Six months after it was formed, the state's new Cold Case Unit had already made its first arrest.
On June 30, police in West Sacramento, Calif., arrested David McLeod and charged him with the 1989 murders of a Keene family. The fire was ruled arson, but until this year, no arrests were ever made. McLeod was a suspect in the case more than 20 years ago, but was never charged and spent the last 15 years living in the Sacramento area.
Now, he faces four second-degree homicide charges for allegedly setting a fire that killed Carl Hina, 49, his wife, Lori Hina, 26, their 4-month-old daughter, Lillian Hina, and Carl's 12-year-old daughter, Sara, in their Keene apartment. McLeod has already been indicted and is being held without bail pending trial.
But the Cold Case Unit isn't resting on its early success. Even with that case solved, there are nearly 120 unsolved murders, suspicious deaths and missing persons cases remaining. Included on that list are six cases from Salem, one from Pelham and one from Sandown.
Right now, the unit is focusing its efforts on four or five cases, said Senior Attorney General Will Delker, who heads up the group. He wouldn't say which cases are being actively investigated, however.
"The approach is to focus on a handful of cases at any one time so you don't get too diluted in the approach," he said. "We're definitely making good progress. We have some very positive leads that we're working on pursuing. So we're hopeful, but we'll have to see where it takes us."
State Rep. Payton Hinkle, R-Merrimack, who sponsored the bill that led to the establishment of the unit, said he's pleased at the progress that has been made in such a short period of time.
"I think going all the way across the country (to California) shows this cold case idea's working," he said. "I'm really pleased to see that."
Hinkle said victories like that will help make the case for continuing the unit once its funding expires in three years.
"If they're showing a good track record like this, it's going to be hard not to," he said. "That was part of the argument. We'll do it for a limited period of years. If it works well, we can renew it."
The Cold Case Unit was approved by the state Legislature in July 2009, but didn't get up and running until the beginning of December. The unit consists of Delker, two full-time state police detectives, and a retired Manchester police detective who works 30 hours a week. There is also a volunteer research assistant who helps organize the cases.
Much of the unit's early efforts went into compiling a list of unsolved murders, suspicious deaths and missing persons.
"We never even had a comprehensive list of unsolved cases," Delker said. "State police had a list, the attorney general's office had a list, each of the major departments had lists of cases, but nobody had brought all that together to decide if they were really unsolved cases, and what stages they are in."
He said the unit received a number of calls from people asking about other cases that weren't on any list, and at least four or five of those turned out to be legitimate homicides.
To determine which cases on the list to focus on, Delker said he and the other members of the Cold Case Unit looked at how similar units around the country have gone about deciding whether a case is solvable or not.
"First is, 'Is it an obvious homicide?' Next is 'Is there an identified suspect?' And then the next thing is 'Are there leads that appear in the file that could be followed up on or new evidence that could be subject to new testing?'" he said. "You look at those factors and decide if the case has the potential of making progress."
The key to most of these cases, Delker said, is finding witnesses who were interviewed back when the crime was initially reported. In many cases, people who weren't willing to talk years ago will do so now, either because of a divorce a falling out, or for another reason. In other cases, new witnesses will come forward.
"The most promising developments are going to occur in going back to re-interviewing people whose allegiances have changed over time, or where relationships have disintegrated," he said. "People divorce, friends go different ways, people grow up — for whatever reason, they may be more willing to cooperate."
That was the case with the Keene arson.
"There was a witness who was uncooperative back in '89 who had some important information who agreed to talk to us and provide information," Delker said.
There are also new methods of testing DNA evidence and fingerprints that didn't exist when some of these crimes were committed.
Initially, Delker said the unit's goal was to have at least one case solved and an indictment issued by the end of the year. And though it took only six months to accomplish that, he said he understands that might not happen every year.
"In some cases, the files are literally huge — 10,000 pages long — and others are an inch thick," he said. "So it's really dependent on what cases we make progress on. It is entirely possible that we work a case to the point of hitting a roadblock and we can't make an arrest. That may take us six months to get there."
And there are undoubtedly other cases on the list that may remain unsolved, Delker said.
"There are certainly, without a doubt, cases on that list that are probably not solvable because the suspects may be deceased," he said. "That doesn't mean that even with those, we won't be able to bring some resolution to those cases if we look into them."
