The Overland Park Police Department is hoping the public can help solve its cold homicide cases.
That was the impetus behind the department launching a new page on its website last month that is dedicated to these cold cases, including some that are over 50 years old.
The idea to start the webpage originated from department detectives who had seen other departments solve their cold cases by sharing information about them with the community, said Officer John Lacy, spokesperson for the Overland Park Police.
“We feel that we can probably resurrect some of these old cases. Somebody may know something,” Lacy said. “We want closure for the family and also closure for our investigation.”
What does the cold case page share?
- Each entry shows a photo of the victim, gives their demographic information and provides details about their case.
- It also shares where the incident occurred and on what date.
- Half of the cases on the homicide cold case page stem from murders in the 1970s.
- It includes the killings of Dana Whisler in 1973, Lester Martin in 1976, Anthony Payne and David Dvorsak in 1977, Atley Lewis in 1984, Antonio Harris in 1986, Raymon Thomas in 2013 and Quaushey Harris in 2015.
- Find out more about their cases here.
Overland Park Police has a cold case team
In addition to the new webpage, the department has team of detectives dedicating to investigating cold cases. The cases themselves are homicides that occurred in city limits between 1973 and 2015.
These cases are what the department is hoping to “get some information on,” Lacy said, and the hope is that putting them back out into the public could help with that.
“You never know, something can jog their memory, maybe they know something,” he said. “We’re trying to get any type of lead that can give us a result — an arrest or maybe we can track down a suspect.”
“Time is not on our side”
That being said, Lacy says time is an enemy in these cases.
“We know that time is ticking, time is not on our side,” he said, adding that some of the original detectives who worked on the oldest of these cold cases have died.
However, Lacy said the victims’ loved ones as well as potential witnesses who know what happened to them are still living.
Science and technology have also advanced since many of these killings occurred, opening the door to new avenues that were unavailable in the 1970s and 1980s, Police Chief Doreen Jokerst noted during this week’s Overland Park City Council Public Safety Committee meeting.
“We are trying very diligently to bring people to justice,” she said, adding that the victims “will never be forgotten as we continue to work these cases.”
With all that in mind, Lacy said anyone who thinks they know something about any of these cases should call the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers TIPS hotline at 816-474-8477. Or they can contact the Overland Park Police directly to communicate with the detective working the individual cold cases.
“We’re hoping that somebody knows something. We want these victims to have justice,” he said.
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