How Cold Cases Get Solved: Resolution Methods
Of the 319 resolved cases in this index, 122 were broken in the initial investigation. Among the rest, genetic genealogy (25 cases, median wait 37 years) and DNA matches (27 cases) resolved the oldest cases, while confessions (25) and witnesses or tips (18) arrived at every age.
What breaks a cold case
For 122 of the 319 resolved cases (38%) the break came in the initial investigation, within a year of the crime, and the timeline records nothing more specific than the arrest. The remaining 197 cases are where the methods separate. Genetic genealogy accounts for 25 cases, all broken in 2016 or later, with a median wait of 37 years. A DNA database or direct DNA match accounts for 27 (median 21 years). Confessions account for 25: 18 of them came within a year of the crime and 6 came five years or more later.
Among the 50 cases that waited twenty years or more, the breaks came from genetic genealogy (20), other or not stated (14), dna match (14). 1 of them was resolved by a fingerprint and none by a witness or tip.
Resolution methods, all 319 resolved cases
| Method | Cases | Share | Median years to break | Of which went cold (2+ years) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrest in the initial investigation | 122 | 38% | 0 | 0 |
| Genetic genealogy | 25 | 8% | 37 | 25 |
| DNA match | 27 | 8% | 21 | 18 |
| Confession | 25 | 8% | 0 | 7 |
| Witness, tip or informant | 18 | 6% | 0 | 3 |
| Arrest in another case | 19 | 6% | 0 | 6 |
| Fingerprint match | 10 | 3% | 0 | 3 |
| Other or not stated | 73 | 23% | 5 | 73 |
By the decade the case broke
Counted by the year of the break, not the year of the crime. The first DNA match in the index came in 1984, the first genetic genealogy identification in 2016. Decades with fewer than five breaks are left out.
| Decade | Cases | Initial | Genealogy | DNA match | Confession | Witness or tip | Other arrest | Fingerprint | Not stated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 11 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| 1970s | 19 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 | |||
| 1980s | 31 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 | |
| 1990s | 39 | 13 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | |
| 2000s | 51 | 19 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 11 | |
| 2010s | 102 | 40 | 16 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 22 |
| 2020s | 60 | 26 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 15 |
The 25 genetic genealogy resolutions
43 cases in the index involve forensic genetic genealogy. 25 of them are resolved with the technique credited in the timeline; the rest are unidentified-remains cases where it has produced leads but not yet a name, or cases where it identified a victim but not the person responsible. 24 of the 25 resolutions came in 2018 or later. See the genetic genealogy theme hub for all 43.
DNA match: 27 cases, longest waits
| Case | Crime | Break | Years | Timeline entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jane Britton | 1969 | 2018 | 49 | The profile is matched to Michael Sumpter. |
| Reet Jurvetson | 1969 | 2015 | 46 | DNA testing confirms her identity as Reet Jurvetson. |
| Wendy Jerome | 1984 | 2020 | 36 | Williams, 56, is arrested at his home in Melbourne, Florida, on a second-degree murder charge and is later returned to New York. |
| BTK Killer Victims | 1974 | 2005 | 31 | Dennis Rader is arrested near his Park City home, identified via the disk metadata and a familial DNA match. |
| Sarah Yarborough | 1991 | 2019 | 28 | Advanced DNA analysis identifies Patrick Nicholas; detectives collect discarded items that match his DNA to the crime scene, and he is… |
| Angie Housman | 1993 | 2019 | 26 | Prosecutors announce charges against Earl Webster Cox after DNA from the victim's clothing is matched to him. |
| Lisa Ziegert | 1992 | 2017 | 25 | A DNA match is confirmed and Schara is arrested in Connecticut. |
| Angela Samota | 1984 | 2008 | 24 | DNA from the crime scene is matched to Bess, who is already in prison for another offense. |
Confession: 25 cases, longest waits
| Case | Crime | Break | Years | Timeline entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etan Patz | 1979 | 2012 | 33 | Police announce the arrest of Pedro Hernandez, who they say confessed to killing Etan in 1979. |
| Robert Hansen Victims | 1971 | 1984 | 13 | Hansen pleads guilty and is sentenced to 461 years plus life without parole; he admits to killing 17 women. |
| Todd Kohlhepp Victims | 2003 | 2016 | 13 | In custody, Kohlhepp confesses to the 2003 Superbike Motorsports quadruple murder, linking him to seven killings in total. |
| Shannon Melendi | 1994 | 2004 | 10 | Colvin "Butch" Hinton is indicted for Shannon's murder, a decade after her disappearance. |
| John Wayne Gacy Victims | 1972 | 1978 | 6 | Gacy is arrested after police investigate Piest's disappearance. |
| Mared Malarik & Karen Ferrell (WVU Coed Murders) | 1970 | 1976 | 6 | New Jersey inmate Eugene Paul Clawson confesses to the murders; he is tried in West Virginia, convicted, and sentenced to life without… |
| Jeanine Nicarico | 1983 | 1985 | 2 | Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez are convicted and sentenced to death; Brian Dugan had already confessed to the crime alone. |
| Son of Sam Victims | 1976 | 1977 | 1 | David Berkowitz is arrested outside his Yonkers apartment; a .44 revolver is recovered and he confesses. |
Witness, tip or informant: 18 cases, longest waits
