Cold cases. 

Crimes that shock the public one day can slip the mind years later.

Especially cases that are never solved by an arrest or a conviction, the public sometimes falls into the lull of out of sight, out of mind.

Not for the families.

The violent loss of a loved one coupled with no one ever paying for the crime tears the soul, rends the heart and weighs on the mind.

The police who work these unsolved cases never forget either.

Police detectives have their haunted tales of the ones who got away.

The cases that keep them awake nights years later.

Police say these unsolved cases are the ones they just can’t get out of their minds. 

Stories appearing this week and next week in the newspaper serve as reminders that justice never sleeps.

The Cold Case stories look at unsolved mysteries in the SunLight Project areas of Valdosta, Dalton, Thomasville, Milledgeville, Tifton and Moultrie, Ga., and Live Oak, Jasper and Mayo, Fla., along with the surrounding counties.

What the SunLight Project team learned investigating these cases is that no one close to either the investigation or the victims ever forget that someone got away with murder or other heinous crimes. 

And whether it is a case that is a few years old, nearly 50 years old, or even older, there’s a police detective for each one, thumbing through the files, checking out old clues and new leads, seeking the final piece to a long unsolved puzzle.

Even the smallest clue can sometimes lead to a major break in the investigation. 

Perhaps, the SunLight stories will lead to finding the final clue. At least, they serve as a reminder that we should not forget these cases.

We should not forget these people.

As a society, we should always remember and do our best never to forget that the answers are out there somewhere.

Someone, somewhere knows something.