Crime lab plans to look into unsolved homicides with new grant money

Local efforts to solve long-open, hard-to-crack homicide cases known as "cold cases," are getting a boost from the federal and state governments, officials said Tuesday.

The San Diego Sheriff's Department Crime Laboratory announced it has created a Cold Case Forensic Team with help from a federal Department of Justice grant of more than $805,000, and a state Department of Justice grant of about $33,000.

The grant money, approved by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, will allow the crime lab to hire two temporary lab technicians who will dig exclusively into old, unsolved homicide cases. The additional technicians will bring the number of cold-case lab technicians to four.

The money also means the lab can get new equipment to expand its capacity to test DNA.

The Cold Case Forensic Team includes not only the crime lab technicians, but investigators from six agencies, including the Oceanside Police Department and the San Diego County district attorney's office.

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(29.10.2004)

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