The Cold Cases is an independent investigative archive of unsolved homicides and missing persons. It publishes documented case files, long-form interviews with investigators and families, and field guides explaining the evidence and the public records process. Every record names its sources, and no part of the archive sits behind a paywall.
The publication is founded and edited by Dustin Reed Terry, an investigative journalist based in Gainesville, Florida. Reporting, records requests and editing are handled in-house rather than through freelance contributors who are not named on the record.
Each case starts with primary documents: police incident reports, court filings, medical examiner records and newspaper archives obtained through public records requests. Those documents are read against each other before anything is written. Where a family or an investigator will speak on the record, their account is added alongside the paperwork rather than in place of it. Contradictions between the record and an account are published as contradictions instead of being smoothed over.
From public records requests to police departments, clerks of court, medical examiners and state agencies, and from archival newspaper collections. Where a document is quoted, the file says which agency produced it. Anything a family supplies privately is published only with their consent.
No. There is no subscription, no paywall and no advertising. Reader donations pay for the records requests, court filing fees, transcripts and travel that keep the files open, and every donation is a one-time gift rather than a recurring charge.
Send it to the newsroom through the contact page or by email. Tips are read by the newsroom, treated as confidential, and never published without your consent. If a case is active, report what you know to the investigating agency first — the archive documents cases, it does not replace a police investigation.