Defrosting Cold Cases

Zeigler DNA Appeal denied From the Orlando Sentinel: “The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday denied an appellate motion by convicted killer Tommy Zeigler, the latest ruling in his three-plus-decade fight to get off death row.  Zeigler appealed to the state Supreme Court after a circuit judge denied his request to have DNA tests performed on [...]

This #cclivechat was not planned since I expected to be tied up until later in the afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised to be dismissed early so I told you about some favourite true crime books. Books are an important part of my life. They have shaped some of my thoughts, they question my beliefs, they [...]

Today, the Writing PIs joined me for a chat about their work, their books, and of course, famous cases. For those of you with in interest in the JonBenet Ramsey case, scroll down in the verbatim text for some exchange of idea between Colleen Collins, Shaun Kaufman, Joe Giacalone and I and why this case [...]

Today’s #cclivechat centered on the tragic case of Fredericka Mary. Joe McGinty described the case: “In the early morning hours of Mother’s Day, May 11, 1986, a man in Needham, Massachusetts would make a disturbing discovery inside of a trash barrel as he searched for recyclable bottles at Claxton Field, a local playground in the [...]

A recap of an interesting #cclivechat, folks. We have a slate of court dates in cold cases: Ryan Guitron: first degree murder verdict against Vencil Ash. He will be sentenced on Aug 21. His girlfriend Kelly Meehan is awaiting trial and has a case status hearing in Aug 2012. John Heath is due back in court [...]

Ian Rivers continued his series on cyber-bullying today. The links to Ian’s previous two chats are below this post so you can read up on those. Our aim today was to dig further into cyber-bullying. We ended up exploring quite a few definitions, perceptions, and perimeters. For example, if people use their true identity online [...]

This recap #cclivechat on Friday the 13th is a keeper! It was perfect to have a Bad Luck Detective as my guest! It is also special because it is illustrated by @McVladie who has been sending me pictures all week …. to set the mood! Suzie described her books, being a cop, when she knew that [...]

This recap #cclivechat is one to bookmark! Laura Madison explained what crisis mapping is, how it can be used in cold cases, and gave examples using the ongoing Colorado wildfires. Laura described herself as a “mom, research crimino-digitologist, poli junkie, vol tech comm outcast, crisisnapper, crowdsauce pilot JK!” I could not resist calling her out [...]

Our guests today were Christa Miller and Tim Burrow who launched #copchat last Wednesday on Twitter. The first chat was a huge success so it is good to evaluate now that the rush is over. We discussed what #copchat can do to improve the communication between law enforcement and the public. Some chimed in to [...]

Folks, those of you who have Twitter accounts and are interested in anything law enforcement & social media, pay attention to the latest chat! On June 27 at 9pm EST, Tim Burrows and Christa Miller launch #copchat, a weekly returning chat about police, their use of social media, cases, investigations, technology, and more. Follow Tim [...]