MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – A program at Northern Michigan University is giving students real-world experience while helping law enforcement bring resolution to decades-old cases.
The NMU Cold Case Program, started in 2022 in partnership with the Michigan State Police, allows students to review unsolved crimes from across the Upper Peninsula. Students recently contributed to a breakthrough in a 39-year-old kidnapping and sexual assault case in Delta County.
“It’s an amazing opportunity for our students in the Criminal Justice Program, as well as other students here on campus,” said Christopher McMaster, coordinator of the Cold Case Program. “It really benefits them tremendously. It’s experiential learning. They’re able to analyze cold cases that the State Police assigns to our program, and this is really making a big difference.”
The Delta County case, first investigated in 1986, had gone cold for nearly four decades before students uncovered new leads during the fall 2023 semester. McMaster said that work provided an investigative lead that helped MSP confirm a suspect through forensic genealogy.
“That was a tremendous victory for our program, for the State Police, for the victim in that case, to help solve that case that had been going on for 40 years, unsolved,” McMaster said.
Students in the program analyze case files, digitize old documents, and develop investigative leads for MSP to pursue.
“One of the important things we do is we spend a lot of time physically reviewing all of the case material, whether it’s reading the initial report, banking records, personal history, things like that,” said Tucker Havel, a junior criminal justice major and teaching assistant. “We also spend a lot of time digitizing the files, making it easier for investigators down the line to access that information.”
Havel said the work is rewarding because it can directly impact cases that have gone unsolved for decades.
“One of the things that I find most valuable to myself is making a positive impact on a case,” Havel said. “Having that first breakthrough is hopefully one of many. It’s rewarding for us, knowing that we came in here and that people in this program have done something to move this case down the field and getting justice for people who really deserve it.”
Since its launch, the Cold Case Program has analyzed nine cases from the Upper Peninsula. McMaster said every case produces dozens of potential leads, and MSP determines which are actionable.
Program leaders expect the partnership to continue providing valuable educational opportunities for students while giving law enforcement new ways to pursue justice in long-unsolved crimes.
