Cold Case Analysis Center opens at the University of Albany

A new partnership at the University at Albany could help investigators solve cold cases. As WAMC reports, student interns will review data to assist with investigative work.

The next time you see a special on television about solving a cold case, local college students may have played a role.

Formerly housed in the now-closed College of Saint Rose, the Cold Case Analysis Center is now finding new roots at the University at Albany's School of Criminal Justice. Founded in 2018, the center works with law enforcement agencies across the region and communities to look at unsolved cases from multiple perspectives.

Cam Hughes was the director of the CCAC at Saint Rose. She was hired by University of Albany officials to bring the program to the public college. Hughes says the students absorb sensitive information in the hopes that they can do in-depth and useful research on the cases.

“Looking at the history of the case, digital versions of evidence and things like that, you can really take a second or in some cases third look at the cases,” Hughes said. “So they can avoid things like tunnel vision or any kind of bias that may have been present when the case actually happened, to try to come up with new angles, new areas of investigation, potential new suspects or people to interview in connection with the cases, and recommendations on other forensic tests that might be useful. Things have changed pretty significantly in the last decade.”

Although the likelihood of the students solving the cases is slim, the center's work isn't just about closing cases. Hughes says the interns' work can make families feel like the case has been fully reviewed.

Both undergraduate and graduate students of all disciplines can apply for an internship. During the Saint Rose era, the program was only open to students in the fields of criminal justice, forensic psychology and forensic science.

Pam Hoxha is a senior studying criminal justice. As a former student at Saint Rose University, she knew she wanted to continue her work at the center after the private college closed in June.

In Saint Rose, she completed an internship at the center more than once a week.

“I went through the files and took a lot of notes,” Hoxha said. “I took books with me so I could incorporate some of the material I had from outside sources into what we were doing. So for me it was mostly like going there, going through files, looking through photos, taking notes and things like that.”

She explained that she often takes books home to study in the hopes of gaining new information that will help her and her teammates in their investigations. She explained what a day's work looked like when working on cases.

“In our case, I essentially looked at the autopsy photos and tried to figure out if anything might have been accidentally missed,” Hoxa said.

Hoxa plans to earn her master's degree in criminal justice in May. Hoxa, who attended Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, started at Saint Rose College shortly before the college announced it was closing. Hughes says she then stopped actively looking for agencies to work with. By the end of the spring semester, the center had processed and turned over its remaining cases.

“Fortunately, we weren't working on a lot of cases, so we were able to complete the work. Or the cases were in a situation where the investigative agency was working on something that we weren't,” Hughes said. “So they were working on re-interviewing some people, because generally I don't like students interviewing potential suspects, so we turned those things over to the investigative agencies. And so they did their work on their side. And we didn't have to interrupt anything we were doing.”

Hoxa is excited about the new opportunity that presents itself to her and the center at UAlbany.

“I think everything will be much better organized now. We will have more things. And yes, I am really happy to be here,” said Hoxa.

Classes start on Monday.