Western Michigan University’s Cold Case Program is a leader in student cold case investigation. Students work directly with Michigan State Police and local law enforcement to solve homicide and missing persons cases. Ashlyn Kuersten, professor of criminal constitutional law and co-director of the program, talks about what it involves and about one of the cases solved.
“Students apply to be one of 30 student investigators over a course of one semester,” Kuersten says. “We have accepted three cases that are cold, either homicide or missing person case and that is in Michigan. My 30 students are broken up into three teams, and they spend the semester. First, getting trained in security and confidentiality and then on how to assist detectives and prosecutors in their investigations.”
Students next dig into often thousands upon thousands of accumulated files on each case, Kuersten says. That alone greatly assists detectives, who often don’t have the time required to dig through that kind of volume of paperwork. To date, she says, the students have solved eight cases.
“The most recent case we’ve been involved in solving was a murder of a 16-year-old girl in the Saginaw area,” Kuersten says. “Her body was found in November of 1983. Her name was Sheri Jo Elliott. She had been missing for three days, and when she was found, she had been shot four times and sexually assaulted.”
Kuersten says she makes it a point in her classes to teach the students to refer to victims by their names as a show of respect.
“It’s important also, I think, for us to spend a moment recognizing who the victim was,” she says. “I think that’s a powerful lesson for my students and something we should all remember.”
Kuersten also stresses confidentiality to her students. Until the case is solved and law enforcement has taken over, they are not permitted to speak to anyone about the results, not even to family. In this recent case for Shari Jo Elliott, the perpetrator was identified through DNA samples after students pointed in his direction.
Learn more about the WMU Cold Case Program on the WMU website.
Listen to WMUK's Story Beat every Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 4:20 p.m.
