There are a number of decades-old homicide and missing person cases in St. Paul, Minnesota. The St. Paul Police Department reports that there are over a hundred cold cases of homicide that date back to the 1970s. From 1980, we've compiled some data on the number of unsolved cases involving homicide or disappearance in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Almost a thousand incidents of missing people have been documented in St. Paul between 1980 and 2021, with about two-thirds being adults and the remaining one-third involving minors. Some of these cases go unsolved for a long time, even though the vast majority are eventually closed.
There are now over 700 missing person cases in Minnesota, and several dozen of those are in the city of St. Paul alone, as reported by the National Missing and Unidentified People System (NamUs). Adults, rather than minors, make up the vast majority of victims in these situations.
Almost 200 people have been murdered in St. Paul since 1980, and about a third of those cases have not been solved. Many of these incidents have not been resolved and are still being looked at.
Due to a lack of manpower and funds, the Murder Unit of the St. Paul Police Department has been unable to solve many of these murders. Lack of physical evidence, unwilling witnesses, and a lack of information all contribute to the large percentage of unresolved homicide cases.
The St. Paul Police Department and other organisations have been trying to get more people interested in solving cold cases and provide more funding for police. The department developed a cold case website in 2020 with details on how the public can provide information and tips regarding unresolved homicide and missing person cases.
Technological progress has also contributed to the resolution of cold cases. DNA analysis and other forensic techniques have allowed police to revisit old cases in the hopes of finding new leads or new pieces of evidence.