(CNN)James Winston was always impeccably dressed. From the time he was 10 years old, right down to his socks and undergarments, he ironed them with care. He later did the same with his children to make sure they were adjusted from head to toe.
He probably did the same with his youngest son .
However, on February 16, 2020, just two days after she was born, two men broke into his apartment and shot him several times, according to Wichita, Kansas authorities. shot and left him to die.
Investigators and his loved ones believe Winston knew who shot him, but the culprit has never been identified. For over two years, his family waited in deep pain and frustration to find out who killed him and why.
"It's like an unfilled hole," Winston's mother, Sherby Miller, told her CNN. "It's a part of me that's missing because I don't know what happened to my child."
Winston's death is an unsolved Kansas murder case , missing persons, unidentified bodies, etc., is one of the unsolved cases. But the families of the victims of these unsolved cases may soon find renewed hope for answers from an unexpected source: prisoners.
Kansas state officials have developed a deck of cards featuring 52 unsolved cases in the state in an attempt to find new leads. Each card contains a photo of the victim, a brief description of the incident, and a call number. The Kansas Department of Corrections said last week it began distributing cards to people incarcerated in state prisons and county jails.
Cold case card decks are used in more than a dozen states to revive deadlocked investigations, lead to convictions, and mourn years without answers. There were some tips that brought the family to a solution.
Winston's loved ones were caught off guard by his murder. His mother and girlfriend Valin Burrell seek justice for the six children he loves and to whom he devotes most of his free time.
"I don't know. Anyone who did that knew he had kids. They knew he had a family. I don't understand," Miller said. Said.
Families of victims featured in Kansas card decks told CNN it was painful to wait for a solution and feared the killer would secure his own safety without getting caught. explained.
But they he agrees on one thing: Somebody, somewhere, knows what happened. And they hope Trump will be the final push to push them forward.
"One day someone will talk and we're going to take that break. And I hope I'm alive and can see it on this earth." said Burrell.
Boy begging to stay home
For more than 30 years, Elisabeth Gere Jones and Melissa Bowell have agonized over what took 11 years of their lives. I was. Brother, Nelson Lewis Jones.
They portray him as an adventurous boy who radiates a mischievous and playful energy, jumping off the family cabin or swinging like Tarzan on a swing from a garden hose tied to a tree. remember him
However, on the night of 29 October 1990, one of his sisters entered his room and found him strangled to death.
It's the day I look back in my head while struggling to make sense of the moment that turned my life upside down. On the morning of his death, while the family was visiting the Wichita Greyhound racing his track about an hour and a half away, Nelson spoke to his mother and allowed him to be home alone for the first time. Sisters remember.
When they got home that night, they phoned Nelson, but got no answer. Thinking he might have gone down the street to the school carnival, they started looking for him, but he wasn't there. Finally, one of his sisters inspected his room.
Elizabeth, Nelson and Melissa Jones in undated family photo.
The sisters were just nine years old and he was ten when Nelson died. Added to the grief that her mother never recovered. "Since her brother was murdered, my sister and I didn't have a happy childhood," Gere Jones said.
Nelson was the youngest victim in his case in the Kansas Cold, and the sisters hoped that with his case falling apart, someone would be held accountable for his murder. We hope that the long-awaited peace will come.
"My mother died without knowing anything, and my heart was at peace. All she really wanted was to know who killed her son." It was," she said Geer Jones.
Bowell thinks that knowing who did it might give his family a chance to understand why Nelson was killed.
"I wonder if he has a conscience," said Bowell. "Do they know what they did? Not only did they take the life of a child, we felt like we lost a mother that day."
Grandmother "Paralyzed" by Uncertainty
Long after Alex LaRussa went missing, his grandmother, Colleen Greenmeyer, could hear him as she passed by. said. The Solomon and Smoky Hill Rivers along Interstate 70.
"I swear I can hear him telling me, 'Grandma find me, find me. I'm here,'" she told CNN. .
LaRussa disappeared in December 2017 in Salina, Kansas.About a month later, police found his car, along with his cell, abandoned in the river in a nearby town. It contains a phone, clothes and a wheelchair. he hasn't been found yet.
Prior to his disappearance, La Russa had struggled to recover mentally and physically after amputating his leg that summer. For most of La Russa's life, his grandmother cared for him, sometimes letting him live with her, and keeping in touch as he went in and out of prison, mainly about robbery and theft convictions. so did her best.
Greenemeyer recalls her grandson chasing her dream of playing soccer while living with her. When he went to prison, she asked her to send him a package of books that he started reading.
After LaRussa goes missing, Greenemeyer leaves his dream home about an hour away and returns to Salina to be near his daughter and find out what happened. I made up my mind. She said she was overwhelmed with grief when she got there.
"You are really paralyzed," she said. “I’m really disappointed because I thought I could or could solve this problem. And I couldn't do that, either way." I had to sit down.
"I'd like him to knock on my door, but deep down I'm almost positive. It never happens," she said. "Knowing he's gone, if someone killed him and they paid the price, it would be an incredible relief. It's just unbelievable. You know. Like, we can get a stone and put it somewhere for him and respect it.A place to put flowers.”
Like the family in the case, Greenemeyer is concerned about his family's safety. They believed that La Russa may have been the victim, and long after his disappearance, feared that the possibly victim would target them next. .
Prisoners are given documentary evidence, so Ms. Greenemeyer said her grandson's time in prison meant that someone with a card could recognize him and get the information. We hope to increase the chances of it being offered.
"I think there are people who know exactly what happened to him. They just don't talk," she said. "My fear is that I will never know until I die. I am 72 years old and in poor health. That is my greatest fear. It is the unknown."
Cards have a record of success
It is difficult to quantify how many open cases have been solved because of the prison card decks, but Florida, Connecticut and Oklahoma officials said. According to CNN, their deck has definitely led to prisoner hints that helped solve some cases.
"Having a loved one on deck and hoping to get hints that produce other clues is a hope that the family will continue to have," Fahey said.
Florida no longer has a cold case card program, but when the first decks were released in 2007, the state was an almost instant success. Within a year, investigators were able to make arrests in two of Deck's cases after getting tips from prisoners, said Jeremy Barnes, spokesperson for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. One of
cases was the case of 53-year-old James His Foot. An easygoing man with a great sense of humor, Foote could talk to anyone, his family told CNN. Foote was retired and living with his family in Florida at the time of his death. After his retirement, he took up other hobbies, including fishing and golf, and enjoyed karaoke until his death.
On the night of November 15, 2004, Foote was shot and killed by someone as he headed to a bar to go out for a night of karaoke. After months of investigation, Fort Myers detectives tracked down a new suspect and closed the case.
After nearly three years of trying to swindle out new leads, authorities received a letter from a prisoner who had seen Foote's playing cards. Investigators will learn that at least four prisoners heard a man named Derrick Hamilton boast about having killed Foote.
In October 2007, Hamilton was arrested in connection with Foote's murder. He pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to four years in prison.
Foote's wife, Donna Foote, describes her years of waiting for answers as "torture," but she said Trump was integral to solving the case. I believe.
"I don't know if it could have been resolved any other way," she said. "I give full credit to the card."
