Prosecuting Cold Cases Using DNA Grant

Headquartered in Raleigh North Carolina, the NC State Bureau of Investigation is the lead criminal investigative agency in the state.  The agency’s mission, as defined by NC General Statute 143B-915, is to “secure a more effective administration of the criminal laws of our state, and to procure the speedy apprehension of criminals…”  The NCSBI works routinely with prosecutors, clerks of court, crime lab technicians, and other partners dedicated to the prevention of violent crime, the prosecution of guilty persons, and the exoneration of individuals shown to be innocent through interviews, testing analysis, and other examinations.  In September of 2020, the NCSBI formed a new “Cold Case Investigations Team” (CCIT) consisting of eight active sworn investigators and two retired investigators.  A 2017 Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) sub-award provided to the NCSBI from the NC Governor’s Crime Commission has supported training and travel expenses, overtime for the active employees, and a contractual wage for retired investigators. 

As of June 21, 2021, the NCSBI’s Records Management System shows 1,018 inactive, unsolved homicide cases.  These cases are investigations where all leads have been exhausted and no convictions have been made.  The CCIT has reviewed 146 of these cases, scanning for samples of biological evidence such as DNA.  The sub-award we received through the NC Governor’s Crime Commission has supported those reviews.  Promising leads in several of the cases being re-examined have been established, but no convictions have been achieved to date other than a single confession obtained in 2020 from a suspect who committed homicide in 1980.  

This grant was awarded to the NCSBI in 2022 in the amount of $535,000.  Since awarded, a total of $350,499.75 has been spent, leaving an unspent balance of $184,500.25. If this Administrative Funding Action is approved, the NCSBI will use $84,500.25 to support expedited laboratory testing at private labs in cases where state government laboratories cannot perform the testing required in a timely fashion to promote project goals.  The remaining $100,00 will be used internally by the NCSBI to support contractual wages for retired investigators, travel costs, and overtime wages for current employees.

This award is funded as an administrative funding adjustment of 15PBJA-21-GG-04368-DNAX.