'All it takes is one,' Calls for tips and new tech bring hope to ISP cold cases

A new push for answers comes more than two years since ISP relaunched its cold case unit.

Evelyn Matchett was found murdered in her home on Feb. 4, 1988. Her case is still unsolved 38 years later, and ISP renewed its public call for tips in late July.

Evelyn Matchett | ISP

ABC57's Annie Kate sat down with ISP Cold Case Detective Arthur Smith to ask why he's confident cases like hers could finally be solved.

"Someone out there maybe knows something, and we're looking for that answer," Smith said. "All it takes is one, all it takes is one tip, and it could be the one that solves it all."

Smith described Matchett as a "typical grandma type."

"She was a 67-year-old widow living at her lake home in Pretty Lake, Lagrange County, Southeast Lagrange County," he said. "On February 4 of 1988, in the afternoon, a family member came to her house to do a welfare check... observed her as unresponsive. When EMS arrived, it was determined that she was deceased."

She was found in a bedroom, reportedly by her daughter.

Smith would not reveal to ABC57 how Matchett was killed. There are several reasons not to release these details in a cold case, he said. Sometimes it's to see if a suspect knows information never released to the public, even 38 years later.

However, ABC57 obtained a death certificate listing Matchett's cause of death as "ligature strangulation," and that was also reported in 1988. Information about a suspect, though, has never come to light.

"A lot of times, I want to jump right to the evidence, especially with a new technology, to see what's available and to see if anything can be tested," Smith said.

The unit relaunched in March 2024 and is made up of five full-time detectives and five civilian investigators, spread across the state. Smith wouldn't divulge how many cold cases ISP oversees, but new technology has helped move some forward.

"A new tool that's just a complete gamechanger is forensic investigative genetic genealogy," Smith said.

ISP is one of just a handful of agencies in the state to have its own genealogy unit, he said.

It's advances in technology like this that keep the flame of hope alive in cold cases like Matchett's.

"When you communicate with the families, and they're looking for answers, that definitely helps keep you going," Smith said.

Smith is confident his unit is closer to solving Matchett's case and so many others through technology and the public's help providing new tips.

"It might be something small that you remember that at the time you didn't think much of, but now, it could help put that puzzle together," Smith said.

Anyone with information can contact ISP at (260) 403-2841or [email protected].