On Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Investigator Mike Irwin’s desk, papers are stacked neatly in a configuration only he understands.
One is the Buddy Phelps’ pile. A few stacks over is the Jewel Summerlin Melvin case.
He and other investigators handle cold cases in addition to their regular duties.
“The wheels are turning 24/7,” Irwin said.
Today’s prosecutors want physical evidence, which can be difficult to provide in older cases, Irwin said. Standards in preserving evidence and working a crime scene have changed since many of the cases began.
Time is not usually on a cold case investigator’s side, Irwin said. As years go on, witnesses and suspects die or move. Relationships change. Even when investigators find informants, convincing them to speak poses a whole new set of issues.
“A lot of times it isn’t the information they provide,” he said. “It’s the information they don’t provide.”
There’s a method to who you interview, when, how often and what you let on. Almost all cold cases are a “mind game,” Irwin said.
People are desensitized to violence, he said. Unless it happens to them, people don’t get involved. The victims’ families are one of the reasons he works cold cases.
“You get emotionally involved when you talk to the families,” Irwin said. “It becomes a goal to get them solved.”
HOW TO HELP: Anyone with information on local crimes and cold cases is asked to call the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office at 651-7400 or Emerald Coast Crime Stoppers at 850-863-TIPS.