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CNN Live At Daybreak

Look at Group of People Who've Committed Themselves to Solving Cold Cases

Aired August 09, 2002 - 05:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We all know that unfortunately the good guys don't always get the bad guys. But there is a group of people who've committed themselves to solving what are called cold cases.
CNN's Jason Carroll explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twelve years ago, someone broke into Lisa Story's (ph) home in Cape Coral, Florida. The murderer killed Story and the 11-year-old she was babysitting, Robin Cornell. It was a savage crime. Both victims were sexually assaulted. Robin's mother found their bodies.

JAN CORNELL, MOTHER OF VICTIM: It's a kind of undescribable kind of pain, the loss that we all have for Robin.

CARROLL: For years, Jan Cornell worked with Detective Charlie Garrett (ph) to find the killer. But all leads led nowhere. So Cornell suggested they get outside help from a special group.

CHARLIE GARRETT: Maybe they'll see something that we missed.

CARROLL: These are the people who would try to find what may have been missed.

DR. RICHARD WALTERS, VIDOC SOCIETY MEMBER: I'm a psychologist.

CARROLL (on camera): Specializing in?

WALTERS: Basically in extreme violent crime.

CARROLL (voice-over): Dr. Richard Walters will join an artist...

FRANK BENDER, FORENSIC ARTIST: Well, I like my art to serve another type of purpose.

CARROLL: ... who specializes in reconstructing the dead.

BENDER: The face part is missing.

CARROLL: They're part of a hodgepodge of forensic experts who call themselves the Vidoc Society, sleuths with a knack for solving old murder cases.

BENDER: We do it because of the passion we have for teamwork.

CARROLL: Frank Bender, Walter and others formed the Society 12 years ago, and named it after Eugene Vidoc, an 18th century French detective.

WALTERS: This group is an odd combination of experts.

CARROLL: Need a physiologist? They've got one. A bloodstain analyst? You bet. There are 82 members, one for each year of Vidoc's life. Membership by invite only.

(on camera): From this you were able to come up with that?

BENDER: Right. That led to this.

CARROLL (voice-over): Most recently, Vidoc used Bender's talents to solve the 1986 murder of Laurian Weaver (ph). Her skeletal remains found on an upstate New York farm. A convicted serial killer on trial for the crime.

BENDER: I mean it's quite a responsibility because our team are the last people to represent the dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone had taken those photographs and placed them on the ironing board.

CARROLL: Typically, a Vidoc case begins with a Q&A session. Detective Garrett on the unsolved Cape Coral case.

GARRETT: Did you do a canvass of the neighborhood?

CARROLL: All cases are pro bono. Local law agencies must be involved and often welcome the assistance.

(on camera): Do you see any areas in there where perhaps Vidoc might be able to help out?

WALTERS: Oh, to be sure. Oh, yes.

CARROLL: Oh, you do?

WALTERS: Oh, yes.

CARROLL (voice-over): A lead in the case, a set of keys left at the murder scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know whose keys these are.

CARROLL: Finally, for Jan Cornell there's a chance for justice.

CORNELL: I will look for this person until I die. But it never occurred to me to stop or to give up or to not fight if anybody else wanted to give up because we will find out who hurt them.

CARROLL: Vidoc, closing cases and bringing closure to people's lives. Jason Carroll, CNN, Philadelphia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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