Cold Case Homicide Division
The Cold Case Homicide Division exists to promote public safety by working cooperatively with local law enforcement to resolve unsolved homicides within San Diego County. The division continues to maintain close working relationships with law enforcement agencies throughout San Diego County, including police laboratory criminalists. These relationships are key to solving and successfully prosecuting cases where the trail has gone cold for years.
Time is the enemy in any homicide investigation. The suspect has the lead
and in some cold cases that lead can be measured in years, even decades.
Closing in on murder suspects and solving cold cases not only delivers
long-awaited justice, but also brings a measure of closure to families
whose lives have been shattered by tragedy.
Since it was established in 2003, the Cold Case Homicide Division has closed the file on more than 14 unsolved murders. Cold homicide cases currently pending in the division have victims ranging in age from 18- to 84-years old, from all walks of life and from all areas of the county.
In 2009, the prosecutors of the Cold Case Homicide Division bound-over for trial a total of eight defendants in four separate cold homicide cases. One case is the oldest case ever handled by the division, which dates from 1972 when the 27-year old victim was found stabbed to death in his Pacific Beach home. The case went unsolved until recently when an intern at the San Diego Police Department re-submitted fingerprints for analysis that were found at the crime scene.
The other three cases bound-over this year date from the 1990’s, and were solved either by further forensic analysis or investigative persistence. An additional five other cases are pending trial in the division for homicides occurring in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Due to the number of cold homicide cases under review, prosecutors from other divisions, including Gangs, Superior Court, and North County, have volunteered to prosecute several cases.
