Anatomy of a Cold Case Murder

by Donna Pendergast

The subject of cold case squads is a hot topic in the criminal justice world. With the popularity of television shows such as Cold Case and other shows of that ilk, the emphasis on solving old cases has taken on new importance in police departments across the country.

Many obstacles hamper homicide cases in the early stages of an investigation. Overworked investigators often have sparse resources, nonexistent support staff and never-ending case loads. This frequently results in circumstances where investigators are forced to move on to another case if a crime is not solved quickly.

Conventional wisdom has always been that the first 48 hours after a crime is the most critical period and that the likelihood of solving a case drops dramatically after 72 hours. While undoubtedly that statement remains true, cold case squads across the county are learning that the passage of time can sometimes benefit their investigations as well.

Cold case units attempt to breathe new life into old cases using all the technology and resources currently available. Cold case units scrutinize their cases, going over each one with a fine-tooth comb in an effort to determine if something was overlooked or if circumstances have changed.

Investigators in a cold case unit are usually relieved of other investigative duties so that they are freed up to pursue leads that have long laid dormant. Fundamental to the success of a cold case unit is investigators who have the ability to give the case the intense sort of scrutiny which is only possible when they are freed up from the rigors of running from case to case.

Over the course of my career I've worked with several different types of cold case units. The type of cold case squad operating in any specific jurisdiction varies based on need and available resources. Cold case units can take a number of forms from a single investigator who investigates a single case to dedicated teams who do nothing but look at a number of older cases from start to finish. I've also worked with a dedicated task force team who did nothing but focus on a single case for nearly for two and a half years. The efforts of that team resulted in the murder convictions of six individuals after nearly three decades.

The teams that I have worked with as well as other cold case teams from across the country have found that while the passage of time usually hurts an investigation in some cases it can be be to their advantage. As a case sits dormant on a shelf a number of things can happen. Relationships, friendships, and alliances can change and formerly uncooperative witnesses may become more willing to speak or provide information that they have not provided in the past.

On the other side of the equation the passage of time allows for perpetrators to become cocky or complacent. After a period of time perpetrators may, and often do, speak or brag about their crimes confident that they have gotten away with their misdeeds. Booze and drugs can fuel statements about a perpetrator's past criminal activity.

Other factors can change with the passage of time as well. Witnesses may have matured or may now need help with the criminal justice system making them more approachable and more likely to speak to investigators. Advances in technology and changes in the law can also benefit investigators working on cold case squads.

But all the time and technology in the world won't solve a cold case without the right personnel behind it. This isn't a squad for rookies. In most jurisdictions only the most talented and experienced investigators and prosecutors work cold cases.

Investigators need experience on the streets.They need to know how to locate witnesses and then gain their trust. They also have to understand the nuances of difficult litigation and be prepared to overcome the practical difficulties of bringing a case to trial.

Prosecutors need to be involved with the investigations from the start of the investigation and have the opportunity to attempt to flesh out areas of potential jury concern. They need to understand that the age of the case alone is going to subject the case to more rigorous scrutiny than a current case. Prosecutors need to interact with, direct, and scrutinize the investigations to make sure that potential jury questions and considerations are addressed as well as is possible. Prosecutors also need to be very experienced, trial savvy, and prepared to try the most difficult of cases.

The reality of a cold case squad is not nearly as glamorous as what people watch on TV, and unlike TV, these cases are not solved in an hour. However, cold case squads across the country are proving every day that what might have once appeared to be the perfect crime can now be successfully investigated and prosecuted as well. For that we all can be grateful.

Statements made in this post are my own and are not intended to reflect the views, opinions, or position of the Michigan Attorney General or the Michigan Department of Attorney General.

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There's No Such Thing as "Closure"

by Kelly Siegler

There are those moments that scar your soul when you have been a prosecutor for as long as I have. Those moments when it is your job to tell a mother and a dad who have lost their baby what to expect from the real criminal justice system, a system that is a far cry from what they imagine it to be.

Parents who have lost a child expect that somehow this archaic thing we call the criminal justice system will in some way make things better or right or just. And somehow that defendant who has taken their baby away from them in an unimaginably brutal way will not only be held accountable but also be punished as he or she should be by twelve members of our society.

Can you imagine the bottomless pain that a parent endures when they have learned that their child has been murdered? As many times as I have met with and counseled with parents suffering through that agony--and told them that we are there to do all that we can to make sure that the defendant is convicted and punished justly—I have also had that "other" conversation with them.

You see, in our world, the world of a prosecutor who handles such cases (as I have, far too many times), we also talk about the fact that as parents, they shouldn't put their lives on hold waiting for a defendant to be charged or arrested . . . or waiting for a trial to commence . . . or waiting for an appeal to be exhausted or even waiting for an execution to happen. I tell them that too many other parents, who have walked in their steps and truly do know their pain, have told me the truth.

The truth. The truth is that there is no such thing as "closure."

Sure, you hear it all of the time. You hear that closure is what we should be seeking on behalf of victims everywhere. You hear experts and psychologists and even law enforcement officials all over the country talking about closure as if it is some "state of mind" that we can help a mommy and a daddy, who have learned they will never see their baby again, obtain.

But when you ask those same victims if any of that—the arrest, the conviction, the sentencing, the execution—ever truly helped them gain "closure," you know what they all say? They all say no. They all say there is no such thing. They all say they are glad that phase of the process of the criminal justice system is complete. They all say thank you, and then they go back to having to figure out how to get up again the next morning and live another day in a world that no longer has the same color and light and joy in it that it did "before."

I remember the day I met a lady named Pat Kiesewetter. She came to my office so that we could discuss the case and the investigation and the upcoming trial of Richard Walter Holtje, the man charged with murdering her 16-month-old son, Samuel, in 1975. Pat is a shy lady, tall and slender, with red hair, who will tell you that she has never been the same since her baby was drowned in a scalding bathtub more than thirty years ago.

She told me about how she came to know the man who drowned her little boy, how they met each other at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and became involved. She told me about the evening she left for her night class and came back to find her baby on life support in a hospital--and about kissing him goodbye before he was taken off of life support.

As she told me the story that day—and as she told the jury and the Judge the story during the later trial—we could not all help but be affected. To listen to Pat talk about losing her baby boy and then the added pain and anguish she dealt with as years went by, more than twenty-five years, before the man responsible was charged with murder, you couldn't help but be touched.

But what scarred my soul in hearing Pat's story was when she told me this. She talked about the day there was a knock on her apartment door. When she opened it, there were two men standing there, who introduced themselves as Detectives Roger Wedgeworth and Harry Fikaris (pictured left and right, respectively) with the Harris County Sheriff's Cold Case Squad. They told her they were there to talk to her because they had re-opened the investigation into the murder of her baby.

Pat told them—and she later told me and then the jury—that in that moment of disbelief, she began to cry and tremble. Because she had long ago given up on anyone but herself caring about what happened to little Sam. Because she had lost all hope in law enforcement and in the criminal justice system. Because she blamed herself for what happened to Samuel and because she had long ago lost all interest in living.

I made sure Pat Kiesewetter got to say all of that out loud, to a courtroom full of people, to the world, and to the man who was responsible. Not only for taking little Sam's life, but for taking hers too.

Does Pat have closure today? She gave up on that a long time ago.

KELLY SIEGLER has worked as a prosecutor for Harris County, Texas for the past 21 years. She has handled approximately 150 jury trials including 19 death penalty cases. Her cases have been written about in four true-crime books and her trials have been featured on Court TV and CBS's "48 Hours." Kelly has tried 15 cold cases to juries with many of those defendants now on Death Row.

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