I edited out the body in this photograph, but Estaban Martinez was laying in front of the Christmas tree to the right. On December 15, 1996, Linda Leon, 23 years old, and Estaban Martinez, 29 years old, were tortured then shot in the head while their three children listened from the next room.

This case was cleared by Det. Wendell Stradford and was one of the cases I covered in the book. Not that it’s any less horrible to be killed any other month, but I do wonder about their children, and if they have ever had a happy Christmas since. The oldest was 6, so perhaps it’s possible that the memories have faded enough for them to enjoy Christmas once again.

According to the FBI, murder is up 2.1% nationally.

It’s December, and every December the papers start tracking a competition the NYPD participates in every day of the year, the results of which are announced on January 1st: Getting the Yearly Homicide Totals Down.

As of December 11th, there were 508 murders in New York City. Last year, the total was 572. So far so good (relatively speaking, of course – not good for the 508).

In keeping with the topic of this blog, probably half of those 572 murders have been solved at this point. In two years, 35 – 40% will remain unsolved, and perhaps will be picked up by these guys (this is actually a very old photograph of the Cold Case Squad and a lot of these guys are retired).

I would like to eventually make this site more international. I was sent a pointer to an article here about a new cold case squad in Scotland. The Strathclyde Police have created the Unresolved Case Unit to reinvestigate their unsolved murders.