Unsolved Mysteries

But that paled in comparison to the shocking discovery they made next. Near the gravel driveway, the workers found the lifeless body of 21-year-old Michael Crosby, who had been shot four times in his head and face with a small-caliber handgun.

Lt. Marvin Clark of the Chapel Hill Police Department said he remembers vividly the day Crosby was found.

"We worked for seven or eight hours at first," he said. But Crosby had no connection to the water treatment plant and no identification, so the police officers had to wait almost two days until a friend of Crosby's reported him missing.

After discerning his identity, Clark said the 14 investigators assigned to the case worked tirelessly to solve it, logging nearly 16 to 20 hours each day for more than two weeks. "On that particular day, that Sunday, I even slept in my office," he said.

Although the department used every resource it could, it was not enough. A suspect was arrested, but the charges against him were later dropped. Crosby's murderer is still free today.

Clark has tracked hundreds of criminals in his 27 years as a Chapel Hill police officer, but he said Crosby was one of a few victims whose killers were never brought to justice and continue to haunt his memory.

Crosby. Suellen Evans. Robert Sheldon.

All three were killed in Chapel Hill, and their murderers remain at large. "We'll always want to solve these cases," Clark said.

He said the public needs to be aware of these unsolved mysteries so anyone with information about the case can come forward. The police will thoroughly investigate any new leads, even if the crime occurred years before.

"Any publicity we can get on a cold case helps us get the message out to the world that we aren't finished, and we need some help," he said. "We now live in such a mobile society that a person can commit a crime, move to another state and never be heard from again."

Unsolved murders are not a new phenomenon in Chapel Hill. On July 31, 1965, 21-year-old Suellen Evans was stabbed while walking through Coker Arboretum in the middle of the day. Evans had recently transferred from Catawba College in Salisbury to UNC-Greensboro. She was making up the credits she lost when she transferred by taking summer classes at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Capt. Joel Booker of the Carrboro Police Department said the murder was shocking for the Chapel Hill area because such things were much less common in the 1960s. "I was a little kid when that happened, and I remember it," said Booker, who grew up in Orange County.

The Evans case also was unusual because after being inactive for more than 20 years, it was reactivated about 10 years ago when the department got a new lead.

"I was very hopeful that it would be the tip that they needed," Clark said.

He said he was disappointed when the lead did not pan out but that he reviewed the case again three years ago to see if modern technology could help him find any new leads.

This is a common procedure, Clark said. "We review cases periodically to see if there is anything that could be done or hasn't been done."

He said the new developments in DNA testing and fingerprinting techniques might allow for new information to be found in old cases.

Booker said technology has vastly improved the Carrboro Police Department's ability to fight crime over the past few years. "With the forensics now, your chances of success are probably increased, but you'll still have to do the legwork," he said.

Clark said another lingering mystery he would love to get some help with is the homicide at Internationalist Books. The owner of the store, Robert Sheldon, 40, was murdered on Feb. 21, 1991. "He was shot and killed at the store, which at the time was just next to where Mama Dip's is now on Rosemary Street," Clark said. The bookstore has since moved its operation to 405 W. Franklin St.

Clark said the officers who work these cases never forget them, and leaving them unsolved is very difficult, but it is something the police must learn to do.

"I think you feel disappointed that you didn't complete the task at hand, but you have to move on," he said.

Booker said there also are several cases he would like to solve after his 17 years in law enforcement.

He said he still thinks about the unsolved murder of Wilbert L. Jones on March 6, 1999.

Jones, 74, was a longtime Carrboro resident who was killed at his home by a gunshot to the chest. He had eight children, 18 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren at the time of his death.

Booker said another local mystery was the sudden disappearance of Chapel Hill resident Deborah Key in 1997.

Key, 35, was presumed dead after she disappeared on Dec. 1. She was last seen talking with a local artist outside Sticks & Stones, a pool hall in Carrboro. The artist was later questioned but never arrested.

"Those are some that just through time kind of bother us," Booker said. "Those are some that just kind of weigh heavily on our minds."

Clark said that after a crime such as a murder or an assault, the long process of solving it begins with an investigation and then give it one of four labels: further investigation, inactive, closed/cleared or closed/leads exhausted.

If a case is under further investigation, then it is still open and someone is actively working on it, usually for recent crimes. If a case is inactive, then there are no obvious leads, but the police believe that might change for some reason. Cases generally do not stay inactive for very long, Clark said.

Cases can be cleared for a variety of reasons, including an arrest, the death of the offender, the refusal of the victim to prosecute or another state declining to extradite the offender for a minor offense.

When the police officers have done everything they can but there are no more leads, then the case is closed. These cases can be reopened if a new lead is found, as was the case with the Evans murder.

Because every police department in North Carolina can set its own method of classifying crimes, Carrboro's system is different than Chapel Hill's. For Carrboro, there are only three categories: open, closed by arrest and closed by exceptional circumstances, which includes the possibilities listed above.

Booker and Clark agree that, in general, it is easier to solve a case immediately after it happens. "It's just a matter of how soon you get started on a case, how fresh the information is and the particulars of that case," Booker said.

Clark said there are several reasons why it becomes harder to solve crimes over time. "Because witnesses' memories become cloudy, victims' memories become cloudy, perpetrators die off," he said. "So the longer you go from the time of the crime, the less likely you will solve the crime. That's why we work on them so hard at the beginning."

Clark also said different types of crimes are treated differently within the department, which could affect the clearance rate for certain crimes. "The magnitude of the crime does have some bearing on the status of the case," Clark said. The department does not have the resources to work the minor cases as heavily as the major cases, but the police solve just as many minor cases, he said.

Clark said one of the most important methods of solving crimes is to prevent them in the first place. First, he said, be aware when you are at home or in your neighborhood. "Neighborhood watch systems are great to have," Clark said.

He also said the Crime Stoppers system, which allows people to call and give information anonymously, is a useful tool.

Clark said one of the best ways for people to protect themselves is to write down the serial number for any piece of equipment they own. In case of a robbery, the numbers can be entered into the National Crime Information Center, a national database with information about stolen property, descriptions of suspects and current warrants that any police department can access.

Clark said residents' cooperation is vital for the police department to have a high clearance rate. He said that regardless of the situation, any crime can be solved if witnesses come forward with the right information.

"I hope that there's a chance that we can solve these cases," he said.

"We never give up hope."

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.