Cold Justice - General Discussion

[Whimsy]

Editor's Note:  This topic replaces the old Cold Justice forum which has been vaulted at the location below:  http://forums.previously.tv/forum/516-cold-justice-v/

 

Here's your topic to discuss the new season. 

[Whimsy]

I watched the first episode.  Here's the thing.  I don't like Kelly.  I mean, I REALLY don't like her.  But, I always feel so much for the families of the victims.  I only watch for them.  And, I like to see the local police. 

[Galloway Cave]

That female detective on the first episode kicked all kinds of ass. I'm glad they spent a lot of time on her and Steve. I don't mind Kelly all that much but it appears that they are minimizing her more this season. It will be interesting to see if this carries through the season. It was a great case to start with this season.

[KHenry14]

I really liked this episode. Lots of circumstantial evidence to make this case, yet they were able to make it work. I'm betting this dude cuts a deal.

[Galloway Cave]

JohnnyBonds! With a goatee! Swoooooon.......

Another good episode and investigation. Goes to show how the interview is so critical. The case went cold because of the statement of one guy, who turned out to have been a meth-head who didn't actually see her face at the gas station. I just hope Curtis is willing to show them where her body is.

[sskrill]

I like Kelly, but I also miss Yolanda. 

[Coffeewinewater]

As much as I think her husband killed her. I have a hard time seeing how they will prove it. Dina had taken off in the past.  There was no evidence of him killing her. 

So sad for those kids. I can't imagine the pain her family/friends  felt  knowing Curtis did it and seeing walk around town. . 

[sskrill]

18 minutes ago, Coffeewinewater said:

As much as I think her husband killed her. I have a hard time seeing how they will prove it. 

And when all your witnesses are drug addicts.

[Enigma X]

I like Yolanda more than Kelly and really miss Yolanda. The show is not the same for me.

[KHenry14]

But the most recent show shows why Yolanda only helps on some of the shows. There was no crime scene for her to analyze. So she would be just another person in the show. If I was her I wouldn't like that.

 

Cissy's first husband saying that Shoemake told him he'd kill her and hide the body was the key testimony in the case. If you are on the jury and here that...you are almost all the way to a conviction. Plus the alibi witness is toast, so I wonder if they will put up any kind of defense?

[atlantaloves]

Oh man, he is so guilty, I hope they hang him. Just so happy they got results with this case. Hey what part of Texas is Houston County in. I grew up in Texas (the city of Houston, which is Harris County) and I have no idea where they were. 

[attica]

7 hours ago, atlantaloves said:

Hey what part of Texas is Houston County in.

Southeast of Dallas, 'bout halfway to Houston. 

I too thought the case was on the thin side, but TX being a super pro-conviction state, I suppose there's a chance that Curtis will go down for it.

JOHNNYBONDS! Wheeeee! I am a teeny bit tempted to commit a crime, just so Johnnybonds would interrogate me.

Are cowboy hats part of the uniform there? Or is it just a precious affectation? And why TF are those men wearing their hats inside? Ugh.

[Galloway Cave]

3 hours ago, attica said:

Are cowboy hats part of the uniform there? Or is it just a precious affectation?

Cowboy hats are part of the uniform for some of our agencies in Arizona too. Fortunately not for the agency I worked for (except for the color guard).

Edited August 20, 2018 by Galloway Cave

[atlantaloves]

Well, it is really stupid...but hey, it's Texas. Better than trucker hats I guess. They gotta hide those bald spots. (yeah, I said it)

[Galloway Cave]

Well, even though cowboy hats weren't mandatory for my agency, we were allowed to wear them if we wanted. Some of the guys did. Then again, we were game wardens so it wasn't too out of line! Me, I stuck with a baseball cap if I had to wear a hat. Tried not to.

Looks like they are continuing with playing down Kelly's role in the show and letting the local detectives and the Sideman Detective of the week take the leads. More Johnny!Bonds please!

[Lovecat]

On 8/20/2018 at 9:25 AM, attica said:

Are cowboy hats part of the uniform there? Or is it just a precious affectation? And why TF are those men wearing their hats inside? Ugh.

I turned to hubs and said, "Those must be the Good Guys...they're wearing white hats!" but then later there was a sketchy character that was also wearing a white hat, and my head almost exploded.

