Before I wish everyone happy holidays, I want to note that one of the creepiest serial killers in my lifetime, Rodney Alcala, just pled guilty to the 1971 murder of Cornelia Crilley and the 1977 murder of Ellen Hover. (If you are not familiar with him, google his name, but wait until after the holidays. It’s an ugly story.)

I want to thank the Manhattan District Attorney’s Forensic Sciences/Cold Case Unit, Assistant District Attorneys Melissa Mourges, Chief of the Forensic Science/Cold Case Unit, Martha Bashford, Chief of the Sex Crimes Unit, Alex Spiro, and Detectives Wendell Stradford, Robert Dewhurst, and (ret.) Stefano Braccini of the NYPD’s Cold Case Squad. There’s more information in the DAs press release here.

I know there’s no such thing as closure, but if one of the things we can do for the friends and family of the victims is to allow them to see at least some justice served, then you all have certainly done the best that could be done for them.

As always, I’m posting this very old picture of someone from the NYPD coming out of a helicopter dressed as Santa. Yes, it’s a little sad with the World Trade Center towers in the background, but come on. This is pretty cool. I wonder where they were off to.

A couple of weeks ago in the Times, there was a wonderful story by James Gorman about a determined detective in Florida who used a new for method of scientific study called isotope analysis to help move a forty-one year old cold case forward. It’s a great and hopeful read.

More recently, I read about the all the evidence that was destroyed at the Property Clerk warehouses as a result of Hurricane Sandy. It’s not that I doubt anyone’s word, but they had plenty of time and warning to move the barrels so just to be on the safe side (and this is probably already being done):

I strongly suggest that a third party immediately request to see and to document all the barrels (and everything else) that may or may not be damaged.

This picture of Detective Darren Norris was taken by Gregg Matthews for The New York Times.

From the Staten Island Advance: “STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Justice was served Friday in deadly Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath as a Staten Island jury convicted a Queens man of slaying his former girlfriend in her Stapleton apartment 13 years ago. Carl Allen was found guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, of brutally bludgeoning and stabbing Noemi Ortiz to death on Sept. 4, 1999.”

New evidence emerged and “Detective Wendell Stradford of NYPD’s Cold Case Squad reinvestigated the case, along with Assistant District Attorneys Wanda DeOliveira and Ann Thompson.” The complete article is here.

I meant to post about this a lot earlier. From the NYPD website:

September 24. New York City Police Department, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and Innocence Project Awarded Federal Funds to Identify Wrongful Convictions

Grant Will Enable the NYPD to Catalogue Evidence That Can Be Subjected to DNA Testing

The New York City Police Department, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the Innocence Project have been awarded a National Institute of Justice grant to catalogue evidence to improve access for those seeking to prove their innocence through DNA testing. The $1.25 million in grant funds will be distributed over two years.

You can read the rest of the press release on the NYPD’s website. Here’s an earlier post of mine about the Property Clerk Division, which I believe illustrates the need for this grant. But as I’ve said many times now, the responsiblity for storing evidence should be handed over to an independent group.

Evidence should not be stored by an organization that has a vested interest in the outcome of the trial. If I wanted to put you in jail, for instance, would you be comfortable with me holding onto all the physical evidence that will decide your fate? This is not a comment on the NYPD by the way, this is just common sense.

Barrels of evidence at the Property Clerk warehouse.