[JHeath]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=10259

2/25/2008 11:32:00 AM
Solving Murders May Be In The Cards
Department of Corrections selling playing cards to inmates hoping to get information on unsolved homicides in state.

Jason Miller
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - The Indiana Department of Corrections hopes the same method used to help catch "Chemical Ali" and other Iraqi higher-ups during the Iraq occupation will help solve some unsolved murders.

In the early days of the Iraq war, the Defense Department distributed decks of cards with the photos of the most wanted people from Saddam Hussein's regime. Most of those featured on the 52 cards were caught.

The DOC will soon start selling decks of playing cards that have information about unsolved homicides, some dating back as far as the early 1970s. They will be sold at commissaries at all of the state's prisons.

More than one of the cases is from La Porte County.

Department of Corrections spokesman Randy Koester said officials hope offenders will buy the decks at the commissary and possibly relay information on some of the cases.

"It might spark something in their memory," Koester said. "We have 26,000 offenders in the system and most of them like to play cards. Hopefully as they play, someone might realize they know something about one of the cases.

"And hopefully they'll tell us."

Koester said the packs will replace normal playing cards at the commissary and will cost $1. They'll also be made by inmates.

Currently the DOC is asking media and law enforcement agencies around the state if they have photos or information to place on the cards. Within two weeks, though, officials hope to start making the cards.

"We're not going to wait around for a couple of them," Koester said. "We're ready to go at this point. We're ready with what we've got."

Barry Nothstine, spokesman for the Indiana State Prison and a former police chief in Michigan City, said the idea is a good one.

"Anything we can do to try to gather information on an unsolved homicide would be fantastic," he said. "Sometimes just a tiny piece of information can be the thing that breaks a case.

"There are probably some offenders out there who would let us know if they came across something."

Koester said DOC Commissioner David Donoghue got the idea for the cards from the Florida Department of Corrections, which printed similar decks with successful results.

"I know they've solved at least one homicide case through their cards," he said. "If we can solve one case or get one lead that will be fruitful, then it's all worth it."



Contact reporter Jason Miller at jmiller@thenewsdispatch.com.