On November 29, 1988, at 5:00 p.m., Deborah Lee Atrops left work at Wellons Inc., a metal fabrication company in Sherwood. No lead is ever too small, and there is no statute of limitations on the crime of murder. Read the 15 stories below and see if you can help them solve a cold case. Local sheriff’s offices ask the public for help. Most of us know that detectives use DNA evidence and process fingerprints electronically, but they also rely on molecular analysis of physical evidence and many regional and specialized computer databases to help solve the “whodunnit”. Recent technological and scientific advances improve the odds of solving cold cases from years past.

While you might think evidence becomes stale over time, the opposite scenario is sometimes true. The disappearance of Kyron Horman comes to mind, as I lived and worked a few short miles from his school at the time he disappeared. Oregon is of course no stranger to unsolved cases, some spanning back nearly 100 years or more. Throughout 2020, I (along with many others it seems) became a true-crime junkie. I grew up watching Unsolved Mysteries as a kid (can y’all still hear Robert Stack’s voice backed by haunting music telling you that “YOU could help solve a mystery”? I can.).

Something about these scenarios is oddly captivating to the human psyche. Last updated on September 12th, 2021 at 09:52 amĪ cold case is defined as a homicide or murder that has been thoroughly investigated, with all leads exhausted, yet remains unsolved.

Kyron horman age progression