LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Metro Police are cracking a 30-year-old cold case with the help of a local nonprofit. The family of a murder victim now knows who killed her.
The people who run the Vegas Justice League found out who murdered Melonie White when the public found out Tuesday afternoon at Metro Police headquarters.
Vegas Justice League co-founder, Justin Woo says there’s a reason those details are kept under wraps in spite of footing the bill for an important part of the investigation.
“It’s because we’re the public, and they’re working on the case, and they don’t want to disclose any kind of details,” Woo said. “Some of these cases may have to go to court, and they don’t want the information to be public, so they keep it secret.”
Woo says they help bridge the gap with DNA funding, which is expensive.
“Each test runs $7,500 now to do the work and the genealogy that supports that, to get the leads for the investigators,” Woo said.
Those leads helped police find out who murdered Melonie White in 1994.
They say Arthur Joseph Lavery strangled her to death, and then dragged her body to Gypsum Wash.
For decades, the case went cold until now.
Fellow Vegas Justice League co-founder, Lydia Ansel says even when cases are solved, it’s not always happy news.
“It’s kind of a bittersweet moment because it’s so incredible to be able to be part of giving any kind of answers,” Ansel said. “The hard part is knowing that no matter how many answers you bring, there’s still tragic loss. That always kind of an odd balance.”
Those answers come from DNA tests the nonprofit sends to a top forensics lab for law enforcement in the Houston area.
The DNA is reevaluated using new technologies that were unavailable at the time of the crimes. But here and now, Woo thinks his team can help solve current cases.
“Our hope is that the work that we’re doing will eventually kind of get to some of these newer cases where we’ll be actually helping them to get bad guys off the street.”
The latest solve makes it the group’s ninth in Vegas, and its 41st in the country.
The Vegas Justice League has cases with police departments in Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas, as well as the coroner’s office. The group has no say which cold cases get chosen for a closer look.
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