ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office was recently awarded a Solving Cold Cases with DNA grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The grant provides funding for DNA processing, comparison, and will also supply detectives and crime scene technicians with critical equipment and training as it pertains to DNA identification and collection.
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Detectives said they recognized a need for future funding in the field of DNA evidence stemming from a lengthy investigation into a missing 25-year-old woman dating back to March 2000. The victim's body was found eight years later, and a 30-year-old man was convicted of her murder.
Detectives said they began pursuing the grant opportunity through the National Institute of Justice that was awarded this year. The grant provides funding of more than $200,000.
A majority of the funding will allow for DNA processing through private laboratories, according to the Sheriff's Office. It will also equip the Sheriff's Office evidence building with a state-of-the-art DNA processing room.
The Sheriff's Office Robbery/Homicide Unit has identified more than 30 unsolved cases of missing or slain victims that occurred over the past three decades. Since the inception of the Cold Case initiative, Sheriff's Office detectives, in partnership with the state attorney's office Homicide Investigative Unit, said they have cleared five previously unresolved homicides.
"With assistance from this grant, it is my hope that our investigators can give closure to the families and friends of murder victims of these older cases," Sheriff David Shoar said. "Earlier this week, we began submissions of DNA evidence in other unsolved homicide cases thanks to this grant."
By comparison, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said it received $500,000 in grant funding to help with more than 200 unsolved cases.