The San Antonio Police Department and the New York Police Department worked together to close a 2005 cold case. The suspect, Jamal Darrow, was arrested on June 3rd for stabbing his godfather, 85-year-old Charles Boyd, to death. The lead detective on the San Antonio Police end was Detective Michael De Leon. On the NYPD side, the lead detective was Det. 1st Grade Steve Litwin, who is new to the squad, coming from the Brooklyn Special Victim’s Unit.

Darrow was extradited back to New York and indicted on first-degree murder charges. The story is here. And a video of the arrest is here . I love when law enforcement agencies work together, good work SAPD and NYPD.

The photograph below is by William Luther/San Antonio Express-News.

From the email I received: Joe Redican appointed November 1979, was one of the “Original” Cold Case Detectives when the unit formed. He retired from the Department November 1999 while still in CCS. Joe had been very sick for a while and finally succumbed to his illness on March 2nd, 2015.

Here he is in an early picture of the squad.

Three others Cold Case detectives have previously died:

Det. William “Billy” Keenan
Det. Thomas “Tommy” Dudziac
Det. FEermin “Sonny” Archer

I posted about the Black and Missing Foundation a couple of years ago. It was established in 2008 by sisters Natalie and Derrica Wilson to address the under-reporting and overall lack of attention given to missing persons cases involving minorities. I just came across a piece titled, 64,000 Missing Women in America All Have One Important Thing in Common by Zak Cheney-Rice.

From the article: “The numbers: Despite representing 12.85% of the population, black Americans accounted for nearly 226,000 — or 34% — of all missing persons reported in 2012. According to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center, the comparison with other racial groups is unfavorable: Whites and Hispanics are a combined 80.1% of the population, but account for 60% of missing persons.”

I’ve posted before about the horrible ambiguity of missing persons cases. In some ways it’s worse than cold cases involving a murder. I’m glad this organization was started and is still in operation.

The picture below is from the NYPD’s photo unit archives.

I post this picture every year, even though the Towers in the background makes it a little sad. But there is always a bittersweet side to every occasion, if you think about it. I envy this Santa though. That looks scary but fun!

Happy holidays everyone.