Second Deck Of New Hampshire Cold Case Playing Cards Hopes To Aid In Solving Crimes

CONCORD, NH — A second deck of playing cards, highlighting unsolved murders and missing person cases in New Hampshire, is in the works, according to an organizer of the popular project.

The New Hampshire Cold Case Cards were first released about three years ago by Taryn Davidson, in conjunction with Season of Justice and The Deck Podcast, which offered grant money to states and organizations to publish playing cards to circulate amongst the public and with incarcerated criminals, to educate people about the cases. Several cases have been solved based on the production of the cards in other states, which led to a national effort to promote the idea.

“So many (states) have already solved cases because of the (decks),” she said. “In Florida, the first case that was solved was a group of guys in prison playing Go Fish. And that’s how one of those cases was solved because of those playing cards.”

More than 25 states are involved in the effort.

Davidson said she heard a notice during the Deck Podcast encouraging other states to get involved and decided to create one for New Hampshire. She applied for a Season of Justice grant. The org also does DNA analysis, she said. After landing the grant, a screen printer published 250 decks for $1,500.

Find out more information about the New Hampshire Cold Case Cards at nhcoldcases on Instagram.

After they were created, there was a push to get them into the hands of the incarcerated. The thinking was many prisoners play cards, and if they look at some of the cases while playing cards, they might realize information or be swayed to talk about cases they know about. The program’s success in other states has come from prisoners playing cards.

However, later, some agencies balked at the idea of sharing the cards, and the effort was put on hold — something that shocked Davidson. She said pushback was over family concerns, but her experience has been the opposite.

“There were just so many people who wanted to buy these cards,” she said. “‘How do I help you with producing more cards? Is my family member who got killed on the cards? I would love to get more information out there.’ They were very much so, ‘We want to get these out… how do we get these out there?’”

Davidson said, now that there are dozens of new cases in New Hampshire, it was time to reinstitute the effort to circulate the cards in jails and prisons, and publish the new deck. After the cards are circulated, she will accept donations for the remaining decks and then begin the new one.

“(It’s) just an incredible avenue where these families can have some type of maybe hope brought back into their life that, ‘OK, they're not forgotten.’ We're still talking about them. We're still trying to get answers. That’s my biggest thing: I want them to know we’re still trying.”

Only one of the cold cases featured in the first deck of cards has been solved, according to Davidson, the Laura Kempton case. It was resolved in July 2023. The Portsmouth woman, who was 23 at the time, was killed in 1981 after being struck in the head with a blunt object, during an attempted rape. “Forensic genetic genealogy technology,” according to the state justice department, recovered from Kempton, was later linked to a couple whose only offspring was Ronney James Lee, who died in 2005 due to cocaine poisoning. Lee was known to police on the Seacoast and had a lengthy criminal history, including burglary and sexual assault in the 1980s, and stints in jail and prison. His blood sample was preserved after he died by the state of New Hampshire.

Davidson said she believed manpower issues at the state prevented cases from being cleared, solved, or even publicized more efficiently than they are now. She said the effort, too, was not publicizing secret or undocumented information that might harm the status of investigations. Davidson called the desire to put the kibosh on sharing available information anywhere and everywhere as frustrating.

While the state budget has not been finalized, the attorney general’s office, too, is facing budget cuts, meaning the need to have everyone and anyone helping to move cases forward, especially members of the press and interested volunteers, with more information, not less, was more critical now than ever before. Davidson said the initial reaction from the publicity about the first deck was so overwhelming, it was clear a second one had to be created.

In the second deck, Davidson said she will add the Maura Murray case, a well-known and publicized missing person incident in the North Country with a lot of investigations and speculation. Because of that publicity, Murray was kept out of the first deck.

“When I started doing the deck, her case was so known and so out there, that I wanted to give these other cases more of a chance,” she said. “It’s so sad.”

Other cases will be updated with new information and may lead to more than a second deck. Davidson, right now, is doing more research on all the new cases during the past few years to ensure the most up-to-date information is published on the new set of cards. She is also curious about the speculation of a serial killer or killers in the New England area due to so many missing person cases in the region and new bodies being discovered.

“What better time than to bring something like this back out?,” she asked. ”Because, really, I think it would make a huge difference. And if not … what if we only sell one (deck)? That's okay.”

The first round of cards was paid for via a grant. Davidson will raise money for the second deck and probably subsequent decks, although she may also apply for another grant. After getting them into jails and prisons, some people have suggested the remainder could be raffled off to raise money, something she is considering.

“We are the voice of the voiceless,” Davidson said. “And that’s kinda how I see it.

Anyone interested in assisting in the effort can reach Davidson via the Instagram site, nhcoldcases.

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