl0

There are some 10,000 unsolved homicides in Michigan since 1980.

But many counties lack the money and manpower to devote to cold cases.

That’s why the Prosecutors Association of Michigan is pulling together a new team of investigators, police, and prosecutors – some of them retired – to serve as a cold case advisory board.

“They may see things from a different perspective, and may offer insight or advice that someone who's very, very close to the case, cannot see,” says Jackson County Prosecutor Jerry Jarzynka.

He’s helping to get the advisory board up and running in 2016, and he’s hoping it’ll inspire more counties to tackle cold cases.

“It's very painful for family members, they've lost a family member and can think that nothing's happening, that nothing's being done to bring justice,” says Jarzynka. 

Tags
Kate Wells is a Peabody Award-winning journalist currently covering public health. She was a 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist for her abortion coverage.
Related Content