Amateur Sleuths Keep Cold Cases Alive

Internet Sleuths
BBC Radio4

Documentary examining the growing use of the worldwide web by amateur detectives seeking to shed light on cases of murder and missing persons that the police have given up on. Todd Matthews from Tennessee is just one of a network of amateurs trying to help the authorities solve these cold cases.

Announcer: Internet Sleuth's - In the USA it is thought that there are over 100,000 missing persons and at least 6,000 unidentified bodies. With the authorities unable to resource investigations into them all, amateur detectives have turned to web-sites, pod casts, databases, and even e-mail to assist police and medical examiners solve cold cases. This is the story of Internet Sleuths.

Presented by Todd Matthews

--- Typing sounds in background - ding of an incoming e-mail ---

Todd Matthews: Ok - I just got an e-mail from a gentleman in New York...his daughter has been missing for 30 years....

(Introduction): Hi, I'm Todd Matthews. Using the Internet I try to match the missing with the unidentified.

Todd: ...This is a good example. This is the Los Angeles County Coroner site. They have a disclaimer that some of the photos and information might be disturbing to some viewers. This is just exactly like if you walked into a morgue and they pulled out the drawer, throw back the sheet to view a body. That is exactly what you are going to see on the web site. Can you imagine standing there if they pulled back the sheet on your child? This is what you're getting, but you're getting it through the Internet.

--- Police radio and sounds of a busy police station ---

(Introduction): I'm John York, Sheriff of Livingston County, New York.