Detroit police cold cases revisited by Wayne State students

Well, cold cases soon thawing out, a collaboration that could actually solve murders. Detroit police detectives and college students in it together. Fox 2's Jessica Dupnik joins us live in studio with an exclusive look inside this very unique program. Jess. Yeah, Ruth, these are cold cases that some cases have gone unsolved for decades. This is a partnership between Detroit police and Wayne State University. Now, they're not replacing detectives. They're working in conjunction. Take a look. Three days before Christmas 2014, 16-year-old Paige Stalker was murdered on Detroit's east side in a widely covered quadruple shooting. A friend in Grosse Pointe called and said your daughter is at the hospital and she was shot. The case went cold alongside in the filing cabinet with the Detroit Police Cold Case Unit the murder of Wayne State University student Casey Willis. She died on her mom's birthday in 2020. I called her and I said come home. Yeah. And she said, I'm on my way, Mommy. And she never came. I remember both cases. And it haunts our homicide detectives when it's just lingering out there. There are some people who are literally still holding their breath. Since their family member was murdered a partnership to breathe life into those two cases Detroit police joining forces with Wayne State University's criminology and criminal justice program enlisting the help of students to reexamine cold cases. They're not replacing detectives. They're helping the detectives out, but it could be something that they see that we missed fresh young eyes first digitizing the case files to make it easier for detectives. It's led by assistant professor Dr. Toysia Collins, whose Ph.D. dissertation was on closure rates for cold cases. It is, in fact, cathartic for me because it gives me an opportunity to give some families something that is very important for them to have. At the end of it all, students will present their findings to investigators with the hope of new leads. Dr. Collins hand-selecting students Ruby, Jelena, and Becca to pioneer the program January 2027. The program is showing that even when you don't think there's progress on cases, there is something happening behind the scenes. So Chief Dodd-Bettison, he tells me that cold cases are a priority for his team. Since he took over, he has increased that unit by 75% in terms of personnel, and of course, this new partnership with Wayne State. It's pretty cool. That is incredible, and to actually see that these Wayne State students are not only working on really, really important cases, but one of them that involves a Wayne State Student. Yeah, that's it. Casey Willis. I mean, imagine these families getting the call, hey, we know your case has been sitting dormant. It's gone cold. We're gonna reignite it with fresh eyes, and it's these young people with all their knowledge about technology that's really gonna advance these cases for the detectives. The future leader is making a difference today already with Detroit police. All right, thank you, Jessica Dupnack.