NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — News 3 is getting an update on an effort by the Newport News Police Department to solve the department’s cold cases.
We first told you about the NNPD's Cold Case Team in September 2024.
"We just really tried to go back and prioritize and look at all the case files that we have, which encompasses about three rooms. So that's a lot," said investigator Misty Mercer.
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The team started in May 2024. Since then, nearly a year later, two cases have been solved.
"It makes us feel good. It makes us happy for the family that there might be, finally, some resolution to it," Mercer said.
The success likely won't stop with those two cases, though.
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"I think with several cases that we're thinking of that we're working, there's definitely going to be an arrest made in a couple of them," said detective Amber Rogers.
Detective Aaron Thornton says solving the cases involves more than just the Cold Case Team.
"We connect with private labs, prosecutors, media to get the word out," Thornton explained.
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When asked how the success of the team makes him feel, Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew said the following: "One, wow. There's a success there. We're moving forward. The other, at times it can be emotional, right? Can you imagine telling a family where in years passed they may have given up, certainly not forgotten but given up?" Drew said. "I can't imagine the emotion that runs through someone's body. It gets me choked up."
One case the department is trying to highlight is the 1993 homicide of Lee Nguyen.
According to the team, she was found dead inside Lee’s Restaurant near Newport News Shipbuilding.
“We’re thinking with the shipyard, and people that worked in the shipyard and the years and stuff that have gone by, that maybe people that didn’t want to give information back then now want to," said Mercer. "The Navy has a large presence, people come and go. Maybe something they heard that they didn’t think was significant back then. But every one of these cases deserves to be solved.”
If you have any information about this case, contact the police department at 757-933-2311.
