LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – We’re now learning several cold cases in the Vegas valley are on the verge of being closed.
That’s according to Metro Police. But the department isn’t working on closing these cases on its own.
The Vegas Justice League is a local non-profit dedicated to getting bad guys off the street and bringing closure to families.
The co-founders and other members act as angel investors and put up the money for DNA testing, which can be expensive. But they say helping families is priceless.
They’ve helped police departments around the valley close nine cases in four years, and 41 across the country.
It isn’t lost on law enforcement. The co-founders, married couple Justin Woo and Lydia Ansel recently got the Key to the Strip for all of their work. But they say they’re not done, and hoping for more solves.
Woo says it costs about $7,500 to reexamine the DNA at a high-tech lab in Texas. He says it can trace back DNA to your seventh cousin.
Co-founder Lydia Ansel says that really helps detectives find a lead and give the investigation new life, even when solving a case is thought to be impossible.
“One of the first cases that we funded was actually considered “unsolvable” by most because it had so little DNA,” Ansel said. “The lab broke the world record for using the smallest amount of DNA to solve a case, and that actually solved two murders, and that was the Stephanie Isaacson case.“
Isaacson is the Las Vegas teen who was murdered on her way to school in 1989.
Ansel says the decades-old case was solved in seven months.
If you want to help the Vegas Justice League as a community member, the group takes donations as little as $10.
To learn more or find out how to donate, visit VegasJusticeLeague.com.
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