Patrolmen Hope Cards Lead to Solved Cases

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http://ozarksfirst.com/content/fulltext/?cid=111341

Patrolmen Hope Cards Lead to Solved Cases

Friday, Jan 23, 2009 @07:59pm CST

(Fredericktown, MO)--Missouri authorities are gambling that the state's inmates and prisoners will help them solve some of their cold cases.

To help, they've come up with a special deck of cards- each featuring a cold case involving a homicide victim or missing person, as well as a tip line. Highway patrol troopers will distribute five thousand decks to inmates starting in February. Officials hope inmates will do more than just play with these cards by sharing information they may have.

"These are all basically 52 cold cases, homicides, missing people, and missing persons," says Al Nothum of the Missouri Highway Patrol. "Obviously, there's more than 52 in the state of Missouri. There's hundreds of them, but we could only pick 52."

Some of the cold cases are somewhat recent, while others have been unsolved for almost twenty years. If the program is successful, the Missouri Highway Patrol hopes to print more cards down the road.


(video at link)

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http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=8311841&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

Cold Case Spotlight: Willie Vocks

Shooting death of Bradford Township farmer unsolved since 1969

Last Edited: Monday, 26 Jan 2009, 2:25 PM CST
Created: Monday, 26 Jan 2009, 2:25 PM CST

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/photo_servlet?contentId=8311838&version=1&locale=EN-US&subtype=MIMG&siteId=1014&isP16=true
Willie Vocks

BRADFORD TOWNSHIP, Minn. (FOX 9) -- On July 2, 1969, the body of farmer William “Willie” Vocks was found outside on his farmyard property in rural Bradford Township in Wilkin County.

Vocks died as a result of gunshot wounds. Robbery was a possible motive in the case

Anyone with information is asked to call the Minnesota BCA tipline at 1-877-996-6222.

Mission to solve cold cases

In October, the Minnesota Departments of Corrections and Public Safety worked with local and county law enforcement agencies to create a deck cards featuring 52 cold cases.

The playing cards with the pictures of missing persons and murder victims will be given to inmates and families around Minnesota, with hopes of solving some of the state’s cold cases.

Each week, FOX at 5 and MyFOX9.com will feature a cold case that’s gone unsolved -- maybe you can help crack the case.

http://www.bca.state.mn.us/ColdCase/Cards/HWilliamVocks.jpg
ABOUT THE COLD CASE CARDS

“The tips generated by these cold case cards will provide an excellent source of information to help law enforcement solve crimes and bring justice to the families,” Commissioner Michael Campion said.

More information on the cards is available in the Oct. 27 story “Playing Cards Feature 52 Minnesota Cold Case Victims”.

View the full deck of cards at http://www.bca.state.mn.us/ColdCase/UnsolvedPictures.

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http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=422581399365D8A5F4B5000926320867 ?contentId=7729236&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

Playing Cards Feature 52 Minnesota Cold Case Victims

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/photo_servlet?contentId=7731195&version=1&locale=EN-US&subtype=MIMG&siteId=1014&isP16=true
Deck of cards given to Minn. inmates, cold case victim families

Last Edited: Monday, 27 Oct 2008, 12:59 PM CDT
Created: Monday, 27 Oct 2008, 8:34 AM CDT

Cold case playing cards (Minnesota BCA)

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Playing cards with the pictures of missing persons and murder victims will be given to inmates and families around Minnesota, with hopes of solving some of the state’s 52 cold cases.

The Minnesota Departments of Corrections and Public Safety worked with local and county law enforcement agencies to create the deck of cold case playing cards.

The cards highlight 52 unsolved homicide, missing person and unidentified remains cases. Each card features a photograph of the victim, information about the case and information about submitting a tip about the case.

A deck of cards will be given to Inmates at state prisons and county jails, as well as to victims' families.

“Distributing these cards to thousands of inmates at jails and correctional facilities in Minnesota exposes cold cases to people that may have knowledge about them,” Public Safety Commissioner Michael Campion said. “The tips generated by these cold case cards will provide an excellent source of information to help law enforcement solve crimes and bring justice to the families.”

Corrections officials learned about the playing card idea from a similar program in Florida.

