This month marks two years since the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department launched its first ever cold case unit.
It’s the only one of its kind in the entire Kansas City area.
In a span of two years, KCKPD reviewed more than 50 cold cases.
They’ve identified suspects in 12 of them and they’ve been able to clear five of them for a suspect to be arrested and charged.
KSHB 41 heard from the families of Sameemah Mussawir and Dion Estell in September . These cases are moving forward more than 25 years later.
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“These families need closure,” said Khadijah Hardaway, co-founder of Justice for Wyandotte.
Before the cold case unit came to be, it bothered Hardaway that cases like Sameemah’s just sat.
“Seeing her name on the list — Sameemah was murdered and found on my birthday,” Hardaway said.
KCK detectives are focusing on clearing up these cases of the past and their case load isn’t light.
“We had somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 something cases when we went back about 50 years,” KCK Police Chief Karl Oakman said.