Grant allows Durham Police to solve decades-old cold cases
The Durham Police Department has formed a cold case unit funded by a 3-year grant from the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) that allows them to work through the backlog of untested evidence.
Investigators say 95% of the sexual assault evidence kits have been sent for testing, and arrests are being made as the results come in.
Hillary Brown, a DPD investigator, said the unit is working to solve cold cases that date back 30 and 25 years.
"Technology is wonderful for us right now with DNA that has improved, as well as CODIS’ database is now growing," said Brown.
CODIS is the acronym for the Combined DNA Index System, a national DNA repository maintained by the FBI that state and local police departments can access and search.
Brown, who deals with sexual assault cases, has been with DPD since 2009 and working on cold cases since January 2022.
For some of the older cases, she said, literal paperwork slows down the investigation process.
“We all did paper records back in the day," said Brown. "We didn't have computers and reporting systems that are all electronically kept up and saved, so finding original documents can sometimes be challenging."
Brown said when time passes, it can be harder to gather new information and even to contact victims.
"The challenges that we face with older cases is, you know, 20, 30 years ago, contacting victims, finding them if they're alive, if they've moved away, trying to locate them and notify them that we do have a lead in their case," said Brown.
The arrests of suspects including Dwight Martin and Stevie Overby Robertson shows that the grant has helped tremendously move the process of solving several cold cases along. Robertson was involved in a cold case in 1998 in which he was charged with first-degree rape and attempted first-degree forcible sex offense.
"This happened at the beginning of 1998 when she was walking home and attacked and sexually assaulted. And then again in 2020, we were able to send her kit off and in 2022, we got the results back where the suspect was already in the CODIS database system for his DNA," said Brown.
Martin, who was arrested last year, faces charges of first-degree rape and first-degree sex offenses for 1993 crimes.
"It's been really great, especially the notifications with our victim advocate. Going and notifying and talking with these victims and seeing the, I don't want to say relief, but seeing that they're not forgotten, and someone still cares," said Brown. "Even though it's 20, 30 years ago, we're going to treat it like it happened yesterday. We're going to pick it up and run with it and do what we can to solve their case and give them the closure that they need."
The backlog for many cases has been wiped out, 95% of kits have been sent off, and they're waiting on lab results.
"It's very important to tell these victims. Especially these victims who have not come forward yet," said Brown. "We always tell people if you know about this, especially the 1993 or 1998 case, if you read this story and you know about this suspect or these suspects, and you were possibly a victim, we tell you to come forward because we'll listen and take your case even though it was 30 years ago."
In cases of rape and assault victims, the DPD provides several resources for people still dealing with trauma 30 years later.
"Our victim advocate and our crime analyst and everyone who works here is really dedicated to the victims and making sure we keep their cases alive and work these cases to the best of our ability," said Brown.
In 2020, the City of Durham received an additional $518,667 in SAKI funding to continue work from its initial SAKI award.
