MIAMI, Fla. – Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the launch of a new Statewide Prosecution Cold Case Task Force in Miami, targeting more than 21,000 unsolved murders.
He shared that there are nearly 900 cases of unidentified human remains, and approximately 2,500 unsolved missing persons cases dating back to 1965.
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“Every one of these cases represents a situation where a victim likely had family members and friends that had to suffer and go through the torment every day — many of these cases for decades — wondering what happened,” Uthmeier said.
At the center of the initiative is a partnership with Othram, a private forensic company specializing in advanced DNA analysis. According to the Attorney General, the technology can extract usable genetic material from decades-old evidence — clothing, hair strands, and other biological material — and trace family trees to connect that evidence to potential perpetrators, even when no suspect or database match exists.
Through the new task force, Uthmeier said his office is sending a clear message to law enforcement agencies and prosecutors across the state.
“We’re here to help. If you have cold cases and you want to take advantage of some new analysis and technology, we’re here to work with Othram and their new skill sets and new tools to hopefully answer questions and close some of these cases,” Uthmeier said.
“It doesn’t matter if it was yesterday, 10 years ago, or 40 years ago — we will prosecute to the fullest,” he said. “Just because a case is cold, that does not mean it’s forgotten. Time does not erase the need for justice, and it does not erase our duty to pursue it. Florida families and victims deserve answers, and we’re not going to let time be a shield for criminals.”
Ryan Backmann, founder and executive director of Project Cold Case, shared his views as the son of an unsolved murder victim himself.
“The voicemail was from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. They were telling me there had been an emergency. Minutes later, an unmarked car with two plainclothes detectives pulled up to my house. They informed me that my father, Cliff Backmann, had been robbed, shot, and killed earlier that day. This case remains unsolved,” Backmann said.
Backmann said during the press conference that the grief carried by families of cold case victims is unlike any other. “A cold case is not a file, a number, or an episode on television,” he said. “It’s an empty chair at the dining room table. It’s tears instead of celebration. An open wound that never fully closes.”