The Toombs Judicial Circuit is gearing up to help law enforcement solve cold murder cases in McDuffie County and elsewhere in the circuit.
District Attorney William “Bill” Doupe´ recently said in addition to prosecuting crimes already on the docket, his office would be another resource to help law enforcement in resolving cold cases.
Doupe´ said when he became district attorney six months ago, he and his staff began conversations about older, unsolved homicides in McDuffie County and throughout the Toombs Judicial Circuit.
“We started looking at how those are being dealt with in our office, and since there are no statute of limitations on these crimes, tried to figure out a mechanism where we make sure these cases are fresh and being looked at,” he said.
Doupe´, along with Marie Johnson; victim advocate director, James Talkington, a retired GBI agent who is serving as victim/law enforcement liaison; and Shea Bunch, investigator, head the office’s direction in helping to close unsolved cases.
The procedure in the past was that in cases of homicide without a suspect or an arrest, the district attorney’s office was never given a file by the investigating agency. He said Johnson did not have any link to family members of the victims.
“Since we really did not have a working knowledge of what was going on with those cases, we would not be in a position where our investigators could help with moving toward getting those cases solved,” Doupe´ said.
To read the entire article in The McDuffie Progress, click HERE.