Middlesex DA Launches New Cold Case Unit

MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MA — Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan announced the launch of her office's new Cold Case Unit Monday. Ryan hired a prosecutor to lead the team, which will focus exclusively on solving the county's oldest and most challenging cases. The unit will take on unsolved homicides, suspicious deaths where foul play is suspected and missing persons cases.

"I know the enormous hole the loss of a loved one leaves in the life of a family, and I’m determined to do everything I can for every family who has waited years for answers," Ryan said in a statement. "This is a new and aggressive approach to examining our unsolved cases. The Chief of our new unit will be working over the next few months to build a team of specially trained and experienced homicide detectives from the State Police and from each city and town in Middlesex County to review every unsolved homicide case over the last 50 years."

Prosecutors in this unit will re-examine existing evidence and use the latest investigative techniques and technology, according to the DA's office. The office recently solved the 50-year-old murder of Harvard graduate student Jane Britton through the use of improved DNA testing measures. The office also determined that no further investigative steps could be taken in the disappearance of Joan Risch, a Lincoln woman who went missing from her home in October 1961.

When the Cold Case Unit concludes that no further measures can be taken, a copy of the file is made available to the family.

Attorney Dave Solet, a Harvard Law School graduate and former Middlesex County prosecutor, will oversee the Cold Case Unit. Solet has also trained police and prosecutors in a wide variety of topics including search warrants, digital evidence and the law of weapons. He recently served as chief legal counsel at the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) where he oversaw the secretariat’s legal and legislative affairs. He is a member and former co-chair of the Boston Bar Association’s Criminal Law Steering Committee, and serves as a First Lieutenant in the Judge Advocate General Corps, United States Army Reserve.

Collaboration with the community will also be a primary focus of the unit, recognizing that the public plays a critical role in moving unsolved investigations forward, according to the DA's office. If members of the public believe that they have information about any unsolved homicides they are encouraged to contact the Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office at 781-867-6600.