Since 2020, nearly 30 closed cases have been solved by the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office Cold Case Task Force. Now that federal funding for the task force is winding down, a group of volunteers is gearing up to help the work continue.

The newly established nonprofit Cold Case Project of Monterey County was formed to continue funding technology required for local law enforcement agencies to investigate cases that have long gone cold.

“We understand the really good work that they’re doing and how effective being able to access and avail yourself of the new technology is to these cold cases,” said Ann Kern, board president. “So when we heard that there would be no availability of funds, we literally just put our heads together and said ‘how are we going to keep the good work going?’”

Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni established the task force five years ago as a commitment for the county’s various law enforcement agencies to work to solve cold cases. The force received a $535,000 grant in 2022 from the U.S. Department of Justice to fund critical forensic work including DNA analysis. The three-year grant is now running out with all funding resources exhausted or appropriated.

To continue the work, Kern and an all-volunteer team have come together to fund investigations. The nonprofit is open for donations from an established fund through the Community Foundation for Monterey County and is already accepting requests from local agencies who need help funding their work.

With more than 600 unsolved homicides, 38 long-term missing persons cases, over 50 cases of unidentified remains and dozens of unsolved sexual assaults in Monterey County, those behind the Cold Case Project believe there is still much work to be done and closure to be served.

“These are people who are loved, these are people who had family members, were members of the community,” said Kern.

“People remember, and we want people to realize that we haven’t forgotten either about these loved ones.”

Since the task force was established, 19 cases have been solved and 10 human remains have been identified.

“The only issue is that it’s really prohibitively expensive,” said Kern. The nonprofit’s message to local agencies is simple: “If you’ve got good evidence, let’s not let that cost be the reason why a case doesn’t get solved.”

The lowest private laboratories have quoted agencies is around $7,500 for DNA testing that led to the identification of human remains. The cost to investigate whole cases, which can involve multiple rounds of DNA analysis and genealogy testing can cost upwards of $30,000.

The task force helped solve the case of Anne Pham, a 5-year-old girl kidnapped and murdered while walking to school in 1982. Police working the case found a partial pubic hair on Pham’s clothes but could not properly test its DNA. With the help of modern-day technology and genealogical testing (which cost around $30,000), Pham’s murder was solved 43 years later.

Robert Lanoue, a then 29-year-old Army member stationed at Fort Ord, was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for Pham’s murder.

“It is challenging to put together the pieces of these very intricate puzzles, and the newest technology now is allowing us to breathe life into some of these cases where all the leads had already been run down,” said Kern. The task force also helped identify 69-year-old Jurn Norris as the perpetrator in the 1979 murders of Helga DeShon and Uicha Malgieri, two young women married to men stationed at Fort Ord.

While he was a suspect at the time, DNA testing did not exist and physical evidence was inconclusive, so Norris was never arrested. Even though Norris was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial, the task force’s investigation helped close the nearly 45-year-old cold case and bring closure to the community.

“People seem to be intrigued by cold cases,” said Kern. “They seem to connect with this topic, and we’re hoping to reach people, whatever amount of resources they have, we’re hoping that they will join us in really working toward bringing resolution to these cases in Monterey.”

More information about the Cold Case project can be found at https://www.coldcasesmonterey.org/.