For a list of all the unsolved cases on the Cold Case Unit's list, go to doj.nh.gov/coldcaseunit/index.htm. If you have information about any of those cases or another unsolved murder, you can call 603-271-2663 or send an e-mail to coldcaseunit@dos.nh.gov.
Local cases under review by the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit
Victim: William Dobens
Year of death or disappearance: 2006
City/town: Salem
Status: Suspicious death
Dobens, 55, was found dead in his home at 7 South Policy St. in Salem, on May 5, 2006. An autopsy revealed that he died as a result of a stab wound to the chest. Circumstances surrounding the case indicate that his death was suspicious, although the medical examiner has not yet reached a conclusion about the manner of death.
Victim: Debra Horn
Year of death or disappearance: 1969
City/town: Sandown
Status: Unsolved homicide
Horn was 11 years old when she disappeared from her home in Allenstown on Jan. 29, 1969. Some teenagers found her badly decomposed body in the trunk of an abandoned car in Sandown on Aug. 10, 1969.
Victim: Hai Bo (Paul) Lei
Year of death or disappearance: 1995
City/town: Salem
Status: Unsolved homicide
The body of Lei, 26, of Boston, was found on the side of Hampstead Road in Salem, on March 30, 1995. He was shot several times and strangled.
Victim: John Pond Sr.
Year of death or disappearance: 1990
City/town: Salem
Status: Unsolved homicide
On Sept. 18, 1990, Pond, 26, of Salem, who was wheelchair-bound at the time, was found stabbed to death in his apartment on Arthur Street in Salem (now the site of Pep Boys). His death was ruled a homicide.
Victim: Melodie Stankiewicz
Year of death or disappearance: 1975
City/town: Salem
Status: Unsolved homicide
On June 30, 1975, Stankiewicz, 27, of Cambridge, Mass., was found stabbed to death and floating in Captain's Pond in Salem.
Victim: Henry Travers Jr.
Year of death or disappearance: 1980
City/town: Salem
Status: Unsolved homicide
On Aug. 30, 1980 Travers, 73, of Derry, was working as the night clerk at the Fireside Motel on Route 28 in Salem (now the site of Home Depot). He was found shot to death.
Victim: Unidentified male
Year of death or disappearance: 1969
City/town: Salem
Status: Unsolved homicide
An unidentified white male was found on the side of Interstate 93 between the Pelham Road exit ramp and Rockingham Boulevard in Salem, on Aug. 7, 1969. The victim was shot four times — twice in the head, once in the torso and once in the neck. The victim was between 28 and 40 years old, 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed about 225 pounds. He was in a state of decomposition when he was discovered by a road work crew in a water-filled pit on the side of the road.
Victim: Domingo Valdes
Year of death or disappearance: 1974
City/town: Pelham
Status: Unsolved homicide
The body of Valdes, 44, of Old Middlesex Turnpike Extension in Billerica, Mass., was found along the side of Old Gage Hill Road in Pelham, on June 14, 1974. He was shot to death.
What is a cold case?
The following are the elements of a cold homicide case in New Hampshire:
1. The case involves a homicide (or suspected homicide in which the cause of death is undetermined but is suspected to be homicide or the victim is missing and suspected to be murdered).
2. The case is "unsolved," meaning in general that no one has been charged and convicted for killing the victim. However, a case may not qualify as "unsolved" even though no one has been convicted of the homicide for a number of reasons.
A case is not considered "unsolved" if there is evidence establishing the guilt of the suspect beyond a reasonable doubt (such as a confession, eyewitness identification, DNA, or other forensic evidence) but the suspect could not be brought to trial because he or she died.
A case does not qualify as "unsolved" if there was compelling evidence of guilt but the original suspect was tried and acquitted or could not be prosecuted for technical reasons. For example, a suspect may have been acquitted, or not prosecuted, because the killing was self-defense, or otherwise justified, or a confession or other conclusive evidence of guilt was excluded from the trial.
3. The original investigation did not result in an arrest, and the case remained inactive for more than one year due to a lack of viable or unexplored leads. A cold case may have been reactivated periodically over the course of time because new leads emerged. If the case was dormant for one consecutive year during any period of time prior to Sept. 1, 2009, without any active investigation, the case will be considered a cold case. However, cold cases do not include all cases that have been dormant for more than one year. For example, the suspect may be incarcerated on other charges, and for strategic reasons the police or prosecutors decided not to lodge criminal charges while the suspect was incarcerated.
Source: NH Cold Case Unit
