Page 6 - Cold Case Program News Today

A suspect who was arrested in February for the cold case murder of a Niles, Michigan woman has accepted a plea deal in the case.

A suspect who was arrested in February for the cold case murder of a Niles, Michigan woman has accepted a plea deal in the case.

A suspect who was arrested in February for the cold case murder of a Niles, Michigan woman has accepted a plea deal in the case.

Western Michigan students partner with Michigan State Police to crack unsolved murders Updated Mar 16, 2021; Posted Mar 16, 2021 Michigan State Police investigate a crime scene in the 6600 block of Morningstar Way in Oshtemo Township, Michigan on Friday, Dec. 18, 2020. (Joel Bissell | MLive.com)Joel Bissell | MLive.com Facebook Share KALAMAZOO, MI -- A new program at Western Michigan University will pair criminal justice students with state police to help solve cold case murders. The students...

How did you feel about the fact that your kit had been sitting on the shelf for so many years? >> they have just let them stack up and stack up and stack up, and thats just unacceptable. >> reporter: you heard right. carol wasnt the only one. years earlier, dallas police sergeant patrick welsh discovered a huge backlog of rape kits, and started a sexual assault cold case program. how critical would you say the rape kits are in helping you solve these cases? >> theyre vital to our investigations,...

Never been processed. how did you feel about the fact that your kit had been sitting on the shelf for so many years? >> they have just let them stack up and stack up and stack up, and thats just unacceptable. >> reporter: you heard right. carol wasnt the only one. years earlier, dallas police sergeant patrick welsh discovered a huge backlog of rape kits, and started a sexual assault cold case program. how critical would you say the rape kits are in helping you solve these cases? >> theyre vital ...

Up, stack up, and stack up. thats just unacceptable. >> reporter: you heard right. carol wasnt the only one. years earlier, dallas police sergeant patrick welsh discovered a huge backlog of rape kits and started a sexual assault cold case program. how critical would you say the rape kits are in helping you solve these cases? >> theyre vital to our investigations, no question about that. >> reporter: sergeant welsh turned to the team here at the southwestern institute of forensic science. he aske...

Threatened me that he would kill me. >> reporter: when it was over, carol drove herself to the hospital, where doctors took swabs from her skin, hairs and fibers from her clothes. all part of whats called a rape kit. it was humiliating but carol endured it because she thought the material collected would help police catch her attacker. more than two decades later, carols rapist still hadnt been identified. but a routine call in 2008 to check in on the case revealed something shocking. carols att...