When the Virginia Cold Case Database launched, one of the first challenges was getting word out about the site and getting citizens to take a look. Corrine Geller, with the Virginia State Police, says in that regard the numbers are encouraging.
“We’ve had almost 52,000 visitors to the website, which we find a tremendous success,” says Geller.
The number of cases featured on the site has grown from thirty-nine to over three hundred as more reporting agencies have become involved.
Geller elaborates, “To date, we have twenty local and state law enforcement investigators across the Commonwealth trained and uploaded onto the database.”
Geller goes on to explain that the concept for the database is straight-forward and common sense:
“We all know that there are there are folks out there that know information about homicides, missing persons, unsolved incidents. That’s the whole goal of this website – is to keep them in the forefront, for the families to understand that we’ve not given up on these cases. We’re not about to give up on them. But also, to give the public and maybe those individuals out there that have a piece of information that they just didn’t want to share – give them a means to send a tip in and maybe help break that case open and get an arrest made.”
While there hasn’t yet been a case solved as a direct result of the database, it would seem only a matter of time as the public continues to discover and use the site.
Visit the Virginia Cold Case Database here.
Link to Code of Virginia law which established the database.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
