OSBI Creates Cold Case Unit

Staff and Wire Reports

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation announced the creation of a new cold case unit.

The unit will be funded with an 18-month grant from the National Institute of Justice worth about $500,000. Agent in Charge Gary Perkinson said two new people will be hired as investigators go through about 400 cold case files dating to the early 1970s.

"This is something the OSBI has wanted and needed for years," Perkinson said.

The initial focus of the unit will be on determining which of those cold cases has DNA evidence for a suspect profile, which is a requirement of the federal grant, OSBI Spokeswoman Jessica Brown said.

"If we don't' have a suspect, then we put that DNA profile into the CODIS database, and we can match it against thousands, if not hundreds of thousand  DNA profiles," Brown said.

After the grant expires, Perkinson said the OSBI hopes to have it renewed or to receive state money to continue the cold case unit's work.

The OSBI is the lead investigative agency for several unsolved homicides in Oklahoma, including the June 2008 shooting deaths of two young girls near Weleetka. A $160,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest in that case.