Making
Guns Down,
People Boogie
Old-time
musician returns
to Oregon
See Metro, page 11
Mikes Up
Concert to
unite hip-hop
community
See Metro, page 11
Established ¡n 1970
Read back issues of the Portland Observer at www.portlandobserver.com
‘City 0/Roses’
Volume XXXXI, Number 32
Wednesday • August 10, 2011
Committed to Cultural Diversity
‘We Don’t
Give Up’
Search for justice never
ends for cold case murders
by M indy C ooper
T he P ortland O bserver
Throughout the Portland area there are approximately 300 unsolved
murders dating back to the 1960s.
While many deem these homicides an eternal mystery, the Portland Police
Cold Case Unit never gives up on the work to bring justice to the families and
victims who have been searching for the answers of what happened to their
loved ones for many years.
The Cold Case Unit, comprised of a police sergeant, three detectives, and
several law enforcement retirees, was created in 2004 to ensure that on-going
efforts would be made to solve every murder.
A homicide investigation becomes a cold case after two-years without new
evidence or if the original detective working on a murder case is no longer part
of the police bureau’s Hot Squad or homicide detail.
According to Sgt. Paul Weatheroy, a law enforcement officer in charge of
the cold case unit and a Portland police officer for 25 years, the most difficult
murder investigations are the cold cases.
“They are cold for a reason,’’ he said. “These are the cases that need the
Portland Police Sgt. Paul Weatheroy, the officer in charge of the bureau’s Cold Case Unit, at the
downtown Justice Center office where he seeks justice for the families and victims of local
murder cases dating back to the early 1960s.
In the hands of Portland Police Sgt. Paul Weatheroy are a group of
Cold Case homicide cards which were released by Crime Stoppers
and local law enforcement in 2009 to help solve 52 unsolved
murders and missing persons cases.
most attention and resources.’’
The reason most cases become cold, he said, is
due to a lack of evidence, no viable leads, no
witnesses, or witnesses who were not willing to
cooperate.
“There is a lot of preparation that goes into
reopening a cold case,” said Pete Simpson, a public
information officer for the police bureau. “And we
still have current cases that need the same level of
scrutiny and attention.”
Weatheroy said, however, the hard work re
quired to solve murder cases is completely worth the
effort.
“There are two things that really give me a lot of
satisfaction with the job,” he said. “One of them is
that day when you are able to contact the family and
give them the answers they have been searching
for.”
The second, he said, comes when police get to tap
on the shoulder of the suspect with an arrest war
rant.
“For all of these years, he or she thought they
continued
on page 4