The state has launched a new effort to help solve cold cases.
A new Facebook page was started by the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Cold Case Unit.
“The reality is most cold cases are solved in one of two ways, witnesses come forward, or we're able to advance forensics to a point that we can utilize science to do that,” said John Fahey, supervisory assistant state’s attorney.
Fahey said they decided to launch a virtual concept of what they’ve been doing awhile in prisons with Cold Case playing card decks.
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Now the goal is to get even more people to check out the sets, which are updated to highlight 52 unsolved homicides and missing persons cases.
“Hopefully generate a tip. We won't necessarily solve the case on that tip, but it will put us in a direction that allows us to go forward and try to generate more information,” said Fahey.
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One of the cases featured is the homicide of Jeremy Williams who was known as ‘Perk.’
The father of two was killed exactly 12 years ago on Feb. 17, 2010 and a vigil was held on Thursday.
“He was just a loving person, he was so loving, like, he would just about do anything for the world,” said Lacrisha Williams, Jeremy Williams' sister.
The entire family was devastated after his death at age 26 and they're desperate for answers as the homicide continues to go unsolved.
“It's definitely been a challenge. And basically, all we want is just justice. It has been 12 years,” said Williams. “We just want closure. Our family just want closure at this point in this in this case.”
The state said there are more than 1,000 cold cases in Connecticut and previously, decks have generated more than 750 tips.
"We have, for a long time, used cold case decks like that with the Department of Corrections, we developed those quite some time ago. But it struck us that there are many citizens who don't have access to those decks. And this was a way that we thought of that we could both advertise those cases from the deck, and give people in the general public an opportunity to give us tips, and help us try to bring some justice to some longtime cases that families have been waiting decades in some cases for justice," Fahey said.
