ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. — It’s been five years and Allegheny County have upwards of 90 open homicide cases.
“We are never going to stop working them if we can solve them all, that’s always the goal,” said Inspector Jason Binder.
County Police have a full plate, but never once are they forgetting the victims. That’s where two moms come into play.
“The community does not have healthy relationships with the detectives which keeps these cases open,” said Cathy Welsh, who lost her son to gun violence.
Five years of on the ground work has built a relationship between police and the Greater Valley Coalition leading to a launch of a new social media campaign.
“Any little step is a good step to point to the right direction,” said Barbie Sampson, who lost her daughter to gun violence.
On the first of each month, County Police will post any evidence or pieces of an open case to its social media pages with information. The goal is to garner new leads from the public starting with the cases older than a year and going back through the stack by date.
“We certainly haven’t forgotten about them and our detectives will continue to work until there is no information left, all those cases remain open and we do everything to get them from unsolved to solved,” Binder said.
The first case launches this Saturday June 1 with the homicide death of Malik Sanders. A family Welsh and Sampson have grown to love through their support groups in the Mon Valley.
“To know one of our families was going to be remembered that’s the whole purpose of our work to make sure the people that we lost are not forgotten, it was kind of a sign we are supposed to be doing this,” Welsh said.
Welsh knows it could be years before her 16 year old son get’s his moment on the page, but she knows any opportunity is one step closer to justice.
“I can’t wait for that day, I speak about my son’s case all the time and I think just knowing that he will get a chance to be on that platform one day is enough for me,” Welsh said.
County Police do encourage anyone who has information on any of these cases to reach out to their tip line and just have a conversation. As the years pass, these moms said it’s never too late to speak up for justice.
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