See Also
There is now a website where cold cases are broken up by each of the seven MSP posts across the state.
Across the state they have roughly 200 cases open at any time with 11 of them currently posted on the webpage.
The ones currently online were shared with approval of the victims' families, and more cases will be added in the future.
Lieutenant Duwayne Robinson with MSP says cases are considered cold when all investigative leads are exhausted.
The cases will go into an inactive status, but the case can be reopened at any time.
One thing that can help detectives if a case is reopened are the programs at Michigan State, Western Michigan, Northern Michigan, and Grand Valley State Universities.
"We can depend on the students to organize large bundles of files, I'm talking tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands in some cases, put them in some sort of numerical order or timeline order to make it easier for us to sift through the evidence. And also, they maybe, with so many eyes, they're able to find clues that may have been missed by, you know, two detectives that were working it 30 years ago. And now all of a sudden you have, you know, 25, 30 students, all fresh eyes, eager to find clues and new evidence to help us put this case back together."
As of right now, there are three cases in the Southwest Michigan area that are featured.
24-year-old Janis Sanders disappeared from Niles in 1975, 25-year-old Diana Peckham disappeared from Baroda in 1976, and 34-year-old Glenna West disappeared from St. Joseph in 1977.
"What I can say about these cases, these particular three and all the rest of them, is they deserve a fresh look. We have some new information and new leads that we're going to work off to try to get to the bottom line as to what happened to these individuals and bring justice to the victims and their families and to the community, so that they can all move on," said Robinson.
ABC57 News reported on the disappearance of Sanders in 2023. MSP was searching a property in Buchanan looking for her remains at the time
That property was once owned by Gerald Libertowski, an ex-boyfriend of Sanders'.
He is the lone suspect in her disappearance which is being investigated as a homicide.
Helping in that search was the cold case program at Western Michigan University.
If you know anything about any of the cold cases, you can submit info here or contact any of the MSP Posts.