TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (The News Service of Florida) - Florida's first centralized cold-case database was unveiled Wednesday, containing more than 400 unsolved murder cases dating back to the 1950s.
The site is hosted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and police from across the state are able to upload their cold cases to the site in order to seek justice for families.
The website can be accessed by anyone, including other law enforcement agencies, victims’ families or potential witnesses who have information on a specific case, but never knew where to go or who to talk to.
Ryan Backmann’s father, Clifford, was murdered in Jacksonville in 2009. He says the website could be an important tool to help find a lead in his dad's cold case.
“I was preparing myself that they might not catch the guy that murdered my dad, but I couldn’t prepare myself for the fact that they were going to stop looking," said Backmann. "So, borne through that was the idea that we could do more, and we should do more.”
Law enforcement officers say the centralized database makes it much easier to share information among agencies, while giving the public one specific site to go to if they have information.
To access the database, visit https://web.fdle.state.fl.us/unsolvedcases/public/home.jsf.