[Soobs]

5 hours ago, Lovecat said:

I turned to hubs and said, "Those must be the Good Guys...they're wearing white hats!" but then later there was a sketchy character that was also wearing a white hat, and my head almost exploded.

I only lived in Texas for a few years but I did notice that the men would wear white hats in the summer and black hats in the winter.

I like Kelly but I also miss Yolanda. Did she just get sick of doing the show?

Thought this case was a little thin as well. Sometimes when that happens they get the guy to make a deal for a couple of years with time served. I just binge watched the season that's on Netflix and that seemed like a common solution to decades old, circumstantial cases.

[Josette]

On 8/21/2018 at 1:13 PM, Soobs said:

I also miss Yolanda. Did she just get sick of doing the show?

 She wanted to spend more time at home and with her grandchildren.

[KHenry14]

3 hours ago, Josette said:

 She wanted to spend more time at home and with her grandchildren.

And to be honest, they haven't needed a crime scene investigator very often. Meaning she'd just be along for the ride in a lot of cases, like the last episode.

[mythoughtis]

9 hours ago, KHenry14 said:

And to be honest, they haven't needed a crime scene investigator very often. Meaning she'd just be along for the ride in a lot of cases, like the last episode.

The last couple seasons they haven’t. When Yolanda was on, it seemed like most cases has crime scenes and forensic material.  That was the original premise... help small police departments get and afford forensic testing, etc. 

Now it seems like they just review the case, re-interview suspects and witnesses, then point to a suspect and say ’he must have done it’. All things the police department could  do on their own. 

Edited August 25, 2018 by mythoughtis

[LuvMyShows]

I believe the recent episode is one of the very few (or only one?) where it was concluded that no crime took place.  It made for a nice change of pace.

[atlantaloves]

Yeah I actually enjoyed this recent one, the poor guy just died an accidental death. Whew. 

[AngelinaMaria]

I wasn't convinced entirely that it wasn't murder somehow by the uncle and friend.  The brain damage sure provided an out to not remembering the event.  It sounds like the friend had a hard life (I should say lived a rough life) with the hammer attack and being hit by a car all in one year.  Sad that the deceased's mother thought her son was clean from drugs yet it appeared they were very deep into them.

Edited August 31, 2018 by AngelinaMaria

[LuvMyShows]

On 8/31/2018 at 12:11 PM, AngelinaMaria said:

I wasn't convinced entirely that it wasn't murder somehow by the uncle and friend.  The brain damage sure provided an out to not remembering the event.  It sounds like the friend had a hard life (I should say lived a rough life) with the hammer attack and being hit by a car all in one year.  Sad that the deceased's mother thought her son was clean from drugs yet it appeared they were very deep into them.

Yeah, I still had lingering doubt too.  What they completely didn't seem to explore, was the concept that one or both of the guys had forcibly held the son under the water to make him drown.  Since the son was so wasted, it probably wouldn't have been too hard for the two of them to do that.  It wouldn't have left any marks, consistent with the evidence.  And I definitely believe that the one guy's marks all over his face were scrape marks from the rocks, like he said, but those could have been from when he was trying to get back up the rocks after the murder. 

The one thing they never explained is why all that stuff was left behind.  If they weren't in a hurry, why didn't they take the few minutes more to gather up their stuff?  It's also possible that they saw the son drown and did nothing cause they thought he was playing around (seems very consistent with being wasted), panicked (thus the scrape marks cause he was trying to go too fast to get up the rocks), and left their stuff cause they were in a hurry.

[atlantaloves]

What do you guys think of the latest episode, I think the girlfriend totally DID IT. 

[Galloway Cave]

2 hours ago, atlantaloves said:

I think the girlfriend totally DID IT. 

Yes. She is changing her story now and the cell phone pings show she was heading that direction sooner than she originally said she was. Plus witness statements cast her as shady. Too bad she shut down The Sonic Interview (Kelly- Let's do this again!). I think she was digging herself in deeper and deeper. It is going to be one of the tougher circumstantial cases to prosecute but the fact that Wongo lives so far out of town and she was there should help the case.

[mythoughtis]

I think she did it. One thing I would have liked them to address was the angle the bullet took going in. That usually tells them the height of the shooter vs the victim. With the caveat that one could be sitting vs standing, etc.  it is suspicious that she was on her way so much sooner than when she said she got there. There’s not much else she was probably doing on the way that time of morning  since  it’s so far out of town 

[Soobs]

Regarding the Wango murder it seems like a classic domestic violence "if I can't have you no one can" type of thing. Girlfriend definitely did it. I can't imaging what the family has gone through. Not just worrying about running into her around town but thinking their family member did it. I hope they get her but she seems like a pretty savvy manipulator.

