Las Vegas Open, Unsolved Cases Makes Very Disturbing Reading
First I would like to congratulate the LVMPD for having the courage to lay out all of their unsolved murder cases. Here at RCC we despair a bit about the lack of information on unsolved murders in Britain. If someone is to come forward on a cold case here many are not even mentioned in the force area where they occurred. I have searched UK cop websites and often Crimestoppers UK and no result comes up in cases I know are active.
Getting the motivation to share some long forgotten or avoided fact can take a lot of bravery. Media mentions of unsolved crimes can be years out of date. So if a witness looks on the police website and there is nothing there the witness may assume the information they have is not needed.
This LVMPD website keeps victim’s cases current. Anyone with information only has to check and there they will see that there is still justice to be done.
Take the murder of 64 year old Craig Mathews as an example.
He was found shot dead in the yard of a vacant house in Las Vegas. This was on 14th November 2019. When I looked at the media coverage of this killing there were very few mentions and no more information than the cops gave on their website. There it is though on the cops website complete with an appeal and contact details.
Two of the oldest cases are of Evelyn Grace Shank, who was a teller at a motel when she was abducted and murdered in 1959 and a 30 year old union agent called James Harry Hartley who was shot in the head in 1954.
The latest unsolved killing on the list is that of Joel Mendez-Martin from 2nd November 2021. This victim was also found in the rear lot of a building. When I checked out his name literally the only reference was by the Las Vegas police.
The cases are listed in year categories and are easily searched as a result. As a cold case resource and a very warm appeal for information this website is well worth a look. Well done LVMPD, victims should be remembered and their killers should always be aware that the cases are still on the books. Somewhere someone is still thinking about them.
Regards
Tim
https://www.lvmpd.com/en-us/Homicide/Pages/Casesbyyear1950-1969.aspx
