Hillsborough County focusing on new ways to crack cold cases

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Leaders in Hillsborough County are exploring new methods to close cold cases.

Blake Patel is the cold case investigation supervisor for the Hillsborough County medical examiner. He says they have the remains of 50 unidentified people, 43 men and 7 women.

“They are born into this world, they were given a name; sometimes even before they were born they’re provided a name. Then, unfortunately, passed away without anyone knowing their identity,” Patel explained.

Most of the unidentified remains and evidence related to the cases are kept in bins at the medical examiner’s office. Some of the cases date back to 1973.

According to Patel, the office is beginning to use genetic genealogy to solve some of the cases. The technology allows investigators to look at a broader family tree, it’s more likely to produce a lead than traditional DNA testing.

The county is also reaching out to Latin American countries about the cases. They believe about half of the unidentified remains belong to immigrants.

Patel says they’ve had success connecting families with their loved ones remains using the method. “The family in Colombia broke down in tears once they finally got his remains, that was extremely touching to see,” he said. “It was moving to see that we were at least able to provide answers to this family that were missing this person since the 1990s.”

Workers at the medical examiner’s office hope the new steps will refresh homicide cases and bring new leads. Individuals that have already submitted their DNA to a database can upload their profile to a system to further help the county’s efforts.

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