Warming Baltimore’s Cold Case Homicides

The Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office will utilize this funding to continue to work cold case homicide investigations by submitting evidence samples to the Forensic Genetic Genealogy (FGG) process. The Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office’s newly-formed Cold Case Homicide Unit will be responsible for the administration and direction of the project. The purpose for this project is to increase the number of cold case prosecutions and decrease the number of unsolved cold case homicide investigations. Once funded, project activities will include conducting an initial, comprehensive priority assessment on the jurisdiction’s inventory of 1,273 eligible cases, then outsourcing work to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and private companies to include the development of single nucleotide polymorphism profiles, and the performance of Forensic Genetic Genealogy services, such as suitability tests, database uploads, tree-building and formation of investigative leads. The vast majority of the funding will be allocated to outsourcing. A smaller percentage of grant funds will be used for follow-up investigation needs such as travel, witness location and interview, and evidence collection. Expected outcomes are the successful resolution of many previously unsolved murder investigations. It is anticipated that 25-50 cases are identified within the first year of the grant and will focus on the charging and prosecution of cases during the second and third years of the grant. Additional outsourcing of casework will be dependent on initial success, remaining funds, and staffing availability.