In the last few days, I received an article from a former student detailing the formation of the “Cold Case Unit” of the New Hampshire State Police. This came to me via Facebook which means that many of my regular readers would not have seen it.
The article lists the current homicides in the cold case files for the state. The list is not a new one but another FB friend pointed out that the Stacey Burns and Bobbie Miller murders are not on it. One wonders if the list were updated to today, would these two cases appear on it?
According to Will Delker, a former N.H. Senior Assistant Attorney General and now a N.H. Superior Court judge, “a cold case has to have been unsolved for twelve months, with no active leads.” Both the Miller and Burns murders have been unsolved for much more than twelve months. If we accept Judge Delker’s definition, and assume that they are not cold cases, then logic dictates that there must be active leads.
Maybe the answer lies in another N.H. Senior Assistant Attorney General’s reason for so many cold cases remaining where they are: in cold storage. The biggest obstacle is not the state of the case nor the deterioration of evidence. it is “talking to people about the past.” Ben Agati continues with a simple statement. “A lot of people don’t want to talk about the past.”
So, the question is this, and it has been asked before. Why not declare these two cases as cold and announce them as such to the general public? Perhaps then more people might be inspired to “talk about the past.”
Hi Duke…..
I have been working on the disappearance of Maura Murray now for 11 yrs. It took a very long time for her to be added to the list. It is discouraging to say the least.
My feelings are that that just want to see these cases go away on a town by town basis. I have faith that the NH CCU will do what they can with what they have but as you have stated Townspeople also just want to leave the past behind and start over. The state of NH as a whole governmental agency is trying to protect the reputation of the state and NH being a state which thrives on tourism makes cases like Stacey’s and many others do not look good.
Any unsolved case looks bad on the record of the town involved so for the bad press to just fade away is the main goal. Sad but true. jmho
John
The Hina family of 4 are listed as “solved”? The AG Foster dropped all charges 18 mos. ago.This list is a joke. It’s never up-dated. nh’s cold case was started with $1.2 million in 09, half from the stimulus fund and half from N.H. tax payers. By 012 the money was spent w/o any results. Jeff Strelzin was the boss and our own Scotty Gilbert was the lead detective,they both made an additional six figures.The unit is now disbanned. Out of the 9 listed as solved 2 were solved by MA. after they killed more women down there, 4 are NOT solved at all, 1 was never tried but the ag called it solved after the suspect died and the one that was solved was solved by a retired Auburn sheriff. The ONLY chance Stacey has for justice is in her friend and family’s hands. How bad do they want it? It will take getting out of their comfort zone The case is solved.
The Hina family murder was 36 years ago and it would never have gone to trial if not for the “free money” our Gov. took from Oblabla’s stash, (the stimulus) They waited 30 plus years to bring a case and when they lost they blamed the witnesses because they were inconsistant. If Michael Keene doesn’t get a trial within a year or so Stacey’s case will linger until Ed dies and then it will be listed as solved.
Ben Agati should do HIS job and stop blaming his ‘straw’ people for trials never brought. These cowards make me sick!
A vigil is being held tonite for the woman who our AG say’ murdered her 2 little girls and then herself. I’ll be interested to see if the ag is able to control this group like they did yours. The medical examiner (someone who is accountable for his words) won’t call it suicide. Also it will be interesting to see if her husband shows up, he’s been missing since before the blood dried.