About ColdCaseIndex

What this site is

ColdCaseIndex is a structured index of cold cases and historically significant crimes. Every entry has a status, a location, a date, a short summary, a dated timeline and a list of the sources it was compiled from. You can browse the index by state or country, by type or by decade, or search it from the homepage.

Most entries are unsolved. The index also keeps cases that were solved, sometimes decades later, because how they were resolved matters: a DNA identification, a confession, a conviction that was later overturned. The status label on every entry says which is which.

What the statuses mean

• Unsolved No one has been charged and the case remains open.
• Partially Solved Part of the case has been resolved, for example one of several killings attributed, while other questions remain open.
• Identified A previously unidentified victim now has a name. It does not mean anyone has been charged.
• Arrest Made and Pending Trial Someone has been charged. They are presumed innocent unless convicted.
• Wanted A named suspect has been charged and is a fugitive.
• Conviction At least one person was convicted in connection with the case.
• Solved The case was resolved without a conviction being the deciding fact, for example when DNA identified a perpetrator who had already died.
• No Conviction The case was tried or closed without a conviction for the death or disappearance: an acquittal, a defendant who died before trial, or a declined indictment.
• Ruled Suicide Authorities ruled the death a suicide and the ruling has been publicly questioned.

How entries are compiled

Entries are compiled from public sources and written in our own words. In practice many entries rely mainly on news reporting and Wikipedia, because official pages are not always available. In order of preference, the sources are:

• Law enforcement and court records: police and sheriff's office releases, FBI and Department of Justice pages, court opinions.
• Case databases: NamUs, the Charley Project, the Doe Network, the DNA Doe Project and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
• Reporting from established news organisations.
• Wikipedia, as a supplementary reference only.

The sources for each entry are listed on its page. Where sources disagree on a date, an age or a detail, the entry uses the less precise value or says that accounts differ.

Standards we hold to

• People who have not been convicted are presumed innocent. Acquittals, dismissed charges, overturned convictions and deaths before trial are stated as such.
• People who were questioned or named in the press but never charged are left unnamed unless an official source named them, and then only with attribution.
• Deaths involving police are described using adjudicated facts and official findings.
• No photographs of victims or suspects are published.

Review and corrections

A review of the full index began in September 2026 and is still in progress. So far, entries have been compared with their sources, statuses have been updated where a source showed a change, and source links that did not resolve have been removed or replaced with archived copies. Some entries have not yet been re-checked against an independent source, and a number still list fewer than two sources. Each case page shows its sources and the date it was last updated, so you can judge how well supported an entry is.

Cases change, and this index contains errors we have not found yet. If an entry is inaccurate or out of date, or if you are a family member who wants an entry corrected or removed, email info@coldcaseindex.com.

National statistics

The homicide clearance figures on the homepage and on state pages come from the Murder Accountability Project's analysis of FBI Uniform Crime Report data, as published by Project: Cold Case. They count 352,390 homicides that were not cleared between 1965 and 2024. A case is "cleared" when police make an arrest or close it by exceptional means, so clearance is not the same as conviction.

If you have information about a case

ColdCaseIndex does not collect or forward tips. Contact the police force responsible for the case, or:

• United States: tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324)
• Missing children (US): National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678)
• United Kingdom: Crimestoppers, 0800 555 111
• Canada: Crime Stoppers, 1-800-222-8477
• Australia: Crime Stoppers, 1800 333 000

What is a cold case?

A cold case is a criminal investigation that remains unsolved and is no longer being actively worked, usually because the leads have run out. Cold cases can be reopened when new evidence, a witness or new forensic methods appear. Forensic genetic genealogy has resolved cases that had been cold for decades.