Project: Cold Case

𝐀 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲’𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰.

A September 2026 Inspector General audit of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Missing and Murdered Unit (MMU) found 394 pending referrals and 83 open cases as of November 2024. Investigators faced heavy workloads, the unit lacked firm timeframes for assessing referrals, and families were not consistently connected with required victim services.

The impact reaches beyond a backlog: a family may wait for an investigative decision while also missing information, support, and a dependable point of contact.

The audit recommended a plan to address pending referrals, clearer review deadlines, better separation of administrative and investigative work, and adequate staffing and referrals for victim services. The report acknowledges changes MMU has made, but says completion of the backlog plan had not yet been verified and its victim services staffing recommendation remained unresolved.

This is why cold case advocacy and agency referrals matter. When an agency connects an eligible family with Project: Cold Case, we can offer advocacy, awareness, and support alongside the investigation. We do not investigate cases or replace an agency’s responsibility to provide updates and required services. We can help ensure families know they have someone to turn to while those responsibilities are carried out.

Families deserve both a sustained investigative response and support throughout the wait.

Although the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Inspector General audited the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Missing and Murdered Unit specifically, its findings raise broader questions for every cold case unit: Are referrals reviewed promptly, are investigators adequately supported, and are families consistently connected with the services they need?

To read the audit, head to the link below.

𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

The following photos feature cold case victims that were recently submitted to Project: Cold Case by their families.

Click on the photo to learn more about each case and consider sharing to help raise awareness for the victims and their families.

Please remember that our organization does not investigate cases. We advocate, educate, and help raise awareness. Speculation on the details of the case is not helpful on this platform. Comments that are deemed inappropriate and/or potentially hurtful will be removed.

"And sometimes, against all odds, against all logic, we still hope."

One step closer💙

A 24-year-old murder case is one step closer to being solved. Sabrina Kahler disappeared from her home in Erie County, Penn. in June 2002. Kahler was declared dead in 2009, but the person responsible for her death hadn’t been arrested. Click the link in the first comment for the full story. ⬇️

📷: Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General

𝓝𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵 𝓓𝓪𝔂 𝓸𝓯 𝓡𝓮𝓶𝓮𝓶𝓫𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓜𝓾𝓻𝓭𝓮𝓻 𝓥𝓲𝓬𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓼💙

Today is National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims, a day dedicated to remembering the memory of the lives taken far too soon and remembering the loved ones left behind.

Each of these people were far more than just victims of homicide, they were mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends, children and people who made an impact on the people in their lives and the community around them. Though their lives were cut short, the impacts they made and their legacies live on and are worth honoring today and every other day.

We push to keep advocating for each of these victims so their surviving loved ones can one day get the answers they deserve.

You can help us with this mission by continuing to share their stories so hopefully they end up in the hands of someone who knows something, remembers something or can provide some details that could help solve their case.

Join us here on our FB page tonight, at 7pm, as we honor all of our victims with a virtual candlelight vigil. 🕯

𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞'𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫: 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 “𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞”

Your loved one was a person before they ever became a case number, headline, police report, or cold case.

They had a personality. They laughed. They had favorite foods and music. They had relationships, dreams, routines, inside jokes, and people who loved them.

When talking about unsolved homicides, it is easy for the circumstances of someone's death to become the focus. Survivor-centered advocacy reminds us to also talk about how they lived.

Say their name. Share their photographs. Tell their stories. Talk about who they were—not only what happened to them.

Because they are more than a case.

💙 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫: Keep their humanity at the center of the story.

𝐏𝐂𝐂 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐝- 𝐀♣ 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐫 𝐇𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞, 𝟏𝟕, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐲𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝟏𝟓

Arthur Hinote, 17, and Bernice Bryars, 15, were high school sweethearts who went out for a date on October 22, 1931, in Pensacola, Florida. They were last seen at the Half Moon Filling Station on the Ferry Pass Highway. When neither returned to their homes that evening, local officials believed that the couple had eloped. The next morning, the two were found deceased in the woods about one mile north of what is now Bayview Park. Hinote suffered a gunshot wound to the face and Bryars was attacked and beaten to death by a blunt object. Arrests have come throughout the years, but no one has been convicted.

Anyone with information concerning Arthur Hinote's and Bernice Bryars's unsolved homicides is asked to call the Pensacola Police Department at (850) 435 1965. To remain anonymous and possibly be eligible for a reward, call Escambia County Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-7867, or call toll free (877) 433-8477.

𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐯𝐬. 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞

When hearing that a loved one's cold case is "open" or "active," many believe that the phrases are interchangeable, but the terms can mean very different things.

𝙊𝙥𝙚𝙣- Law enforcement has not cleared the case by arrest, exceptional means, or otherwise formally closed the investigation. A case may be open but not active or assigned to a detective.

𝘼𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚- Law enforcement is actively taking the necessary steps to continue investigating in order to identify the suspect, make an arrest or solve the case.

We encourage families to reach out to the lead investigating agency to determine the actual status of their loved one’s case. Don’t ask if the case is open; ask if it is assigned to a detective and active. Ask to speak to the assigned detective to establish communication. If it is not assigned to a detective, ask about the formal process to have the case reviewed and, if appropriate, assigned to an investigator.