For homicide detectives, a case is considered closed when a suspect has been identified, charged and arrested. It's been said the chances of closing a case are cut in half if detectives don't get their first viable lead in the first 48-hours. This can make solving a murder a race against time.
Lt. Toni Morris with DeSoto Parish says there are thousands of cases every year when time simply runs out. And there's nothing more frustrating for any detectives than a cold case.
"I spend a lot of time on the weekends out on the lawn mower or sitting and watching a ball game or I can be sitting among a lot of people, but my mind's back on that case right there. What did I miss or did I miss something or am I ever going to be able to solve it." Morris is referring to the case of Syble Brumley who disappeared in april of 1997. Authorities say someone kicked in her door. They found signs of a struggle, but for the last eleven years, there's been absolutely no sign of her.
Sgt. Jimmy Stewart with Bossier Police also knows how frustrating it is when a case goes cold. "I wake up in the middle of the night think about the Taco Bell murder and the Mason Motel murder. Probably every day of my life I think about those murders and will."
Stewart would love nothing more than to find out who killed Connie Jo McKenzie then left her body in a freezer where she worked. The case turns eight years old in November. The Mason Motel case in which someone beat Henry Chaisson, Junior to death just turned five years old last month.
Criminalogists estimate that in most cold cases, the killers name is already written down somewhere in the case file within the first thirty days. That was true in the Kristi O'pry case. Eric Mickelson's name was mentioned when she disappeared nearly twelve years ago. He's since confessed to her murder, but her body's yet to be found.
Aline Self's body hasn't been found either. She disappeared 25 years ago after leaving a bar in Coushatta. The man who confessed to killing her, Robert Charles Browne, was mentioned in her intial report.
Shreveport detective Rod Demery says even though a case goes cold, it's never forgotten, not by family members, friends and investigators who refuse to give in, once time has run out.
Because there are so many cold cases, several police departments and sheriff's offices have created special cold case units. Several of those cases have been solved locally.
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