| Case | Crime | Break | Years | Timeline entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitey Bulger (death) | 2018 | 2024 | 6 | Fotios Geas sentenced to 25 years after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and assault resulting in serious bodily injury… |
| Abigail Williams & Liberty German | 2017 | 2022 | 5 | Richard Allen is taken into custody after a previously misfiled 2017 tip is reviewed. |
| Kent Heitholt | 2001 | 2004 | 3 | Erickson pleads guilty and agrees to testify; he receives a 25-year sentence. |
| Elizabeth Smart | 2002 | 2003 | 1 | Smart is recovered alive in Sandy, Utah, after witnesses recognize her captors from news coverage; Mitchell and Barzee are arrested. |
| Vicki Lynne Hoskinson | 1984 | 1984 | 0 | Frank Jarvis Atwood is detained in Kerrville, Texas after a witness's license plate report is traced to his car. |
| Lisa Steinberg | 1987 | 1987 | 0 | Hedda Nussbaum calls 911 at about 6:30 a.m.; Lisa is found comatose and hospitalized. Steinberg and Nussbaum are arrested. |
| Ennis Cosby | 1997 | 1997 | 0 | Mikhail Markhasev, 18, is arrested after a tip that came through the National Enquirer's reward offer. |
| Samantha Runnion | 2002 | 2002 | 0 | Alejandro Avila, 27, of Lake Elsinore is arrested near his mother's home, three days after the body was found. |
Arrest in another case: 19 cases, longest waits
| Case | Crime | Break | Years | Timeline entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zebb Wayne Quinn | 2000 | 2015 | 15 | Owens pleads guilty to the unrelated murders of Cristie and J.T. Codd, drawing renewed scrutiny to the Quinn case. |
| Jeffrey Dahmer Victims | 1978 | 1991 | 13 | Tracy Edwards escapes Dahmer's apartment and flags down police; officers discover human remains, and Dahmer is arrested. |
| Ariel Castro Victims | 2002 | 2013 | 11 | Castro is indicted; charges later grow to nearly a thousand counts. |
| Coral Eugene Watts Victims | 1974 | 1982 | 8 | Watts is arrested in Houston after attacking two women, who survive. |
| Ashley Ellerin | 2001 | 2008 | 7 | Santa Monica police arrest Michael Gargiulo; he is subsequently charged with the Ellerin and Bruno murders. |
| Peter Falconio | 2001 | 2003 | 2 | Bradley John Murdoch is arrested in South Australia and charged with Falconio's murder. |
| Ted Bundy Victims | 1974 | 1975 | 1 | Bundy is arrested during a traffic stop in Granger, Utah, after officers find suspicious items in his vehicle. |
| Gary Heidnik Victims | 1986 | 1987 | 1 | Rivera gets away and alerts police; Heidnik is arrested and the surviving women are freed. |
Fingerprint match: 10 cases, longest waits
| Case | Crime | Break | Years | Timeline entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penney Serra | 1973 | 1997 | 24 | A fingerprint from a tissue box in Serra's car is matched through AFIS to Edward R. Grant. |
| Cari Farver | 2012 | 2016 | 4 | Golyar is arrested and charged with Farver's murder after a fingerprint, photos of the body, and blood evidence emerge. |
| Aileen Wuornos Victims | 1989 | 1991 | 2 | Wuornos is arrested at a biker bar in Volusia County, Florida, after being linked to the crimes through fingerprints and pawned items. |
| Anna Mae Aquash | 1975 | 1976 | 1 | After identification by fingerprints, a second autopsy finds a gunshot wound to the head. |
| Medgar Evers | 1963 | 1963 | 0 | Byron De La Beckwith is arrested after his fingerprint is matched to the rifle scope. |
| Richard Speck Victims | 1966 | 1966 | 0 | Speck is arrested after attempting suicide at a hotel; an ER physician recognizes his 'Born to Raise Hell' tattoo, and crime-scene… |
| Polly Klaas | 1993 | 1993 | 0 | Richard Allen Davis is arrested in Ukiah on an unrelated parole violation warrant. |
| Anthony Martinez | 1997 | 1997 | 0 | The case goes cold; a partial fingerprint and other evidence from the scene yield no database match. |
Method and caveats
- Which cases. The 319 cases with status Conviction, Solved or Identified whose timeline holds a dated break event; 24 resolved cases without one are left out. See the resolution times report for the definition of the break.
- Classification. The break event and the two timeline entries that follow it are matched against keyword rules, in this order: genetic genealogy (also matched on the case tags), DNA match, fingerprint, confession or surrender, witness, tip or informant, arrest in another case, and reinvestigation. A case broken within a year that matches none of them is counted as the initial investigation; one broken later that matches none is counted as not stated. Each case gets one method, the first that matches, even where several contributed.
- What the categories mean. "DNA match" covers direct comparisons and database (CODIS) hits, including familial searches of offender databases; "genetic genealogy" covers family-tree work from public genealogy databases. "Arrest in another case" means the suspect was identified after being arrested or caught for a different crime, or after a victim escaped.
- Selection. The index favours notable cases, and cases solved by new forensic techniques are notable. The share of genealogy resolutions here is far higher than in homicide clearances generally.
The figures are recomputed from the published dataset on every build, so they change as cases are added or their status changes. The rules live in scripts/analysis.py in the site's source. To report an error, email info@coldcaseindex.com.
Last recomputed November 10, 2026.
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