New Trine University Cold Case Unit launched in partnership with Fort Wayne Police Department

Trine University launched its Cold Case Unit in partnership with the Fort Wayne Police Department to give students the opportunity to assist investigators as they sift through cold cases. The program is new this semester and is the first of its kind in the state of Indiana.

According to an article on Trine University’s website, Erica Hutton, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of criminal justice and the director of the Cold Case Unit. She is quoted as saying of the partnership and what it entails, “We are proud to pioneer this initiative and endorse the police practitioner relationship with our students. There are so many benefits to this program, and we are grateful to the Fort Wayne Police Department for partnering with us. It gives our students the opportunity to work alongside seasoned law enforcement officials and not only learn but implement criminal investigative techniques. And it gives victims’ families, some of whom have been waiting for decades, the opportunity to find closure and justice.”

The Cold Case Unit is made up of five Trine University students who will be taking a look at cold cases with the FWPD’s homicide division. The cases that the Cold Case Unit will be working on have new evidence, and students will be helping look into the evidence in an attempt to further the case. The students who are partaking in the program this year are Psychology major Taylor Colvin, Forensic Science, Biology and Chemistry major Akilah Guthrie, Criminal Justice major Gracie Schoof, Criminal Justice major Blake Roose, and Computer Science and Information Technology major Nathaniel Bradshaw.

FWPD Detective Brian Martin said of the partnership, “Another set of eyes on any unsolved investigation can be advantageous in many ways. Younger populations have different skills within the digital realm and that knowledge can be supportive and meaningful for us to consider.”

The aforementioned student participants will be just that: another set of eyes on the evidence. They will be cataloging and documenting evidence in each case and will be aiming to be able to help the detectives make progress on their cases.

Chief of the FWPD Scott Claudill said, “This is a mutually beneficial partnership: the students get to work alongside some of the best, experienced, homicide detectives and we get a Cold Case Unit of highly motivated, intelligent students to comb through cases from an entirely different perspective.”

This Cold Case Unit program is intended to be run every year, with students from any major able to apply to take part each year. It is modeled after the Cold Case Unit at Western Michigan University, which has been running since 2020. Students in Western’s Cold Case Unit have worked on 28 cases since it began, and two of those cases have been solved.

Guthrie explained her motivation to become involved with the Cold Case Unit. She said, “I joined the Cold Case Unit to apply and advance my knowledge in forensics, especially in regard to criminal activity. I am eager to showcase my skills and further my career opportunities upon graduation. I am interested in the practitioner skills that investigators employ to tackle complex crime scene investigations and hope to gain insight in this endeavor.”

For more information about Trine University, visit the school’s website.