Free Republic

Detective Shaun McCarthy has worked on a lot of cases in his more than 40 years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. “I was 10 years as a street gang detective, and now I’m in my 23rd year as a homicide detective,” he said. “So, a total of 33 years as a detective.” These days, he devotes his time to the cases that remain unsolved. “To solve a homicide and prosecute somebody who committed the worst crime, there is nothing higher than that.” This is why he says he said couldn’t fully retire. McCarthy, like many others in the...

A CRACK team of scuba-diving sleuths has solved a staggering seven cold cases in just two months, bringing much-needed closure to heartbroken families who had been left without answers for years. The group, known as Chaos Divers, operates out of Southern Illinois and is comprised of divers Jacob Grubbs and Eric Bussick, and head of logistics Lindsey Bussick. The group users sonar technology to help solve cold cases that in some instances have been open for decades. Between October and December of last year, the trio managed to solve seven missing persons cases in a number of different states, including...

Murder charges were dropped against an Alabama man accused of killing his wife 30 years ago — after the couple’s friend confessed to the slaying just hours before the trial got underway, officials said. The stunning announcement came Monday as 55-year-old Carl Harris was set to face trial for the 1990 murder of Tracy Harris, who was found dead in the Choctawhatchee River with signs of strangulation. Ozark Police said 54-year-old Jeff Beasley, a former friend of the couple, admitted to the murder on Sunday — providing very specific details about the case. “The new evidence was information that had...

San Francisco’s much maligned homicide clearance rate is in the spotlight as the French government has stepped into a cold case murder occurring in the city two years ago. The inquiry comes on the heels of the “unusual” case of a Jewish activist who managed to fall through to his death via a disabled elevator shaft. San Francisco’s 800 plus unsolved murders rate ranks as one of the highest in the nation.

http://www.theage.com.au/world/of-murder-science-and-blood-ties-20081004-4txb.html?page=-1Cannot be posted, per rules.