Each year, the San Antonio Police Department investigates dozens of murders and, at times, cases with dead-end evidence go cold.
The SAPD Cold Case unit has accumulated about 1,000 cold cases, some dating as far back as the 1950’s.
"At any given moment, a 30-year-old case can become a priority case based on new information or new evidence," SAPD Detective Manuel Morales said.
Detective Morales is one of only two San Antonio police officers assigned to the Cold Case Unit. He spends every day reviewing old files, hoping for a break in the case.
“Following up on all the leads, sending all the evidence to the crime lab for analysis, tracking down any possible witnesses,” Det. Morales said.
Two murders in particular haunt him, and he says he’s close to solving the brutal killing of San Antonio attorney Christia Mitchell.
"I just need an eyewitness," he said.
Mitchell was strangled and drowned in a bathtub in 2006. The detective says that her daughter found her dead.
"It was a very heinous crime, the way the way she was murdered," Det. Morales recalled.
Kearie Fischer was stabbed to death in 2017 and left to die on the side of the highway. Det. Morales says that they don’t have a witness or a suspect. He worries that the killer is a danger to the community.
"I believe that this person is probably going to [kill] again," Det. Morales said.
He believes that the killer went after Fischer because she was an easy target that “lived life on the fast lane.”
Det. Morales says that he can’t imagine the pain the victims of the families endure and it’s what keeps him searching for answers.
"We have to go over them one by one,” Det. Morales noted. “We get calls mostly everyday about a cold case, people wanting information about their sons or their daughters or their parents.”
With only two detectives working a number of cases, he says that they need the community to step in and help.
"People know, someone knows out there what happened. And if those people come forward, that really helps us with our investigation," Det. Morales said.
According to Det. Morales, on average, three to six cold cases get solved a year. If you have a tip, call the homicide hotline or Crime Stoppers.