New cold-case unit promises closure for some CSRA families
DECATUR, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has a new cold-case unit, and the agency is gearing up to help give closure to some families of crime victims.
At the GBI headquarters, agents gave an update on the unit, which was established under a new Georgia law that took effect July 1.
“It allows us to to help and to hopefully bring some recent closure to some families and let the families know that law enforcement is working on these cases and hopefully to bring the the people responsible to justice,” Special Agent in Charge Brian Whidby said.
The new push could have a big local impact. Here alone, the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office says it has more than 170 cold cases that are unsolved since 1973.
The new emphasis is important to families that have gone years without knowing what happened to their loved ones.
Under the new law known as the Coleman-Baker Act , families can actually request the GBI to look back into their family’s case if it was one the GBI already helped on.
“The GBI will investigate, re-investigate, review, cold cases that were initially investigated by the GBI or the GBI played a significant role in that investigation. Anything that the GBI wasn’t involved in initially, then that designated person, that family member would have to the local agency that investigated that crime,” Whidby said.
ABOUT THE LAW:
- In April, Gov. Brian Kemp signed the $5.4 million legislation into law, establishing a cold case unit within the GBI to look specifically into unsolved murders and homicides. The Coleman-Baker Act is named after University of Georgia student Sue Coleman, killed 21 years ago, and Tara Baker killed in 2001.
Agents are stressing how modern technology can shed new light on unsolved cases that go back to the 1960s.
“Maybe we can take this piece of clothing, look at it again with today’s technology, see what we can find there, and submit that for review at the crime lab,” Whidby said.
The GBI says this unit will consist of 10 agents as well as staff plus expanded crime scene technology – all in hopes of getting justice in criminal cases that have gone cold.
“We will investigate request that come through with the Coleman-Baker Act that again went into effect on July 1 of this year. Any unsolved homicide or murder occurring after Jan. 1, 1970, and more than three years old,” Whidby said. “It allows us to expand some of the crime scene technology, some of the advances in DNA, so it allows us to be able to pay for that to be able to move those kind of things forward.”
How long that’ll take is up in the air. Whidby says the GBI currently has roughly 600 cases that qualify for a Coleman-Baker review.
The GBI will hopefully be working with local agencies in the future and help regional agents to solve these cold cases. This unit will be full of senior agents, and agents that have been around for some time. The funding will allow pressure to be taken off of regional offices.
“We hope to be able to extend what we’re able to do to the local agency and possibly review cases and give suggestions on cases that the GBI wasn’t initially involved in,” Whidby said,
Whidby says families can reach out to the GBI if they want their case looked into. Agents fully expect an influx in cases to show up through their online portal at https://gbi.georgia.gov.
“On the first page of the GBI website, you can go down and there is a Coleman-Baker Act request form. So certain designated persons, certain family under the Coleman-Baker Act, they click on that. They can complete the form. We ask that they complete it in its entirety, giving us as much information as possible and submit that to the GBI. We will review that and then get in touch with the family member,” Whidby said.
Copyright 2023 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
