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American Morning

Cops Compare Cold Cases in Annapolis, Maryland

Aired August 14, 2001 - 11:36   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: The Chandra Levy case is just one of hundreds of unsolved missing persons cases across the United States, this one is getting much more profile than any of the others. Officials with dozens of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are gathering today in Annapolis, Maryland. They're comparing their notes on some of these so-called cold cases. Let's get more on this now from our Jeanne Meserve who was there in Annapolis as well.

Jeanne, good morning.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon. The conventional wisdom is that time is the enemy of a police investigation, Witnesses die, memories fade, evidence deteriorates. But around the country, so-called cold case units are making an art of solving some long-dormant cases. One of them is right here in Annapolis, Maryland.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where she died.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is a park bench on the grounds of Maryland Statehouse. She was 19-year-old Anne Bradley, murdered in 1968.

After several years of investigation, the case was labeled inactive.

DAVID CORDLE, MARYLAND STATE ATTORNEY'S OFFICE: All the leads dried up. No more information was coming in. There was not a lot of forensic evidence.

MESERVE: But in 1992, Anne Arundel County formed a special cold case unit. The Bradley file was one of those pulled off the shelf, re-opened and re-examined. And in 1995, the case was solved. Alonzo Henry Johnson Jr. was named as the shooter, 27 years after the murder and 12 years after his own death from a drug overdose.

The passage of time had not made Dave Cordle's search for Anne Bradley's killer more futile, but more fruitful, because a key witness had grown older and perhaps wiser.

CORDLE: He had carried this knowledge for over 25 years of time. He was in his middle 50s by now and he felt it necessary -- he wanted to get the information off of his chest and give it to someone.

On the corner here is where Candy Kitchen was when she went in to get the pizza. She went into the shop. She had a couple of pieces of pizza, and there she...

MESERVE: This week, Dave Cordle retraced the events of 1968 with a couple of Anne Bradley's young relatives. Recounting how she took the rest of her pizza to the nearby bench, was accosted and shot.

CORDLE: She was seated here sitting on this bench. The pizza box was found underneath after she was shot.

MESERVE: Cordle says bringing some peace to Anne Bradley's family has been a great satisfaction, but he is nagged by the photos that hang behind his desk of two other young women slain years ago -- cases still open and still cold.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: And this morning, Dave Cordle got an e-mail from one of Anne Bradley's young relatives. Let me read you a portion of this. It said: "One month after Anne was murdered, I was born. For 27 years that bullet was as much a part of my life as it was part a part of her death. It had the power to do damage long after the gun was fired. When Anne's murder was solved, when the questions were finally answered, that bullet stopped tearing through my family."

That makes it all worth while for Dave Cordle. Back to you.

HARRIS: All right, thank you. Jeanne Meserve reporting live for us there from Annapolis, Maryland.

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