[LuvMyShows]

I felt bad for that other guy in the love triangle (Brian?), with his family thinking he did it and him being estranged from them.  Maybe now that he's cleared, there can be healing in the family.

By the way, are there any other true crime forums?  This is the only one I've found -- I haven't seen any for the Investigation Discovery shows.

[KHenry14]

Cell phone records, its always cell phone records that catches them.

[hoosiermom]

4 hours ago, LuvMyShows said:

I felt bad for that other guy in the love triangle (Brian?), with his family thinking he did it and him being estranged from them.  Maybe now that he's cleared, there can be healing in the family.

By the way, are there any other true crime forums?  This is the only one I've found -- I haven't seen any for the Investigation Discovery shows.

If you go to genre talk, there is a true crime category and that is where we discuss the ID channel shows! Can’t wait to see you there!

[Sile]

My DVR took a dive while Kelly was telling the family and went straight to the production splash page.  Did they say anything else about the case?  Was the gf arrested and indicted?  I'm assuming that she wouldn't take a plea on something so circumstantial.  I was thinking that they would have at least attempted to find out where she could have gotten the weapon and what she did with it afterward before they took the case to the DA.

[LuvMyShows]

2 hours ago, Sile said:

My DVR took a dive while Kelly was telling the family and went straight to the production splash page.  Did they say anything else about the case?  Was the gf arrested and indicted?  I'm assuming that she wouldn't take a plea on something so circumstantial.  I was thinking that they would have at least attempted to find out where she could have gotten the weapon and what she did with it afterward before they took the case to the DA.

IIRC, all they said was that the DA agreed to take it to a grand jury...no further update.

[tobeannounced]

10 hours ago, KHenry14 said:

Cell phone records, its always cell phone records that catches them.

I didn't understand why the cell phone records were just coming to light now. Wouldn't the police have checked all that originally?

[Galloway Cave]

3 hours ago, tobeannounced said:

I didn't understand why the cell phone records were just coming to light now. Wouldn't the police have checked all that originally?

The technology to read the pings wasn't available back then. That is the problem with all these cold cases. They went cold, and stayed cold for several reasons. They didn't have the technology for blood, cell phone, wound weapons, tire tracks, shoe prints and advanced finger/palm/toe print analysis back then. As these advances were made in technology and analysis, the small town/county law enforcement agencies just didn't have the budgets to go back and pay for the cold case investigations. A lot of them still don't have the money to send their officers to advance officer training in those fields (including Interview and Interrogation), so they aren't as strong in their investigations. When they call in Cold Justice, the show pays for the analysis of the old evidence and that is why they finally move forward, plus the show detectives are excellent with their interview techniques. It really is an art and there are many, many classes that one takes to get to the level of a Johnny!Bonds. He may look and talk all folksy, but there is a method to his interrogation. Finally, old witnesses really do open up about the case after a bit of time and maturity. [Me-retired LE and instructor in Interview and Interrogation ;) ]

Edited September 3, 2018 by Galloway Cave

[LuvMyShows]

Oh man...just watched the Preacher's Mother episode.  That preacher son is definitely guilty, but I don't think they'll ever uncover enough evidence to charge him.  Her brother was shook up at the end...I felt so bad for him, and for their family, not having gotten together again after that Thanksgiving from the day before she died.

[LuvMyShows]

Looked like a very good case in the No Safe Return episode.  Nice to see the son is planning to return to his old life.  I hope the DA ends up taking the case, and wish we could get updates without having to look it up constantly on our own.

[Galloway Cave]

I'm a little surprised at the original case officers not getting a hit on the fingerprint on the car seat adjuster, and not checking into Don's work bank account for the vendor pay offs. Asking the vendors how he paid (check or cash) was also a missed opportunity during the original investigation. I can understand not having the money to pay for the separation of fingerprints on the money bands, but the other stuff is just basic investigation.

I didn't hear any of the detectives ask Andy if he had ever driven George's car. Did I miss that or was it just not asked in any video we were shown? I do think they have a good case for the DA now.

[atlantaloves]

oh yeah, that was a good case, but why in the hell did those killers leave the bank bands...that was really stupid. 

