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Cold Case Unit

The Buffalo Police Cold Case Unit specializes in investigating old, unsolved crimes. The four person investigative unit was re-instituted by Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson in March of 2006. Since then the Buffalo Police Cold Case Squad has been instrumental in solving a number of high profile cases including the Bike Path Rapist case and an arrest in the 1993 murder of South Buffalo native Joan Giambra.

A case has gone "cold" when investigators determine that all potential leads have "dried up". Detectives usually re-open a "cold case" based on the following reasons:

• New evidence has come to light;
• The victim's physical remains have been discovered;
• A witness has decided to come forward.

Here are a number of "cold cases" that detectives are currently working on:

Victim: Stephanie Barner
Age: 13
Black Female
Date of Homicide: 10-16-73
Place of Occurrence: 361 Langfield
Cold Case Homicide # 73-1285
Case Description: 13 year old victim found by her mother, murdered in their apartment.

Victim: Dorris Boyd
Black Female
Date of Homicide: 12-28-86
Place of Occurrence: 2779 Main Street
Cold Case Homicide # 86-2201
Case Description: Victim found shot to death in her own apartment building

Victim: Timothy Bryant
Black Male
Date of Homicide: 2-15-96
Place of Occurrence: Fillmore Avenue and
Woeppel St.
Cold Case Homicide # 96-024
Case Description: Young victim found shot to death outside of a store

Victim: Hector Melendez
Hispanic Male
Date of Homicide: 8-12-98
Place of Occurrence: 354 Koons Avenue
Cold Case Homicide # 98-146
Case Description: Victim shot to death. He was last seen in the company of two unidentified females.

Victim: Carol Burkett
White Female
Date of Homicide: 1-15-04
Place of Occurrence: 53 Danforth Street
Cold Case Homicide # 04-010
Case Description: Victim found in the snow along the side the road. Victim died of blunt force trauma.

Victim:  Jane "Gramma" Doe
Date of Discovery: 9-26-95
Case Description: Victim found floating in the water off of Squaw Island in September of 1995. This still unidentified white female was 60-to-70 years of age. She was a white female with gray hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a trench type coat with a butterfly pin on it and new sneakers when she was found.

If you have information on these cold cases or any other cold cases please call the Buffalo Police Cold Case Squad at (716)851-4511 or email us at tips@bpdny.org. The Buffalo Police Cold Case Squad is made up of four members; Detective Charles Aronica, Detective Dennis Delano, Detective Mary Gugliuzza and Detective Lisa Redmond.