The Eugene Police Department’s Cold Case Squad has a new webpage, and wants the public to help resolve homicide and missing persons cases that have been suspended due to lack of leads or resources.
Don Burkhalter is a retired police officer who volunteers with the squad. He said the public plays an important role. “Many of the cases have witnesses who saw something but may not have reported it, because they didn’t deem it significant, or they didn’t think it was relevant to the case," he said. "But in fact, even information that you may not think is relevant to the case, it may be relevant to us in combination with the facts that we otherwise have.”
Burkhalter said the four-person, volunteer unit was created in 2010 and reports to Violent Crimes detectives. They’ve solved five cases to date, and he said as a result five families had some resolution.
There are multiple ways to contact investigators, including an anonymous tip line. The Eugene Police Department is open to information learned from social media sites, and adds that tips reported to Crime Stoppers of Oregon may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,500.
