RALEIGH -- The SBI is inspecting unsolved murder case files using new technology and old warhorses to garner evidence for potential convictions.

A grant from the Governor’s Crime Commission is allowing the SBI to contract with 10 retired SBI agents and several law school students to examine cold homicide cases.

“Retesting evidence using the latest DNA or forensic technology may yield new information that could result in arrests,” said SBI’s attorney, Angel Gray, who is overseeing the cold case project. “The lack of evidence to convict a suspect is one of the most common reasons that cases remain unsolved.”

The SBI retirees, all former homicide investigators, would like to hear from local law enforcement agencies on which cases they think might have the highest rate of success. An SBI investigator is located in each of the SBI’s eight field districts.

“We are revisiting a number of these cases to determine if potential DNA or other evidence such as fingerprints may be present that was not analyzed due to technology constraints that no longer exist,” Gray said.

The SBI began looking at unsolved cases in 2015 when the Governor’s Crime Commission awarded the grant. GCC renewed the grant for 2017.

“The SBI makes every effort to solve each homicide where local law enforcement has requested assistance,” said SBI Deputy Director Greg Tart who, with his 25 years as a homicide investigator, initially wrote the grant. “We want to bring every eligible case to a successful prosecution.”