Since changing the appearance, distribution, and format of my website and blogs, I have written one hundred and thirty six posts. They are roughly divided into two thirds regarding the Stacey Burns murder and one third regarding other writing projects. With a new year, one in which I (and many, many others) are hoping for a solution to the murder case, I thought it may be worth revisiting some of the major questions I’ve raised over the last year or so. I’ll do this for the next few weeks as I complete the revision of the first draft of Murder in a Small Town: The Tragic Death of Stacey Burns.

Here is one question raised back in the summer but it remains one of the most puzzling to me. What does a cold case detective do during his work day? I always envisioned a detective arriving at work and quickly beginning to pour over all sorts of reports, ranging from first responders to official and unofficial interviews to autopsy results. In short, searching for some small detail that may have been missed. Failing to find anything in that search, it would seem the next item on the “to do” list would be returning to key witnesses, family, friends, and, yes, even the “persons of interest” for follow-up interviews. It was, and is, quite surprising that virtually no additional interviews have been conducted for months, more likely years, except in the case of the one person of interest who was named in a newspaper article last July.

It would seem that as the five year anniversary of this crime approaches in less than four months, the outrage over the lack of an arrest would be increasing exponentially and the investigation would be increasingly aggressive. From my observation, that is not the case.

Please, tell me that I am wrong and that the solution to this case is a high priority with someone in authority, rather than just those closest to  Stacey Burns.

Next question? Tomorrow we’ll wonder how the staff of 20/20 apparently had so much information? Or did they?

Duke