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True crime lovers are often split on cold cases.
But its probably safe to say that both camps would love to help solve a real case themselves.
This is whereThe Murder Squadcomes in.
Paul Holes is a now-retired detective who was instrumental in solving the Golden State Killers identity.
Each week on their podcast, theyll dive into two cases one solved and one thats still unsolved.
The first episode drops April 1st (and no, it is not a joke).
You both have impressive crime backgrounds, especially surrounding the Golden State Killer case.
It really was through Michelle that Billy and I got to know each other.
We would meet every month and talk about the cases we were working on.
It was a relationship really just built entirely on crime.
We wanted to start a kind ofVidocq societyfor the West Coast.
So I was constantly like, Come on, just finish the book.
Every time, there was always one more clue that she had to do.
I started opening up all the Golden State Killer files and reached out to Paul.
I think that was pretty much the spark of the relationship and really of this podcast.
As you guys know, there is this huge issue with the backlog of missing-persons reports and unidentified remains.
Why is that?Paul:There are so many factors.
Part of it is, these remains that have been recovered, theyre in such poor state.
Billy:Theres not one database that everything is sitting in.
So the informations actually sitting around in literally 19,000 different databases because there are 19,000 different law enforcement agencies.
Were not centralized and thats a major problem.
But theres been a lot of success from citizen detectives.
These citizen detectives onWebsleuthsand on Reddit, theyre really getting together and figuring out who these people are.
Weve been in a true-crime kick now, where these shows and podcasts have been training people.
This podcast is their chance to get involved and actually start helping solve these cold cases.
I cant stress that enough.
The rules are so important because if you break those rules, it could send the whole ship down.
We give these rules each week to just keep them top of mind that this isnt a game.
Youre passing information to the public that is accurate.
Billy:I think a natural curiosity from the reporter on how to push the story forward.
Thats my biggest thing.
Dont go back and reinterview the same people.
Go and find that one person that nobody has been able to find.
Paul, you have stumbled into some fame after the Golden State Killer documentary.
Its very nice that they look at me that way.
But its also very surreal.
Im just a retired county employee.
Im still trying to figure that out.
We do this thing called the Weekly Distraction, where we talk about what else were doing.
Because our lives really are entirely crime investigation.
Paul:I have to get a workout in.
Thats always been my outlet in terms of stress relief.
Billy:I play hockey.
