This week, we announced the launch of Florida’s Cold Case Investigations Unit that will help law enforcement agencies throughout the state with unsolved crimes.
There are hundreds of thousands of unsolved murders in the U.S. and that number is growing every year. According to Project Cold Case, there are more than 20,000 open homicide cold cases in Florida since 1965. This makes Florida the sixth-highest state for unsolved homicide cases, behind California, New York, Texas, Illinois and Michigan.
Florida law enforcement does a great job fighting crime, but when a challenging case goes cold it can be hard to find the resources to revive the investigation.
CCIU’s mission is to help Florida law enforcement agencies with select homicide investigations and provide additional support with evidence testing in these cases.
The unit is actively working on multiple cases and already producing results, including recently aiding in investigating and indicting a suspect in the 2010 murder of a 16-year-old Alachua County boy.
Cold cases are some of the most difficult to solve—but by providing additional manpower and resources, we can help law enforcement solve crimes, get dangerous offenders off our streets and build a Stronger, Safer Florida.
Ashley Moody is attorney general of Florida.