PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody wants to aggressively pursue cold cases throughout the state.
That's why Moody has announced the creation of Florida's Cold Case Investigations Unit to assist law enforcement with unsolved homicides.
Moody made the announcement Thursday outside the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's Florida headquarters in Palm Beach Gardens.
She was joined by Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and "America's Most Wanted" co-host Callahan Walsh with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"These types of cases are the most difficult to solve," Moody said. "Oftentimes you have witness issues after many years. You have problems tracking down evidence. Sometimes evidence over the years, sometimes even decades, it's hard to match witnesses with evidence. Sometimes we don't have evidence in cold cases."
The new unit, comprised of experienced prosecutors and investigators, is housed under the Office of Statewide Prosecution.
"We are already seeing progress," Moody said of the recent prosecution in the 2010 death of a 16-year-old boy in Alachua County.
Moody praised the efforts of Bradshaw for being at the forefront of technology.
"The families of these victims, they want two things," Bradshaw said. "They want justice and they want closure, and that's what we try to give them, no matter how old the case is."
Bradshaw called the genealogy tracing of DNA a "game-changer" when it comes to cold cases. He credited the DNA tracing for helping to solve two Palm Beach County cold cases – the clown killer in Wellington and the death of "Baby June." Those crimes, he said, "probably would have not have been solved had it not been for that tracing."
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"I come from a family of tragedy," Walsh said, referencing the 1981 kidnapping and death of his brother Adam in South Florida.
He said it took "27 long years" to get justice for Adam.
"We know that the not knowing is the hardest part, and there are countless families out there who are still seeking justice, many years beyond the 27 that it took to get justice for Adam's case," Walsh said.