5 minute read
A place for cold cases
Next Article
Photography: John Pallot and supplied
They may be gone, but cold case homicide victims have not been forgotten.
Families left behind often carry the burden of keeping their loved one’s memory alive long after the attention of the media and wider public has faded. And for them, there will be little comfort in their lives until they get an answer to the question which has plagued them for years, if not decades – “Why?”
Officer in Charge of the Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Timothy Day said that for most families the questions of ‘Who?’, ‘What?’, ‘How?’, ‘Where?’ and ‘When?’ don’t matter as much; it’s the ‘Why?’ that keeps them up at night.
They want to know why their loved one was murdered.
To try and get the answer these Victorian families deserve, Det Insp Day has launched a new Homicide Squad Cold Case Hub, hosted on the Victoria Police website, with the hope that a member of the public will provide the information needed to finally unmask a killer.
One tragic case featured on the hub is the coldblooded murder of Jane Thurgood-Dove, in what police believe to be a case of mistaken identity.
Jane Thurgood-Dove was brutally murdered in front of her children in 1997. Police believe the murder was a case of mistaken identity.
Ms Thurgood-Dove was gunned down in front of her three young children in the driveway of her Niddrie home in 1997.
She had returned home after picking up her children from school and preschool when a stolen, metallic blue Holden Commodore pulled up outside the front of her property and a gunman stepped out and shot her multiple times. The car was later found torched in a nearby street.
Detectives have interviewed a number of persons of interest during the past two decades — two of whom have since passed away — however no-one has ever been charged with Ms Thurgood-Dove’s murder.
“This case strikes at the heart of our civilised society. It’s an absolute tragedy that shouldn’t have happened,” Det Insp Day said.
I think most people could identify with it — a mother with her children who happened to be a totally innocent party in a murder gone wrong.
The Cold Case Hub — the first police hub of its kind in Australia — features five cold cases currently under investigation with a personal appeal from the police investigator to the public for information about each murder.
Each case also links directly to Crime Stoppers so any information about the crime can be reported easily and confidentially.
Two new cases that Homicide Squad detectives would like the community’s help in solving will be added to the hub each month.
Det Insp Day said the webpage is a “single source of truth” for the public, providing information that police need the public to know, rather than what might be featured on unreliable websites and podcasts.
The hub is inspired by a cold case webpage Det Insp Day came across during his time with Canadian law enforcement as part of the Churchill Fellowship he was awarded in 2018.
Detective Inspector Timothy Day launched the Cold Case Hub so the public can provide detectives with the information they need to break open unsolved investigations.
While travelling through Europe and North America to examine the operating models of international homicide squads to help build our national capability, Det Insp Day became interested in Toronto Police Service’s publicly accessible cold case page on its website.
The webpage was launched as part of Project Never Give Up in 2015, which in part sought to increase cold case solvability through publicly generated information to provide new avenues of inquiry for police.
“It was clear this is a really valuable tool that we might be able to leverage off to help with our cold case investigations,” Det Insp Day said.
Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Scarlett said the launch of the unit’s Cold Case Hub was the most overt way the Homicide Squad has partnered with the community.
“We need to evolve and find new ways of doing business, and this hub will start people asking questions and making enquiries, which can result in the discovery of new information,” Det Sen Sgt Scarlett said.
“It’s also about reaching people who don’t watch the news or pick up a newspaper anymore. They’re on social media and we need to let them know we’re still investigating these cases.
“And, importantly, this reminds the families of the victims that Victoria Police doesn’t stop. We haven’t forgotten about their loved ones and we will keep going until we can get their answers. That’s something the perpetrators of these crimes also need to remember.”
The importance of the relationship between police and the public is why Australian jurisdictions do so well in terms of their homicide solvability, according to Det Insp Day.
“One of the greatest issues raised by international law enforcement agencies in terms of their barriers to solving crime, particularly serious and organised crime, was the public being unwilling to provide police with the information they need.
“However, Victoria Police is well and truly at the forefront of police jurisdictions in terms of solvability and conviction rates. For homicide cases, we have a solve-rate well in excess of 90 per cent.
“In my view, a major contributor to that is we still have the trust of the public.”
“They’re willing to speak to us because there is an inherent want in Victorians to help their police force.
“That’s why this hub has so much potential — we are telling the community what we need and we’re giving them the vehicle to help us.”
Det Sen Sgt Scarlett said it’s “that one per cent of information” a member of the public provides that could mean a family gets the answer to their question of “why?”.
But he acknowledged that some crimes are getting harder to solve with the passage of time.
“Over time, some investigations become more solvable and others less so. But this can change at any given time depending on what comes out of the shadows,” Det Sen Sgt Scarlett said.
“Relationships change, alibis can waver, and forensic technology is advancing daily, which all works in the favour of investigators.
“Conversely, witnesses die, memory fades, and biological exhibits degrade, meaning in some ways the clock is ticking.”
For this reason, Det Insp Day said his homicide investigators will continue to “work tirelessly” for the families of cold case victims.
“The impact on the families when their case is solved 20, 30 or 40 years down the track is as powerful as it is if you’d arrested, charged, and convicted the offender the next day, if not more powerful,” he said.
“We ask the public to visit the Cold Case Hub regularly to see if there are any investigations you can help with.
“And please, if you know something, say something. You could hold that one per cent of information that solves a murder.”