The Minnesota cold case playing cards are posted on the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Web site www.bca.state.mn.us.

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http://www.herald-journal.com/archives/2008/stories/cold.case.html

Cold case playing cards feature Wright Co. victim

November 10, 2008

WRIGHT COUNTY, MN - A 17-year-old girl named Belinda VanLith from northern Wright County disappeared in 1974, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is making a new effort to find information about her case.

The bureau has released cold case playing cards that highlight VanLith’s case and 51 other cold cases. These cases include violent, unsolved homicides, missing persons and unidentified remains cases that have occurred throughout the state over the past 50 years.

“We’re trying to breathe some life into these cases,” said Special Agent Jeff Hansen, who is in charge of homicide cases at the St. Paul office of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

VanLith was a normal teen. She enjoyed gardening, had plenty of friends, and she did a lot of baby-sitting, according to her mother, Beverly VanLith. Today, Belinda would be 51 years old.

Belinda’s family expected her to be home after a weekend of house-sitting for a neighbor in order to attend her sister’s graduation party.

“We kept calling the house on Saturday, but the phone lines were down,” Beverly said. On Sunday, Belinda’s family reported her as missing.

Like all of the cold case cards, Belinda’s card gives brief insight into her case, along with a tip line for anyone who has more information:

“Belinda VanLith: 17-year-old white female-Belinda VanLith was last seen house-sitting for a neighbor around 8 p.m., June 15th, 1974. She then disappeared from the property located on Little Eagle Lake in Wright County, MN. Foul play is suspected in her disappearance; she has not been seen or heard from since.”

Little Eagle Lake is located east of Eagle Lake in Silver Creek Township, northeast of Maple Lake.

“There is nothing to make us believe she was a runaway,” Lieutenant Todd Hoffman of Wright County Sheriff’s Department said, explaining that her behavior the days before the disappearance didn’t line up with the profile of a runaway.

The cold case cards were only handed out to prison inmates and the families of the victims. The aim in handing out the cards to prisoners is to locate a criminal who may have information about the case and is willing to come to the police.

“Since we handed out these cards a week ago, we have already had over 20 leads on different cases,” Hansen said.

He said that the leads were coming from prison inmates and the general public who had viewed the cards online.

“Sometimes you can have a lead and then you don’t hear anything for five years,” Beverly said, speaking of the pain that a victim’s family goes through when leads don’t get the police any closer to solving the crime. She thinks that the cold case cards are a good idea.

The idea for the cards came out of Florida. In handing out Florida cold case cards to the state’s prison inmates, several cases were solved when various criminals and the general public volunteered information.

Jacob Wetterling, and the Reker sisters are among some of the faces on the cards. Wetterling disappeared from St. Joseph, MN in 1989 at age 11, and the Reker sisters Mary, 15, and Susan, 12, were stabbed to death in St. Cloud in 1974.

The anniversary of Wetterling’s disappearance was Wednesday, Oct. 22, 1989. Today, Wetterling would be 30 years old.

Mary and Susan Reker’s killer was never found. The girls were last seen alive leaving their residence in St. Cloud, and their bodies were not found until 26 days later, three miles outside of St. Cloud in a quarry.

At present, the card decks have been distributed to all 515 police departments and sheriff’s offices within Minnesota, as well as 75 countywide jail and annex facilities. In addition, over 10,000 decks have been supplied to Minnesota state prison inmates.

The 52 cases featured on the cards are only some of the cold cases in Minnesota. “We picked some of the toughest cases for the cards,” Hoffman said, optimistic that some of the cases would be solved because of the cards.

To view the cold case cards online

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension encourages the public to view the cold case playing cards on its web site:

www.bca.state.mn.us/coldcase.coldcase.asp

The bureau asks that anyone who has information about any of these cases, call the tip line at 1-877-996-6222.

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http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=8337182&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

Cold Case Spotlight: Louis DeMaio

Maplewood murder unsolved since 1995

Last Edited: Monday, 02 Feb 2009, 12:37 PM CST
Created: Monday, 02 Feb 2009, 10:51 AM CST

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/photo_servlet?contentId=8337195&version=1&locale=EN-US&subtype=MIMG&siteId=1014&isP16=true
Louis DeMaio

MAPLEWOOD, Minn. (FOX 9) -- Louis DeMaio, 67, was found strangled to death in his Maplewood apartment on May 16, 1995.
Evidence at the scene indicated that items were removed from the apartment at the time of the incident.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Minnesota BCA Tipline at 1-877-996-6222.


