Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Law Enforcement Agencies Compare Notes on Unsolved Cases

Aired August 14, 2001 - 09:31   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: More than 100 federal, state and local law enforcement enforcement agencies are gathering today in Annapolis, Maryland to compare their notes on so-called "cold case" investigations. This hour, we take a look at some of the toughest unsolved murder investigations out there right now.

Our Jeanne Meserve is in Annapolis now. She's got the very latest.

Good morning, Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, they call them cold case. They're cases that have been put on the shelf because there are no new witnesses, no new information, no new evidence. There are certainly thousands of them across the nation.

A few years ago, a movement started to re-open and re-examine some of those cases and it has had unexpected success.

When it comes to federal law enforcement agencies, one of the leaders has been the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. It has solved 33 of these crimes in seven years

With me here is Jim Grebas, who heads up the cold case unit.

One would think when it comes to investigating crimes that time would work against you, that evidence would deteriorate, that memories would fade. Is that not always the case?

JIM GREBAS, NAVAL COLD CASE UNIT: Well, not in our case. Time is our ally, it gives us time to methodically to go through the cases, reactivate them and focus on our suspects.

MESERVE: You were telling me about one particular case, a 1992 murder which led to Operation Jambalaya. Fill us in on that.

GREBAS: Well, that correct. In '92 a young lady was killed and it was investigated, and literally the leads ran out, so the case went cold. Looking at that case, using that time, we were able to develop an undercover operation, and we targeted the individual who's responsible for that murder, and we obtained a confession surreptitiously, and ultimately we got a conviction.

MESERVE: It was interesting to me that psychology played such a large part in your solving that particular case.

GREBAS: Absolutely. In each one of these cases we sit down and we actually go through each interview, we analyze what's going on, and everything is carefully planned out, every step.

MESERVE: What you find in some of these cases is that time has changed relationships, don't you? That someone who might have protected a murderer 10 years ago might no longer be involved with them and might be willing to talk to you?

GREBAS: And that's the difficult part in these investigations, is getting those reluctant witness or former spouses to now cooperate. We have to ensure their safety, number one, and that's where the strategy comes in and the planning of attacking these cases.

MESERVE: A lot of interest now in particular in these cases because of the Chandra Levy case. Do many murders simply go unsolved, despite the best efforts of units like your own?

GREBAS: Well, law enforcement today and the NCIS and the Navy, we're committing to solving these cases. But unfortunately, there are cases that are very, very difficult to resolve, especially people who just vanish in thin air without a trace of evidence. So, yes, some of them do go unsolved.

MESERVE: Jim Grebas, thanks so much for joining us.

And amongst those speaking at that conference here today are victim advocates and also family members who have pushed police department to re-open the investigation of the murder of someone in their family. We'll be talking about that a little bit more.

But now, Leon, Daryn, back to you.

HARRIS: Thanks, Jeanne.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com