Meghan McCloskey: “It was super bowl Sunday in 2001. The Ravens were playing the Giants, and 18-year-old Jill-Lyn Euto wasn’t answering her mom’s calls. The next day, her mom showed up at her apartment and saw that her daughter had been stabbed to death. Euto’s old apartment building is at 600 James Street, and it’s on a pretty busy road. Over 20 years later, there’s a large security camera facing the front door. There’s a sign on that same door that says “no trespassing,” and police still don’t know who Euto’s killer is. Euto’s mom Joanne Browning spent years trying to raise awareness for her daughter’s case, but she died without answers at University Hospital in 2007. Boni Driskill is also the mother of a cold case victim. Her daughter Lacy Ferguson was murdered, and her case went cold too. Driskill says she met Browning when they were both searching for their daughters’ killers.”
Boni Driskill: “Yes, yes, yes! I loved that woman. She worked so hard trying to get her daughter’s case solved, and I don’t even know if it’s solved to this day.”
Meghan McCloskey: “The stories are similar, but Driskill’s has a happier ending. After 13 years of searching for him, police found the man who killed Ferguson. Driskill says it’s a huge relief to have him behind bars.”
Boni Driskill: “The fact that I know that he’s locked up, and he can’t do this to others is what makes me feel better.”
Meghan McCloskey: “Just because a case goes cold does not mean that detectives have stopped searching for answers. Trooper Jack Keller with the New York State Police says murder cases will never close because the statute of limitations will never end.”
Jack Keller: “Some of the cold cases that were deemed cold from years ago, with the incoming technology, DNA analysis, those cases can also be forwarded on to see if DNA would be able to assist us in making a closure in that case.”
Meghan McCloskey: “There are other organizations that are determined to solve cold cases. The College of Saint Rose, just East of Syracuse, has a cold case analysis center. Forensic students apply what they’ve learned in class, and they work with police to investigate old cases. Program director Dr. Christina Lane says it’s an incredibly long process to solve a case.”
Dr. Christina Lane: “With cold cases, you have to view it as a very slow burn. We’re not gonna come in and say ‘hey, we’re gonna solve it.’ That’s not our perspective. Our perspective is where are here to help.”
Meghan McCloskey: “Driskill says it could be frustrating to work with detectives because she couldn’t get all of the information they had.”
Boni Driskill: “And basically, like one detective I had for a couple of years, one week he would tell me, ‘oh we’re working on something, but we can’t tell you.’ Then the next week you ask him ‘did you work on that? You know, like get that done,’ and they’re like, ‘huh? What?'”
Meghan McCloskey: “The night he killed her, Ferguson’s murderer killed two other people. He is now serving 61 years plus life, plus life. Even though he’s behind bars, Driskill says it’s impossible to find closure.”
Boni Driskill: “Closure is not a real word in this department. I’ll help you out. When you tell a family ‘oh did you get closure?’ No, you don’t get closure. It’s not there because the person doesn’t come back.”
Meghan McCloskey: “Driskill says she is hopeful that new DNA technology will help more families find answers.”
Boni Driskill: “My heart’s with all these people who are still fighting. I know what it’s like, and like the Euto case, it would be great if someone would come forward. I’d like to think they have some DNA evidence because it was a stabbing, maybe they might be able to go back on that.”
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – It was Super Bowl Sunday in 2001, and 18-year-old Jill-Lyn Euto wasn’t answering her mom’s calls. The next day Joanne Browning went to check on her daughter at her apartment on 600 James St. when she found Euto’s body. Her daughter had been stabbed to death, and over 20 years later, police still don’t know who did it.
There are 80 cold cases in the city of Syracuse that police can’t solve. Most of these cases are seemingly random shootings. Trooper Jack Keller with the New York State Police said murders and homicides aren’t considered closed cases until they are solved because the statute of limitations never ends.
Euto’s case is still open, but Browning will never find out what really happened to her daughter. She died without answers at University Hospital in 2007.
Boni Driskill is the mother of another cold case victim. Her daughter, Lacy Ferguson, was murdered, and her case went cold for 13 years. Driskill met Browning when they were both raising awareness of their daughters’ cases, and she said she loved Browning.
“I loved her,” Driskill said. “She worked so hard trying to get her daughter’s case solved, and I don’t even know if it’s solved to this day.”
Driskill’s story has a better ending. After 13 years, police finally found the man who killed Ferguson. He is serving 61 years and two additional life sentences. Driskill says having him behind bars is a huge relief.
“The fact that I know that he’s locked up, and he can’t do this to others is what makes me feel better,” she said.
Ferguson’s story is just one example of a cold case eventually getting solved. Keller said that police will regularly look back at old cases to see if there is new information available or if advancing DNA technology could be helpful.
There are other resources determined to solve cold cases. The Cold Case Justice Initiative at Syracuse University focuses on racially motivated cold cases. The College of Saint Rose has a Cold Case Analysis Center that lets students apply what they learn in forensics and criminal justice classes.
Christina Lane, the program director, said that their biggest goal is to help police by giving them the necessary information and tips; this way, police save time investigating and they can get right to the hands-on work.
Lane said that it’s an incredibly long process to close a cold case.
“With cold cases, you have to view it as a very slow burn,” said Lane, who holds a Ph.D. from the University at Albany. “We’re not gonna come in and say ‘hey, we’re gonna solve it.’ That’s not our perspective. Our perspective is [that] we are here to help.”
Even though her daughter’s case was closed, Driskill said she’ll never find closure.
“Closure is not a real word in this department… When you tell a family ‘Oh did you get closure?’ No, you don’t get closure,” she said. “It’s not there because the person doesn’t come back.”
Driskill said she thinks there is still hope for the Euto case. She hopes someone looks into any DNA that may have been collected on the scene.
“My heart’s with all these people who are still fighting,” she said. “I know what it’s like.”