(more at link)

[Nut44x4]

I am posting this here because my search of the forum showed only this thread w/ Jacob Wetterling's name mentioned.

Racine native reportedly made deathbed statement that he was a child killer
By The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 11:16 PM CST


MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee police have investigated a suburban barber’s reported deathbed statement that he was a child killer but found no connection with any missing child case, including that of a Minnesota boy abducted two decades ago, a police spokeswoman said Tuesday night.

Search warrant documents obtained by WTMJ-TV showed the 62-year-old Racine native told his psychiatrist of the killing and the psychiatrist notified police, but the man died from natural causes Dec. 15 before investigators could question him.

According to the station, searches of the man’s residence since the death found newly poured cement in the basement, elevated dirt piles in the yard, bondage devices in the basement, child pornography on his bed and flyers and news articles about missing small children from nearby states.

Some materials involved the case of Jacob Wetterling, an 11-year-old boy who was abducted from St. Joseph, Minn., on Oct. 22, 1989, and has never been found.

No human remains were found in the basement or yard, the station said, and relatives said the man had a great concern for child abduction victims, having been abducted as a child himself.

Police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz acknowledged that there were unusual things found in the search, but she told The Associated Press that the investigation didn’t come up with anything to show a connection with missing children.

“To suggest that this guy had anything to do with these missing children cases is absolutely inaccurate,” she said.

Jacob’s mother, Patty Wetterling, told KARE-TV in the Twin Cities that she had met the man a long time ago when he came to Minnesota “with psychic information,” indicating he wanted to help find the boy.
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2009/01/06/local_news/doc49641f0454a81694544627.txt

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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/895586.html

Posted on Monday, 02.09.09

Police take fresh look at leads in Tiffany Sessions case

The Alachua County Sheriff's Office, which recently took over the cold case of missing UF student Tiffany Sessions, said Monday they are taking a fresh look at information from the 20-year-old case. After a Monday news conference marking the 20-year-anniversary of Sessions' disappearance, Sheriff Sadie Darnell said since the agency took charge of the investigation again in 2007, they are pursuing two leads reporting suspicious persons in Gainesville.

One lead reports a suspicious person and a vehicle description. The other reports a suspicious person who lived near Sessions' apartment.

''So that's promising,'' Darnell said.

Darnell said the leads were recently discovered by detectives in the sheriff's office cold case unit as not having been completely looked into.

Tiffany, who would now be 40, left her Gainesville apartment between Williston Road and Archer Road for an evening jog and never returned. That was in 1989.

One of the recent tips came from someone in jail.

The missing girl's case was printed in 2007 in the first issuance of cold case playing cards to jails. The regular deck of cards features information and pictures of missing people with an 800 number to call, in hopes that it will remind inmates of information they may have heard.

(more at link)

[texanne]

I have a deck of the Iraq "most wanted" cards. I think this cold case card idea may have been inspired by those. It is a good idea. It keeps the victims and the info fresh in people'e memories.

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I have a deck of the Iraq "most wanted" cards. I think this cold case card idea may have been inspired by those. It is a good idea. It keeps the victims and the info fresh in people'e memories.

Never heard of them. Who did they distribute the Iraq cards to in the hopes of getting info on cases?

eta: Googled them. I guess they've been used as far back as the civil war to help troops identify the enemy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most-wanted_Iraqi_playing_cards

[texanne]

They help the troops identify the top enemy leaders. I bought several decks so my grandsons could add them to their "collector" boxes.

[Maelstrom5]

Woman I’d in cold case
Published - Tuesday, March 17, 2009
www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2009/03/17/news/00lead.txt -

“Law enforcement officials identified Monday the remains of Deana Marie Patnode of Inver Grove Heights, Minn.”….. “found May 20, 1989 along Highway 61south of Kellogg, Minn.

