The Fort Worth Police Department has increased staffing in its cold case homicide unit, adding another full-time detective, after NBC 5 Investigates reported the stories of families who say a shortage of detectives left them feeling that the murders and disappearances of their loved ones had been forgotten.
In November, NBC 5 Investigates revealed the cold case unit had only one full-time detective, two part-time reserve officers, and more than 1,000 unsolved cold cases.
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WATCH HERE“It's deplorable. As much as Fort Worth has grown and as big as we are, then, I mean, there needs to be more staffing,” said Sheryl Buchanan in a November interview with NBC 5 Investigates. Buchanan’s brother Thurlow disappeared in 1987.
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SIGN UP Buchanan and other relatives of missing and murdered people told NBC 5 they were also frustrated with a lack of communication from the Fort Worth Police Department. Many said they wanted police to let them know whether new DNA testing technology could be used to re-ignite their cases.
NBC 5 Investigates questioned Fort Worth Chief of Police Neil Noakes and pledged his department would re-examine each case file and communicate with families whether additional DNA testing was possible.
“If there is something that we can send off to be tested, then absolutely we should make that happen,” Noakes told NBC 5 in November.
Noakes said it was unacceptable that families reported waiting months or even a year for a response from the department.
Fort Worth police told NBC 5 Investigates those concerns are now being addressed.
"All of the case files have been revisited, and the Fort Worth Police Department is currently determining which cases have the most probative evidence to send off for additional testing,” the department said in a written statement to NBC 5 Investigates.
Police are also reaching out directly to families now to address their concerns. That includes Elizabeth Rivera, who recently met with Noakes and other department officials.
Rivera's daughter, Elsha Marie Rivera, disappeared 21 years ago this month and was last seen walking on Myrtle Street in Fort Worth.
“I think they're all good people. The problem with Fort Worth police is they are -- in the missing person's department -- they are totally understaffed,” Rivers said.
In her meeting with Noakes, Rivera said she learned new details about her daughter’s case and that investigators offered suggestions for how the family might help them advance the investigation.
After two decades, Rivera said she cares less about who might have harmed her daughter than in simply knowing where she is.
“That's all I’m asking for. Let me know where you left my child so I can bring her home,” Rivera said.
A support group that advocates for Fort Worth's cold case families told NBC 5 Investigates that the police department's decision to add a second full-time detective to the unit is a move in the right direction. But the group said it will continue pushing for additional resources to pursue justice for victims in cases that include some of the city's most heinous unsolved crimes.
