ABSTRACT
Cold case detectives are time travelers. They face problems of faded memories, missing witnesses, retired police officers, misplaced evidence, and altered crime scenes. Their criminal investigative expertise must be combined with historical research skills. By definition, cold cases are the hardest because they are the unsolved ones. But while these investigations are challenging, they do have certain advantages. A cold case detective brings a fresh perspective and a different way of thinking to the investigation, free of any original problematic mindsets and organizational pressures (Rossmo, 2009). Witnesses, accomplices, and family and friends of the offender are sometimes more willing to talk to police with the passage of time. And advances in forensic techniques and behavioral analysis allow the application of new investigative methodologies originally unavailable to investigators.
