Cold Case Squad formed by Hall sheriff

GAINESVILLE- Hall County Sheriff Steve Cronic has formed a Cold Case Squad to try to solve old murder cases.

Sheriff Cronic says there are seven homicides the squad is taking a look at - cases where the investigation has "hit a wall."

"You run out of leads, you run out of witnesses to interview and the case grows cold," Sheriff Cronic said.

"And, of course," he added, "with workloads and diffeent things, sometimes the resources have to shift to other areas."

The squad consists of three fulltime and one part-time investigator - with a combined 100+ years of investigative experience.

Maj. Wayne Mock says looking at old cases is like two people reading the same book and drawing different conclusions.

"...it's the same thing on an investigation," Maj. Mock said. "The investigator who looks at it takes it out. So, we're going to draw these leads out and are just going to run them out until we get to the end of it."

The squad, in place since February 1, has already developed some new leads in two of the seven cases it is invesgating.

Both Sheriff Cronic and Maj. Mock said Hall County's declining homicide rate has enabled them to create the Cold Case Squad and that the special unit will be able to respond to any new murders as a team.

Cronic said the "face" of murder in Hall County is changing, making it more difficult to solve some homicides. Whereas it was once mostly domestic-related, cases where the killer and his or her victim or victims know each other, it now is likely to be drug- and/or gang-related or related to some other type crime.