$500K Grant To Help Denver Law Enforcement Solve Cold Cases

DENVER, CO — The National Institute of Justice has given the City of Denver a $500,000 grant to help local law enforcement solve 72 violent crime cold cases. The funding will be shared among the Denver Police Department, its crime lab and the Denver District Attorney’s Office.

The grant will help law enforcement work on unsolved cases that involve suspects who've been identified but not yet charged.

“These violent crime cold cases are among the most challenging of all cold cases,” Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said in a statement. “The potential for more than 70 families to see justice is powerful and exciting and possible thanks to this new funding.”

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Since Denver’s Integrated Cold Case Project launched in 2004, law enforcement has been able to obtain DNA analysis of more than 1,100 cases. Around 130 cases have been filed.

Denver officials said those involved in the project have been especially successful at identifying and convicting serial rapists such as Byron Gay, Michael Lollis, Warren Foster and Richard DePina. Convictions have been secured on cases up to 30 years after the crimes were committed.

“This grant will allow DPD’s Cold Case Unit to dedicate additional resources to investigating 72 cold cases that occurred between 1970 and 2016 and that are comprised of eight sexual assaults and 64 homicides,” Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said in a statement. “The goal is to advance these investigations to a point where they are ready for a case filing presentation to the DA’s Office.”

The grant will allow the Denver Crime Lab to pay overtime to forensic scientists so they can identify, locate, collect, process and analyze evidence to assist prosecutors with the litigation of violent crime cold cases.

The Denver Police Department’s Cold Case unit will use the funding to offer overtime and advance investigations in which a suspect is identified and potential prosecution is pending. The Denver District Attorney’s Office will add a deputy to its existing Cold Case unit.

“We reached a critical milestone in 2017 when the Crime Lab finished testing of all cold case sexual assaults which was made possible in part thanks to earlier NIJ grants,” Gregory LeBerge, director of the Denver Crime Lab, said in a statement. “That work resulted in six serial killers being identified and linked to cases across Colorado and the United States.”