Cold Case Homicides

Getting Away With Murder

Cold Case Homicides

Written by a seasoned professional with over 30 years of experience in law enforcement, Cold Case Homicides: Practical Investigative Techniques provides effective and accessible information to those responsible for investigating and resolving previously examined - but still unsolved - cold case homicides. The book merges theory with practice through the use of case histories, photographs, illustrations, and checklists that convey essential, fundamental concepts while providing a strong, practical basis for the investigative process. It combines proven techniques from forensics, psychology, and criminal investigation, and focuses on technologies that may not have been available at the time of the crime. This guide defines the characteristics of a cold case homicide; details various investigative methods used by law enforcement agencies; explores the actual experiences of detectives in re-opening case files; and presents current technologies such as ViCAP, HITS, and TracKRS used in the identification of cases related to the re-opened case, or its perpetrator. It also highlights technological changes that contribute greatly to law enforcement's abilities to solve cold case homicides such as computerized print technology, the specificity of DNA, and the expanding data banks that enable the linkage of previously unknown suspects to the crimes they committed. Addressing methods particularly valuable to cold cases, Cold Case Homicides: Practical Investigative Techniques assists the investigator in being prepared, focused, objective - and successful in obtaining the truth.

How to Solve a Cold Case

Shortlisted for The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book, Crime Writers of Canada Awards Get inside the mind of an elite cold case investigator and learn how to solve a murder. Despite advances in DNA evidence and forensic analysis, almost half of murder cases in Canada and the US remain unsolved. By 2016, the solved rate had dropped so significantly in the United States that it was the lowest in recorded history, with one in two killers never even identified, much less arrested and successfully prosecuted. And the statistics are just as bad in Canada. As a sought-after global expert and former detective, Arntfield has devoted his career to helping solve cold cases and serial murders, including the creation of the Western University Cold Case Society, which pairs students with police detectives to help solve crimes. In How to Solve a Cold Case, Arntfield outlines the history of cold case squads in Canada and the US, and lays out the steps to understanding and solving crime. Arntfield shows you what to look for, how to avoid common mistakes, recognize patterns and discover what others have missed. Weaving in case studies of cold crimes from across Canada and the US, as well as a chapter on how armchair detectives can get involved, How to Solve a Cold Case is a must-read for mystery fans and true crime buffs everywhere.