LAPD Cracks Cold Cases With Science, Grit - Miller-McCune
In 10 years, the cold case unit has solved the murders of 92 men, women, and children killed between 1960 and 2005. Sixty-seven of those cases were solved using DNA. The unit has arrested seven different serial killers, collectively believed to be responsible for at least 40 murders. To Lambkin, that proves that cold case work is not merely about providing families with closure. “What that unit’s doing is preventing future rapes and saving lives. There aren’t many other things in the budget that have the ability to do that. I guarantee there are people walking around Los Angeles right now who would be dead if it weren’t for the work of the cold case unit.”
The unit’s most recent arrest was of Jose Hernandez, a suspect in the Sept. 26, 1995, murder of Amilcar Saravia in the Mid-Wilshire district of the city. Hernandez is one of 18 homicide suspects arrested by the LAPD’s cold case unit who are currently awaiting trial.