As the Hanover County Sheriff’s Office helps launch a monthly series of cold cases in The Mechanicsville Local, two officers in the Investigations Division say they are renewing the way they look at the cases.

Last Wednesday, Capt. Michael J. Trice, supervisor of the unit, and Sgt. Eddy Smith talked about their work as they take a new approach to the 2004 shooting death of Russell D. Franklin, 24, of Mechanicsville.

“Basically,” Smith said, “we reorganized our cold case procedures, making sure no cold case gets left behind. These are significant cases. They’ve never gone away. We keep them on the books, periodically review them. Sometimes you’re just waiting on new evidence that you don’t have, trying to initiate new evidence.”

“Many of the cases we have assigned now,” Trice said, “like this one with Sgt. Smith, are being reviewed. We have to evaluate more critically, don’t take anything for granted. When Eddie assigns these cases out, it might be 30, 45 days while they’re reviewing it, literally proofreading this case. Then they’ll come back with some questions. If we can refresh the witness list, do they still live at the same address, are they alive or not—kind of make sure if this case is going to move forward to prosecution, that these people are still available. It’s a little more than just reviewing the evidence. I think it’s resurrecting the information.”

Smith said they are “really analyzing the information. With new technology and investigative techniques we can see if there’s anything new that can help solve these crimes. Also, with time, this is from experience with myself and other departments and talking with other investigators, time changes a lot of people’s attitudes and they may have known something about a crime, giving people an outlet to reveal something about a crime. They’ve got their own kid [now] and they know what it means to lose a family member. We’re talking to witnesses like that.”

Trice said crimes sometimes get solved simply because “people do the right thing.”

“Sometimes they wait until you knock on the door,” Smith added. “We tend to get more information years and years later and we do gather new information.”

Anyone with information pertaining to the Aug. 14, 2004, shooting death of Russell D. Franklin is urged to call an anonymous tip line at 780-1000. That tip line is available 24/7.

Information also can be submitted online to the Hanover County Sheriff’s Office at www.hanoversheriff.com.

For more information on cold cases, visit http://www.co.hanover.va.us/sheriff/mostwanted_coldcases.html.