National Cold Case Month: Revisiting 3 local investigations that remain unsolved

September is National Cold Case Month, highlighting cases of missing people and crimes that have faded from the headlines but remain unsolved.

But as the month draws to a close, a North Texas police detective who launched a national database called ‘Solve the Case’ urges continued community vigilance for unresolved investigations across the nation and here at home.

“These cases not being important just one month or one day, these cases are important every day,” said Det. Aaron Benzick. “We’d like to challenge different groups for a call to action on some of these cold cases that maybe aren’t being talked about.”

Cold cases are where leads have been exhausted and tips are no longer coming in.

Unsolved cases like the April 25, 2021, murder of Lynetta Mae Washington in South Dallas.  

According to police, the 54-year-old grandmother was shot dead while walking by just as street racers took over an intersection in the 4300 block of Duncanville Road. Police said she may have been hit by a stray bullet. Her case remains unsolved.

For three years, Dr. Angel Durr, Ph.D., has been doing everything she can to get justice for her mother.

Durr, a research scientist, calls the detective every month, scours the internet, and returns to the scene of the crime seeking any new potential evidence.

“It’s just frustrating that families like mine have to wake up every single day and wonder if today is going to be the day they get some closure and some kind of sense of peace,” she said through tears.

Washington’s story is among dozens of cold cases featured on Solve the Case, involving cases of murder, unidentified bodies, missing people, and fugitives.

The database has an open invitation for law enforcement, victims’ families, members of the media, and even cyber sleuths in hopes of generating new leads.

“It organizes the points of interest, it creates a timeline and just lets you visualize the different facts of the public information on a case,” said Benzick. “It’s an easily shareable site, easily shareable case page where you can see the details of the case, learn about it, and start understanding, 'Alright, what is going on in this case, and what can we do to move forward with it?'"

Another local cold case featured on the website is the 2014 murder of D'Lisa Kelley.

She was found beaten, strangled, and dumped on the porch of an abandoned home on Presidio Avenue in Oak Cliff on March 14, 2014.

Then there’s the mysterious disappearance of a woman at DFW Airport on Sept. 14, 2019.

Paulina Del Mundo, who is a trans-woman from Tampa, Florida, never boarded her connecting flight and was last seen on camera at a warehouse district on the south end of the airport.

DFW Airport Police found her phone, whose battery had died, at the airport, according to information released at the time.

“This matters to families; families are thinking about these cases every day, so I think we in law enforcement need to look at it differently, and what can we do is publicly talk about it,” said Benzick.

Durr agrees, saying she and her family haven’t been the same since the murder.

“Families, they’re just as much victims, their lives don’t just go on like nothing happened,” she said. “This is something I think about every single time I walk out of my house or get in my car or go out with friends.”

She has also turned her loss into action, taking part in marches across the state calling attention to gun violence, BLM, and formerly incarcerated individuals.

She carries a white poster board with photos of her mother to demonstrations.

She pointed out her favorite picture on the poster, of her mother as a child, “because you can just see she’s so hopeful about the future.”

Durr also cherishes photographs of her mother at her wedding and one at a halfway house, where Washington is holding Durr’s little girl.

There is a picture of a lighthouse because the military family is from Connecticut.

“We had a lighthouse in the town we’re from so that’s also on here because it’s a symbol of hope,” she said tearfully.

Durr felt optimistic after learning her mother’s case is on the Solve the Case website.

“There’s definitely renewed hope with sites such as that one, definitely for sure because as someone who works in data and technology, I’m excited for the potential for all that data being collected in one place,” she said. “I know that the FBI is working on creating a national database of victims of crime which I think would help tremendously as well, but in the meantime having something like this that gives people visibility to where they can provide resources is a huge step up from what we have now.”

To browse through cold cases on Solve the Case, click here.