The Restless Sleep:

The Detectives Will Like This Quote

“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” - Leo Tolstoy

They told me pretty much the exact same thing, except they would also add imagination and I would have to agree.

Two Suggestions for the Cold Case Squad

The NYPD might want to recruit one or more detectives with a background in science for the Cold Case Squad, to overcome a general reluctance within the police department to embrace new scientific methods of police work. "Every single crime scene should be examined by a scientist," Dr. Robert Shaler suggests. "ME’s are not forensic scientists. The medical-legal investigators who go out to crime scenes instead of ME’s are not forensic scientists. They are there to certify that it’s an ME case, that the death is a homicide. You need someone who understands all areas of forensic science." Perhaps fewer cases would go cold in the first place. "The American Academy of Forensic Sciences has for the first time accredited crime scene analysis," Shaler told me. "It’s a first step. That means, the people who go to crime scenes have to be accredited as investigators to do this kind of scientific work."

The NYPD may not pay enough to attract scientists to police work, however. You never know. It's interesting work. I wonder if they ever recruit at MIT? Their recruiting ads always target macho men. I'd love to see ads trying to entice brainy men and women (not that people can't be both, of course, and not that they don't already have lots of brainy people, etc., etc., etc.).

The Cold Case Squad could also use more detectives with expertise in information retrieval. The average detective is not completely apprised of all the databases currently available through other arms of law enforcement, government, on the internet, in libraries and privately. They had a couple of guys who were good at this but they retired.

What's the Point?

A number of people believe there should be a statute of limitations for murder. Early in my research, I interviewed attorney Scott Tulman, who in 1988 defended someone named Raymond for the murder of someone else in 1977. "Their lives are disrupted and ruined," he said, speaking about the defendant. "We live our lives, and the person you are today is going to be something very different than the person you were ten years ago, or ten years before that. Assuming that Raymond did that which he was accused of doing, even though he wasn’t found guilty [he accepted a plea], that happened when he would have been seventeen or eighteen years old. When you have someone who is arrested twenty years later, who is now 38 years old, it’s a completely different person. What we do at 18 we don’t do when we’re 28, and things that we do at 28 we may not do when we’re 38. When you have a delayed case over twenty years, the person you are prosecuting is not the same who committed the crime. Raymond was married with two young children, leading a life, employed, and then all of a sudden he’s called to answer for something."

Raymond served five months. This was one of retired Detective Margie Yee's cases. I didn't get to write about her in my book, but she was one of the more intriguing detectives (to me) on the Cold Case Squad. I'd still like to write about her history with the police department. This is from a Times piece about the murder in 1977:

Villa Loretta Home for Wayward Girls

In my book I talk about a young girl who had just gotten out of the Villa Loretta Home for Wayward Girls in Peekskill, NY, where she’d been committed when she was 16, four months after her mother died. Run by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, Villa Loretta was where you went if you were young and in trouble, but not yet prison material, and they wanted to get you on the right path.

The environment was described by a Family Court judge at the time (my late grandfather, as it happens) as “that of a superior private school for 168 girls in a 100-acre campus.” Women who were once committed there say it saved their lives. This girl’s father was drinking by then and living in flophouses, and Villa Loretta was her best option.

I'd like to write about Villa Loretta and other places like it. I looked into it a little, but couldn't find a lot out about it. There's more out there about wayward boys and what happens to them, but less about wayward girls. Just that name, "wayward girls." It sounds like those girls-in-chains movies. Except I was able to find a few former wayward girls, and they described Villa Loretta positively.

If you google "wayward girls" there are a number of former homes out there. Here's a place in Iowa called the "Amos Dues Home for Wayward Girls". Which seems to have a pretty creepy history according to this website. Maybe they all weren't so nice.

Here's another in DC (name unknown).

There's definitely a book here, I think.

A Quote I Like

"Remember, what we are trying to do in this life is to shatter time and bring back the dead." - From A Winter’s Tale, by Mark Helprin.

I was going to put this in the book somewhere, but I never found just the right place. It's from a book I love (but I believe the author is now embarrassed about).

My NPR Story about the Sodder Fire

I forgot to post a link to the story I did about the 1945 Sodder family fire for NPR's All Things Considered.

For an excellent, in-depth account of the story, there's West Virginia Unsolved Murders by George and Melody Bragg. You can order it by calling 304-256-8400.

Newsday Article about Unsolved Murder

A great piece about unsolved murder by Rocco Paranscandola was in Newsday on January 10th. Of course I immediately wrote a letter to the editor explaining the rate at which murders are cleared over time, and how that changes clearance rates.

The police department also told Newsday that in the late 1990's their clearance rates went as high as 90% and that is simply not true. Although I checked and they did have their best year in 1998 (in recent NYPD history), when it was 70.8% (not 92.5%, as claimed). Again, this is not a reflection of the NYPD. This is a national trend and when you look at the national trend for big cities, New York is doing a little better then most.

The Vidocq Society

Fred Martens, the former head of the Pennsylvania Crime Commission, who helped me when I was working on the Sodder story, is a member a crime solving organization called The Vidocq Society, (named for an 18th century french detective).

From their website:

Our Mission & Credo
The Vidocq Society is dedicated to dealing with long-unsolved murders and other major cases. The Vidocq credo is Veritas Veritatum - The Truth of Truths. The Vidocq Society's 82 members (one for every year of Inspector Vidocq's life) come from 17 states and 11 other countries.

Members bring a broad array of forensic and other experience. The Society chooses its cases carefully, working closely with local investigators and prosecutors to help solve a death or homicide and bring perpetrators to justice. All work is done at no cost to victim’s families or law enforcement, pro bono as part of the Society's commitment to public service.

I'm adding The Vidocq Society to my links section and my list of Cold Case Squad and other organizations.

Murder Clearance Rates

Clearance rates don't change all that much, but it's interesting that when the homicide rate in New York was at it's highest, the NYPD was also solving the highest precentage of murders. (1990 was the peak for murder in New York. The murder rate started going down after that.)

And now that the murder rate is so impressively down, so is the clearance rate. I have some theories about this, but it would make a good doctoral thesis for someone at John Jay, I think.

1970’s - The percentage of murders that went unsolved in New York is 37.6%.
1980’s - The percentage of murders that went unsolved in New York is 31.2%.
1990’s - The percentage of murders that went unsolved in New York is 35.2%.
2000’s - The percentage of murders that went unsolved in New York is 40.2%.*

*So far.

Murder in 2005

The homicide total for New York in 2005 is 540. It could change as other deaths last year are investigated, but aside from the 540 deaths that represents, that's a good number. Last year it was 572.

Congratulations New York, for killing each other a little less. Thank you to everyone who made this possible, the NYPD and all the community groups and organizations and individuals who strove to make life better and people less murderous.

Goodbye, 2005. Rest in peace, 540.

UPDATE: I just heard a rumor that we've had four homicides already in 2006.