Cold Case Playing Card: 4 of Diamonds

[packy]

So good the cards worked in Deana's case, although still so sad. Her case is on this thread. http://helpfindthemissing.org/forum/showthread.php?t=11970&highlight=patnode

[Audie]

I have a deck of the Iraq "most wanted" cards. I think this cold case card idea may have been inspired by those. It is a good idea. It keeps the victims and the info fresh in people'e memories.I have a deck of those too. They were selling them in stores. IIRC, they are replicas of what the military had.

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Family of slain Machias woman waits for answers

Published: Sunday, May 17, 2009
By Diana Hefley Herald Writer

MACHIAS -- She was missed immediately.

The day Kelly Sarsten, 37, didn't show up for work, her friends began looking for her. She should have been behind the wheel of her dump truck.

The search turned into a nightmare. Sarsten's remains were discovered in the Pilchuck River, not too far from her Machias home. Someone tried to hide her in the water.

The killer has never been caught.

Sarsten is featured on the ace of diamonds in the state's first deck of cold-case playing cards. Snohomish County sheriff's detectives have handed the cards out in prisons and jails in hopes of soliciting new leads for unsolved homicides and missing persons cases. Inmates are offered a $1,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest in cases dating back to the 1970s.

Sarsten was last seen Aug. 18, 2004. She was sitting on her back deck, wrapped in a white bath robe. She often went outside at the end of the day to do the paperwork for her business Extreme Rock.

"Kelly didn't live a risky life. She was just a nice person, who lived out in the county, had her dogs and her business," her brother in-law Tom Stephenson said. "She didn't go looking for problems. She'd figured her life out and was doing good."

Sarsten's family say they are waiting for the day when they have answers about what happened. More importantly they want to see the killer brought to justice.

"Somebody did something horrible to our sister," Judy Stephenson said. "I'd give up knowing what happened if it meant catching this person. That's what we really want. They are out there free -- that's just wrong."

About this series

Snohomish County sheriff's detectives created the state's first deck of cold-case playing cards. Each Sunday for a year, The Herald will publish a story about a case featured on one of the cards.

Anyone with information about unsolved homicides and missing persons cases is asked to call Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound at 800-222-TIPS (8477). Up to $1,000 is offered for tips that lead to an arrest and conviction.

Tips also can be called into the sheriff's tip line at 425-388-3845. Callers may remain anonymous, although tips have been shown to be more successful when callers leave their phone numbers and are willing to speak with detectives, police said.

http://heraldnet.com/article/20090517/NEWS01/705179901

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Published: Wednesday, November 11, 2009

More cold-case cards will go to inmates

Playing cards with King and Snohomish County cases are being handed out.

By Diana Hefley Herald Writer

EVERETT — More decks of cold-case playing cards are expected to be handed out in the Snohomish County Jail in an effort to generate tips about unsolved homicides and missing persons cases.

King County Sheriff’s deputies recently created a deck of playing cards similar to the one Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives put together last year. More than 280 decks of the King County cards are expected to be given to inmates here.

Meanwhile King County authorities plan to hand out 288 Snohomish County decks in their jail in Seattle.

Snohomish County sheriff’s cold case detective Jim Scharf also provided the jail here with 288 more decks of cold-case playing cards. The Snohomish County cards feature unsolved killings that date back to the 1970s and were the first in the state.

More than 4,500 decks have been handed out in jails and all the state’s prisons since Scharf and his former partner Sgt. Dave Heitzman created the cards.

Detectives have received a few helpful tips, Scharf said. None of those tips has led to an arrest, he said.

“We haven’t received anything earth-shattering,” Scharf said. “We’re hopeful and think they are beneficial and will continue to be beneficial.”

Scharf said some of the tips have come from other law enforcement agencies. Informants who have seen the Snohomish County cards have approached police officers they trust in other communities. Some of those tips have been helpful, Scharf said.

Detectives believe there are people who have information that could take killers off the streets and give grieving families answers.

Inmates are offered a $1,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest in the dozens of unsolved cases.

Snohomish County detectives got the idea for the cards after learning that detectives in Florida had made several arrests based on information inmates provided after seeing similar cards there.

The Snohomish County cards are available to view on The Herald Web site at www.heraldnet.com.

http://heraldnet.com/article/20091111/NEWS01/711119842