Florida’s top prosecutor, State Attorney General Ashley Moody, has come up with an innovative approach to solving cold cases in the state. She plans to distribute 5,000 decks of cards inside jails and prisons that feature photos and information about unsolved crimes, including homicides and missing-persons cases. Moody hopes that these playing cards will jog memories and lead to fresh leads in these dormant cases.
According to Moody, sometimes stalled investigations can be revitalized by simple tips rather than high-tech forensics. The goal of this initiative is to bring finality to seemingly unbreakable cases by generating tips from inmates who may have crucial information.
The decks of cards will be distributed to prisoners at 60 county jails and 145 facilities managed by the state Corrections Department. Moody’s office will be working with various organizations, including the Florida Association of Crime Stoppers, Florida Sheriffs Association, the state’s Corrections Department, and Season of Justice, a nonprofit group dedicated to keeping cold cases warm.
Similar strategies have been successful in other states like Connecticut and South Carolina, where cold cases were solved through the distribution of playing cards to inmates. In Florida, informants who provide tips that result in arrests can receive $9,500 jackpots while maintaining their anonymity.
One example of the success of this program is the case of Ingrid Lugo, whose murder was solved after an inmate identified Bryan Curry as her killer from a deck of cold case playing cards. Curry had strangled Lugo to death after she called off their engagement. Another arrest was made in the 2004 murder of retiree James Foote after an inmate saw a playing card that summarized the killing.
The rate at which homicides are being solved in the U.S. has declined over the past five decades, making initiatives like this crucial in bringing closure to families and loved ones of victims. Moody’s new state cold case investigations unit aims to address some of Florida’s most haunting cold case homicides and generate leads that will help solve them.
By distributing playing cards with information on homicide victims and missing persons to inmates, law enforcement agencies hope to continue solving unsolved crimes and providing justice for victims and their families. This low-tech approach to generating tips may prove to be an ace up the sleeve in solving long-standing cases.