Maine State Police are distributing decks of playing cards featuring unsolved homicides to nearly 1,000 residents in state correctional facilities in an effort to generate new leads.
Each of the 52 playing cards has a photo of the victim and known details of the crime.
Detective Corporal Mike Chavez says prisoners are in a position to have knowledge about those cases and playing cards can elicit memories.
"You're talking about a population in the state of Maine that doesn't have general access on a regular basis to social media, news, newspapers on a regular basis," Chavez said. "So these cards will hopefully be a fresh reminder of those cases."
Chavez says investigators are hopeful that the strategy will work here.
"How we would consider closing a case in Maine is if we have arrested somebody and brought them through the criminal justice process," he said. "Or if we have enough information and evidence against the person that we would be comfortable taking the case to grand jury."
Chavez says Florida and Connecticut have had the most success with the cold case cards and that at least 15 states are now using them. Thirty-five cases have reportedly been solved using intelligence gathered from prisoners.
Maine has 69 unsolved homicides and 38 suspicious missing person cases. Chavez says it's important that the public know these cases are still open and being investigated.
