Current Unsolved Upstate New York Cold Cases
Our interns are currently working on Upstate New York cold cases, including unsolved cases from Albany. Many of these homicides and missing persons cases stretch back decades. The focus is on spreading awareness and keeping the victims’ stories alive as the teams work to solve each case.
Reopening the Case of Catherine Blackburn
Catherine Blackburn was sexually assaulted and brutally murdered in her Albany, NY, home in 1964. The College of Saint Rose Cold Case Analysis Center, in conjunction with the American Investigative Society of Cold Cases, donated money to analyze DNA left on some of the evidence through a process called M-Vac. As a result, local law enforcement and forensic laboratories were able to isolate potential suspect DNA and rule out other suspects in this cold case.
The Disappearance of Suzanne Lyall
Suzanne Lyall was a computer science college student who was the same age as some of the current students at CCAC when she disappeared from a university down the road from The College of Saint Rose on March 2, 1998. Many theories and suspects have been proposed in her disappearance, but little is known about what happened to Lyall, making her Upstate New York cold case an investigative challenge.
The Unsolved Murder of Ruth Whitman
The students are also working on the 60-year-old unsolved cold case of Ruth Whitman. The 18-year-old Whitman was found face down in a drainage ditch on Sandcreek Road in Colonie, NY, in 1959, a victim of homicide. Her case has taken many twists and turns over the years and is now in the hands of the CCAC.
Upstate Unsolved Podcast
The Upstate Unsolved podcast is a WGY and iHeartRadio investigative podcast that goes beyond the headlines of unsolved crimes in Upstate NY. The podcast operates in partnership with The Cold Case Analysis Center at The College of Saint Rose.