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Field guide

How to work a case.

Short lessons for people who have never done this before. Each one ends with the mistake to avoid.

Lesson 01 · 10 min

Read a court opinion in ten minutes

Appeals opinions are the best free record most cases have. They summarize the evidence, the trial and what went wrong, in the court’s own words.

  1. Skip to the facts section first. It is usually titled “Background” or “Facts” and tells the story the court accepted.
  2. Find the issue the court decided. It is often one sentence near the start: “The question before us is…”.
  3. Read the last paragraph for the outcome: affirmed (the conviction stands), reversed or vacated (it does not), or remanded (back to the lower court).
  4. Note every piece of evidence the opinion names and quote it into the evidence locker so the room can check it.

Avoid: An opinion describes what the court found. It is not a finding that anyone is innocent or guilty beyond what it says.

Lesson 02 · 15 min

Build a timeline that holds up

Most breakthroughs in cold cases come from putting known facts in order and noticing the gap.

  1. Add only events with a date and a source. One source per event, linked.
  2. Keep the date an event happened separate from the date it was reported.
  3. Mark approximate times as approximate. “Around 9 p.m.” is not 9:00 p.m.
  4. When two sources disagree, add both and post a question. Do not pick one.

Avoid: Filling a gap with a guess. A gap on the timeline is information; a guess hides it.

Lesson 03 · 15 min

Find the first newspaper story

The earliest reporting often has details later retellings dropped: names of searchers, exact places, early statements.

  1. Search the name in quotes with the year, then without the first name.
  2. Try the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America for cases before 1964 and local library archives for later ones.
  3. Look at the days just before and after the event, not only the headline story.
  4. Add what you find as a source and quote the exact lines that matter.

Avoid: Treating a newspaper as proof. It shows what was reported then, which can be wrong.

Lesson 04 · 20 min

Compare a missing person with the unidentified

Thousands of unidentified people are waiting for a name, and many missing people have never been compared against them.

  1. Start from the missing person’s last confirmed date and place.
  2. Look at unidentified people found in the surrounding states after that date.
  3. Compare things that do not change: height range, healed fractures, dental work, tattoos.
  4. If something lines up, send it to the agency on the NamUs record. Post in the room that a comparison was submitted, not the names.

Avoid: Announcing a match in public. Only a medical examiner can confirm an identity, and families should never learn it from a forum.

Lesson 05 · 3 min

What not to do

Online sleuthing has hurt real people. These rules keep JUST useful to families and investigators.

  1. Do not name anyone as a suspect. Say what a record says and link it.
  2. Do not contact families, witnesses or anyone named in a case.
  3. Do not post home addresses, phone numbers or photos of private people.
  4. Firsthand information goes to the investigating agency. Every case page links its tip line.

Avoid: Thinking a theory is harmless because it is posted with good intentions.