SIUE students review cold homicide files in partnership with Illinois State Police, trustees told

The Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees heard a presentation from SIUE faculty and students about a partnership with the Illinois State Police in which undergraduates review cold homicide files to help investigative units, Chancellor Minor told the board.

The program pairs criminal justice students with Illinois State Police Zone 6 staff to review unsolved homicide investigations, update files and recommend follow-up steps. Professor Trish Oberweis described the program’s methods and results and said the course gives students real investigative experience while helping under-resourced departments move long-unresolved cases forward.

"We are better together," Professor Trish Oberweis, criminal justice professor at SIUE, told the board. Oberweis said technological advances and new forensic techniques have created an opportunity to reexamine older files. She told trustees Zone 6 has an estimated 700 cold cases and said the SIUE course has operated for about three years.

Student presenters described the training and workflow. "The training for this partnership consists of three weeks of online preparation courses prior to meeting in person at the Illinois State Police Zone 6 headquarters," student Ethan Reeder said. Reeder said the course includes four units with skill checks and a cumulative final exam; students must "obtain a score of 80% or higher" to proceed to the in-person orientation and then complete roughly 13 weeks of case review.

Oberweis told the board the course has reviewed about 50 cases in three years. The students prepare a standardized "murder book" for each file that organizes evidence, interviews and lab reports and includes a short synopsis and recommended next steps. That product is intended so an investigator can quickly pick up a file and know the case status and priority.

The course has produced tangible results, Oberweis said. "Following our work, just this summer, we were able to assist in the identification of three Jane Does, two of which were Illinois State Police cases, and the remains of these women have just been sitting in an evidence locker for 22 years," she said. Oberweis said the identifications are tentatively complete and one additional confirmatory DNA test is pending. She also said one student-reviewed case has been presented to the St. Clair County prosecutor's office and was reviewed twice; the program is "waiting for the top prosecutor to give us the green light."

Student coordinator Holly Matlock, who described her paid role at the Illinois State Police, said the work helped her understand how multiple entities collaborate from case initiation through possible prosecution. "It really does take a team to build a village," Matlock said.

Trustees and board leaders praised the students’ real‑world experience and the partnership’s potential to deliver closure to victims’ families while strengthening students’ career readiness. The presentation did not request board action; presenters said the partnership will continue and that additional case outcomes and prosecutorial decisions remain pending.