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Defrosting Cold Cases

Research website by Alice de Sturler

  • My Research Method
  • How to search for cases
  • Cold Case Database
  • Case of the Month: Rita Hester
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About

CrimeCon CD panel Alice de SturlerDefrosting Cold Cases (DCC) is my resource website about unsolved homicides, missing persons, unidentified persons, wrongful convictions, and forensics as applied to cold cases. I also write book reviews.

What is a cold case?

A cold case involves an investigation where despite tremendous efforts of the authorities (often assisted by the media and civilians) no new leads are available. There is no new information. All existing avenues have been explored and exhausted. The case is not closed (there is no statute of limitation on murder) but the file isn’t looked at on a daily basis until new evidence/leads emerge or, new technology makes it possible to test well-preserved evidence for biological materials such as touch DNA.

Why do these cases need your attention?

Many cold cases have no web presence or a very limited one. With the Internet as a primary source for information gathering it is crucial that those developing new technologies can find these old cold cases.

Many things have changed in the past decades. Old but properly preserved evidence can be tested for DNA and it has already made a huge difference. Cross-referenced databases of the missing and the unidentified has provided us with answers as well. Now with familial DNA and ancestry databases, we can try to find relatives of the one who left their DNA at the crime scene.

To complicate matters, not every newspaper has online archives. If they do, often not all editions are online or they are hidden behind a pay wall. Many newspapers are not available on microfilm in public libraries. That is why I started my own database. You can find about 325 cold cases there. It is free to the public so please use it as a resource.

Website features

The database is updated with every new post. However, not every case is updated in a new post but I do always update the database so check there first.

Every month, I feature a “Case of the Month.” This can be an unsolved homicide, a missing person, an unidentified person or, a wrongful conviction. You can find the link in the menu bar.

Photography Simon Folkard 1
Photography Simon Folkard
About the writer

I am not a law enforcement officer, not an investigative journalist, not part of the Vidocq Society, and not a private investigator. I also do not actively investigate cases. I leave that to the professionals. It is crucial that you understand that.

I am a true crime writer. I analyses old, unsolved cases and raise awareness for those cases as they need renewed media attention. My background is in law (LL.M.), non-practicing, former law faculty at two major US state universities, and a member of the American Investigative Society of Cold Cases (AISOCC) and the American Society of Criminology (ASC).

Reader interaction

I’d like to encourage you to share your thoughts about old unsolved cases on your own social media platforms. This way you too enhance the victim’s digital footprint. By sharing, liking, and retweeting these posts, the case reaches new networks, new connections, and new news feeds. Maybe one day the updates will pop up in the right person’s news feed. This may be someone who can actually help advance the case and that is my goal.

Gratitude

Thank you to everyone who emails me with information, photographs, details to add to posts, pictures of old newspapers, corrections, and so much more. All this helps to improve the case details and ensures that the victims are not forgotten. And thank you to all who encourage me and for your patience. No case gets dropped from my to-do lists. Those lists are just very long.

The photograph on the right was taken by my friend Simon Folkard. He is a photographer located in Colchester, England. He is passionate about nature and animal welfare. He lives with depression. Simon loves music esp. blues, reading, and fights injustice where he can. You can follow him on Twitter at @FolkardSimon and his work is on Flickr.

I appreciate you all. You keep me going!

Thank you,

Alice de Sturler

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Author Notes

On this website, I write about old, unsolved cases. Most are from the pre-DNA era and are in need of renewed media attention. I only do research and leave the active investigation of these cases to the professionals.

My posts are about homicides, missing and unidentified people, wrongful convictions, and forensics as related to these cases.

On book reviews: I only review select works of true crime, crime fiction, and historical fiction/mysteries. The stories have to fit my website's theme and research. It remains my prerogative to not review a book.

My database has over 325 cases listed by the victim’s last name. You will find a brief description there as well. The database will always be free to the public to use. You cannot buy ad space on my website, ever.

All writing suggestions that come in by email are added to my to-do list in the order in which they were received. Please be patient. My to-do list is very long but no case gets dropped and I will get back in touch.

Defrosting Cold Cases is NOT an organization. It is my brainchild.

If you have any questions about my website please check the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, the about page, and the tabs in both menu bars. If you still cannot find the answer there, please contact me.

Thank you,

Alice de Sturler

Copyright

If you use my work, please add a link back. Let your readers know where you found your information. I do the same for you. Thank you!

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Categories

Top Posts & Pages

  • Cold Case Database
  • Gina Renee Hall partial remains found
  • How to search for cases
  • Beverly Ann Jarosz (1948-1964)
  • Rita Hester (Nov 30, 1963 - Nov 28, 1998)

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  • Rita Hester (Nov 30, 1963 – Nov 28, 1998)
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William Thomas Zeigler

Category: ALL POSTS

On March 31, 2016, an evidentiary hearing was held to request touch DNA testing. On July 18, 2016, Judge Whitehead denied that request.

On November 23, 2016, an appeal was filed with the Florida Supreme Court. On April 21, 2017, the Florida Supreme Court denied the request for touch DNA analysis.

On May 8, 2017 a motion for a rehearing with the US Supreme Court was filed. It was denied November 13, 2017.

In the summer of 2019, the appeal for DNA testing to the Florida Conviction Integrity Unit was denied.

Richard Lapointe

Category: ALL POSTS

In March 2015, the Connecticut State Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Richard lapointe. On Oct 2, 2015, International Wrongful Conviction Day, Richard was set free. The judge ruled that he cannot be retried for the 1987 rape-murder of Mrs. Bernice Martin. Richard Lapointe died on Aug 4, 2020 of Covid19 complications.

In 1987, someone killed Bernice Martin. I hope that she will not become a forgotten file.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright: Please add a link back if you use my work. Let your readers know where you found your information. I do the same for you. If you need help with this, just contact me. Thank you, Alice de Sturler

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