Hundreds of homicides in Ohio remain unsolved; AG focuses on these cold cases

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) -The mystery of who killed Debra Miller more than 40 years ago in Mansfield has now been solved thanks to old-fashioned police work and DNA technology.

The announcement from police Monday was a reminder there are still hundreds of other unsolved cases across Ohio.

19 Investigates spoke to the attorney general on what cold cases the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) is working on.

Case closed

Mansfield Police say they now know the identity of Debra Miller’s killer, the man who brutally beat the 18-year-old to death in her apartment back in 1981 and evaded police for decades.

DNA evidence led detectives to Debra’s neighbor, James Vanest, 68 years old.

He died in standoff with police last month.

You can read more about how police solved the case here.

Mansfield Police Chief Jason Bammann celebrated the big case solve.

But he’s already focusing on the next unsolved cases he has in his department.

“I would love to close every case, I would love to give every family the closure that they so deserve, but you know we take it one case at a time,” he said.

Hundreds of unsolved cases

19 Investigates got a copy of the Ohio Attorney General’s cold case database, which shows there are more than 2,000 unsolved homicides across the state.

“Even one unsolved murder case is a problem, it’s a tragedy. The people who loved that person don’t know what happened or how it happened or why it happened,” Attorney General Dave Yost said.

Attorney General Yost said it’s a fact some of these cases will never be solved, because they’re so old and the killers have passed away.

He said BCI’s Cold Case Unit is focusing on supporting local law enforcement in cases that happened over the last 40 years.

“We’ve got still an opportunity to get to a place of justice for those cases, not that the older cases don’t matter, but the ones I’m really excited about are the cases where new science can turn up a new lead. Where DNA advances will maybe able to bring information out of the old evidence that was collected in 1985 or something and lead us to the perpetrator,” he said.

Just one new lead could be enough to bring the families of these victims answers.

If you know anything about a cold case out there, give police a call.

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