http://www.njherald.com/story/29487385/sussex-county-prosecutors-office-warms-cold-casesSussex County Prosecutor's office warms cold casesPosted: Jul. 6, 2015 11:57 pm Updated: Jul. 10, 2015 12:57 am
By JOE CARLSON
jcarlson@njherald.com
NEWTON -- The job they do is much like that of the former CBS crime procedural television series "Cold Case," find new leads and solve cases that the public may have forgotten about.
But the cold case unit of the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office is different -- it's not a separate unit at all, but consists of detectives working on the office's six unsolved cold cases in between their regular duties.
"No one here is full-time on cold cases," said Chief of Detectives Thomas McCormick. "No one of our size is."
Because the office has other cases to tend to, it is sometimes a challenge to "put the puzzle" together, McCormick said.
"Each case is like a puzzle. The problem with putting the puzzle together is that you can't keep walking away from the puzzle as you are doing it," he said.
The Sussex County Prosecutor's Office consists of nine assistant prosecutors and approximately 20 detectives. It is currently investigating six unsolved homicides, dating back to 1979.
Sussex County First Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Mueller said cases become cold when "every possible lead available to detectives in an active case has been exhausted."
-Edward Baker, 37, of Vernon, in 1979.
-An unidentified woman found in High Point State Park in 1980.
- Joseph Hoffman, 69, of Wantage, in 1989.
-Lisa McBride, 27, of Vernon in 1990.
- Lynette Herring, 24, of Newburgh, N.Y., found in Montague in 1992.
- Baby Jacob Gerard, found at a Vernon church in 1994.
Mueller, though declining to go into details, said the office has made "substantial progress" on all of the cases and that they all remain active investigations.
Since 1978, Mueller said, the office has investigated approximately 60 homicides and none have gone unsolved since 1994.
The 1999 murder of Sussex resident James Coursen went unsolved for 13 years before the prosecutor's office was able to link Jerry L. Vandermark, of Wantage to the killing through eyewitness testimony and jailhouse informants in 2012. Vandermark eventually pleaded guilty to the murder.
McCormick, Mueller and Prosecutor Francis Koch said that as the years pass since the investigations into each homicide began, new technology is created that can help solve the crimes.
McCormick said the prosecutor's office uses several specialty labs to try to tie up loose ends on cases.
"As technology advances further, we are prepared to go further," he said.
But the most important tool they utilize is the public, all three said.
"Please do not assume we know things," Koch said. "There is a great chance you know something that we don't. And if we do know some of it, there is a chance you have details we don't."
"It's surprising to me how much people know but are unwilling to share," McCormick said, adding that someone must have seen the deceased before their deaths, or saw someone dump a body or saw who they were with.
"The smallest bit of information could be the case cracker," he said. "The families deserve closure."
Anyone with information regarding the cases is asked to call the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office at 973-383-1570. Anonymous calls are accepted.
In the coming weeks, the New Jersey Herald will highlight the cases the prosecutor's office are hoping to solve.
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