Cold Case Unit takes new look at old crimes

10/27/2009

By Michael Naughton
The Day

For the first time last week, a group of officers, detectives and inspectors from various local and state law enforcement agencies met and began the task of solving some of southeastern Connecticut's coldest cases.

The new cold case unit is made up of officers and detectives from police departments from Norwich to Stonington to Waterford. An inspector from the offices of the Chief State's Attorney and the New London State's Attorney will also be a part of the team.

"It's something we've tried up here and it's worked very well," said Chief State's Attorney Kevin T. Kane, announcing of the unit's formation Monday. "No agency has the resources necessary to continue to investigate cold cases as well as (they'd) like to."

Statewide there are about 600 or 700 cold cases, Kane estimated. Since the state's first cold case unit was set up in Hartford and central Connecticut 11 years ago, more than a dozen people have been convicted of previously unsolved homicide cases.

Officers and detectives from Groton City, Groton Town, New London, Norwich, Stonington and Waterford have started to meet at least weekly to go over cases that have been inactive for months, years and decades.

Recently, Norwich police asked for the public's help in solving the murder of Tynel Hardwick, 29, of Norwich. Hardwick was gunned down outside Rumors Bar & Grill on Boswell Avenue last October.

Hanging in various local police departments is a picture of Eugene Mallove. The 56-year-old from New Hampshire was found beaten to death in the driveway of his mother's house in Norwich in 2004.

And 12 years after Renee Pellegrino of Quaker Hill was found strangled near the former Waterford Airport, the case of her death remains unsolved.

Although prosecutors declined to discuss specific cases the unit would be working on, they said the group has prioritized cases that would be re-investigated.

"We don't want to get the families' hopes up," Kane said.

Kane said the unit would focus primarily on homicide cases, but also some other serious cases, including sexual assaults. The amount of time a case has been inactive would not disqualify it from being re-examined, he said.

"Some of these cases are ones which have come to a dead end but are now getting someone to look at it with fresh eyes and from a fresh point of view," Kane said.

He said investigators would be working to re-interview witnesses and possibly send more physical evidence to the state forensics lab.

Michael Regan, the state's attorney for the New London Judicial District, said it was natural that a unit would be set up in this area.

"Here the local police departments were cooperative with this office and made it easy for us to set up a unit," he said.

The unit will meet in Stonington, where officials offered up the work space.

Kane, who previously held Regan's job before becoming the chief state's attorney, said he hopes the unit can solve some cases he had previously looked into.

"There are a number of cases down there that off the top of my head I would love to see solved," he said. "The task force itself is going to have to set the priorities and it has begun to do so already."