It was written by Sheila Weller, the cousin of one of his victims.

“On a hot July day in 1977, one of New York’s ugliest summers, my 23-year-old cousin, Ellen Hover, left her Third Avenue apartment. She had an appointment with a young photographer who had asked to take pictures of her. His name, he’d told her, was John Berger …” The full story is here. It’s worth reading. She makes it very clear why it matters to prosecute these old, cold cases.

This is a screenshot of the news from two years ago, when it was announced that Rodney Alcala would be extradited to New York.

Before I wish everyone happy holidays, I want to note that one of the creepiest serial killers in my lifetime, Rodney Alcala, just pled guilty to the 1971 murder of Cornelia Crilley and the 1977 murder of Ellen Hover. (If you are not familiar with him, google his name, but wait until after the holidays. It’s an ugly story.)

I want to thank the Manhattan District Attorney’s Forensic Sciences/Cold Case Unit, Assistant District Attorneys Melissa Mourges, Chief of the Forensic Science/Cold Case Unit, Martha Bashford, Chief of the Sex Crimes Unit, Alex Spiro, and Detectives Wendell Stradford, Robert Dewhurst, and (ret.) Stefano Braccini of the NYPD’s Cold Case Squad. There’s more information in the DAs press release here.

I know there’s no such thing as closure, but if one of the things we can do for the friends and family of the victims is to allow them to see at least some justice served, then you all have certainly done the best that could be done for them.

As always, I’m posting this very old picture of someone from the NYPD coming out of a helicopter dressed as Santa. Yes, it’s a little sad with the World Trade Center towers in the background, but come on. This is pretty cool. I wonder where they were off to.

A couple of weeks ago in the Times, there was a wonderful story by James Gorman about a determined detective in Florida who used a new for method of scientific study called isotope analysis to help move a forty-one year old cold case forward. It’s a great and hopeful read.

More recently, I read about the all the evidence that was destroyed at the Property Clerk warehouses as a result of Hurricane Sandy. It’s not that I doubt anyone’s word, but they had plenty of time and warning to move the barrels so just to be on the safe side (and this is probably already being done):

I strongly suggest that a third party immediately request to see and to document all the barrels (and everything else) that may or may not be damaged.

This picture of Detective Darren Norris was taken by Gregg Matthews for The New York Times.

From the Staten Island Advance: “STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Justice was served Friday in deadly Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath as a Staten Island jury convicted a Queens man of slaying his former girlfriend in her Stapleton apartment 13 years ago. Carl Allen was found guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, of brutally bludgeoning and stabbing Noemi Ortiz to death on Sept. 4, 1999.”

New evidence emerged and “Detective Wendell Stradford of NYPD’s Cold Case Squad reinvestigated the case, along with Assistant District Attorneys Wanda DeOliveira and Ann Thompson.” The complete article is here.