Inside Cold Case Investigations
Jan. 8, 2004 -- When he began investigating the gruesome slaying of an unidentified girl who became known as "Precious Doe," Sgt. David Bernard initially thought he would be able to find her true identity and her killer within days, perhaps weeks.
However, it has been more than 2½ years since police found the girl's naked body and severed head in a wooded area in Kansas City, Mo. Despite some national coverage and features on America's Most Wanted, Precious Doe's true identity remains a mystery, and there have been no arrests in her slaying.
"The key here is getting an ID on this little girl. That's the main thing," Bernard said. "Without an ID, I can't make any forward progress on this case. When I first got the case, I thought that perhaps the girl is local, from the area, that someone would come forward and we'd have the girl ID'd within days. But more than two years have passed and we still don't know who this little girl is and that makes me think maybe she wasn't from around here.
"The frustrating part is that you think you're just one tip, one clue away and that all it takes is for the right person to come forward," Bernard continued. "With homicide cases, many of the victims tended to put themselves in danger by being involved in drugs, those kind of things. But this was a little girl who could not defend herself. … And that's what keeps me and my team going."
Despite the lack of progress, Precious Doe's slaying is not considered a "cold" case and has not been transferred to the Kansas City Police Department's cold case squad because Bernard and his homicide unit are still receiving tips. But the trail is considered cold in many lesser-known unsolved slayings that have been sent to cold case squads.
The Last Defenders of the Forgotten
Most cold case homicides do not receive national media attention. Cold case investigators consider themselves the last defenders of these often-forgotten murder victims. When the original investigator is no longer on the case, the cold case unit looks at the file with a fresh pair of eyes and searches for clues or potential leads that may have been overlooked.
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