[AngelinaMaria]

On 9/14/2018 at 5:19 PM, LuvMyShows said:

Oh man...just watched the Preacher's Mother episode.  That preacher son is definitely guilty, but I don't think they'll ever uncover enough evidence to charge him.  Her brother was shook up at the end...I felt so bad for him, and for their family, not having gotten together again after that Thanksgiving from the day before she died.

Wasn't that so sad.  The look on the brother's face at the end when he realized that it seems pretty definite that his brother is guilty.  The pain, sadness and confusion that flashed across his face was so sad to see.

[hoosiermom]

2 hours ago, Galloway Cave said:

I'm a little surprised at the original case officers not getting a hit on the fingerprint on the car seat adjuster, and not checking into Don's work bank account for the vendor pay offs. Asking the vendors how he paid (check or cash) was also a missed opportunity during the original investigation. I can understand not having the money to pay for the separation of fingerprints on the money bands, but the other stuff is just basic investigation.

I didn't hear any of the detectives ask Andy if he had ever driven George's car. Did I miss that or was it just not asked in any video we were shown? I do think they have a good case for the DA now.

All of this. I was wondering about those things too plus the cell phone records. Maybe those original case officers were just very inexperienced in working murder investigations but all those things seemed like criminal law 101 to me. Of course,I am a true crime junkie lol.

[LuvMyShows]

4 hours ago, hoosiermom said:

All of this. I was wondering about those things too plus the cell phone records. Maybe those original case officers were just very inexperienced in working murder investigations but all those things seemed like criminal law 101 to me. Of course,I am a true crime junkie lol.

The only thing I can come up with to explain how they missed so much is that because there was no body, they didn't really do a murder investigation...and since as we know from watching these shows, adults are presumed to have the 'right' to walk away from their life and disappear, then they might not have done much of a missing person investigation either (and his biker-ness might have been a negative factor in their opinion).

[bounnatalie]

I was wondering about DNA testing. Forgive me for a basic question, but is it so expensive that some of these smaller towns don't send things out for testing?

[Galloway Cave]

Slab City! I have been there and it really is a cool place. And yes, you can just disappear into it forever. Hopefully Dustin will crawl out and get arrested. Yet again, another case that just wasn't adequately investigated from the start. And lack of funds wasn't even an excuse this time.

5 hours ago, bounnatalie said:

I was wondering about DNA testing. Forgive me for a basic question, but is it so expensive that some of these smaller towns don't send things out for testing?

Depending on the kind of testing that is needed, it can be too expensive for towns or counties that have limited budgets.

[Soobs]

On 9/23/2018 at 4:24 PM, Galloway Cave said:

Slab City! I have been there and it really is a cool place. And yes, you can just disappear into it forever. Hopefully Dustin will crawl out and get arrested. Yet again, another case that just wasn't adequately investigated from the start. And lack of funds wasn't even an excuse this time.

Depending on the kind of testing that is needed, it can be too expensive for towns or counties that have limited budgets.

Whew, I've been there too and it's a relief to know that I'm not as sketchy as Kelly made me feel! We stopped there on the way to Salvation Mountain. Slab City is like a folk art campground although it attracts a certain fringe element, I suppose. We saw mostly aging hippy types like the guy they talked to.

Edited September 26, 2018 by Soobs

[Galloway Cave]

11 minutes ago, Soobs said:

Slab City is like a folk art campground although it attracts a certain fringe element, I suppose.

It was also featured in the movie "Into the Wild".

[Josette]

On 9/23/2018 at 4:24 PM, Galloway Cave said:

Slab City! I have been there and it really is a cool place. And yes, you can just disappear into it forever. Hopefully Dustin will crawl out and get arrested

 He turned himself in according to the update.

[LuvMyShows]

12 hours ago, Josette said:

 He turned himself in according to the update.

What update?

[LuvMyShows]

The Slab City episode case evidence seemed very, very thin to me...I was surprised that the DA took it.  The love triangle one seemed on firmer ground.  But I was surprised no one thought to do a pregnancy test on the body earlier...first thing I thought of when they said she was shot in the stomach, and the love triangle was mentioned, was that someone shot her there on purpose because of a baby.

[Sile]

2 hours ago, LuvMyShows said:

What update?

I didn't see an update on the original airing, but my dvr caught the last of the repeat before this week's new episode and it said that he'd turned himself in and was currently in custody.