GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – After recently solving several decades of old unresolved cases, including one in Door County, the Wisconsin Department of Justice is hoping to add to its staff. That request is being made in the department’s biennial budget.
“The pain and heartache caused by the defendant to all our family, Carol Jean’s family, is impossible to quantify for the last 46 years and 11 months,” said Fillion last August.
That’s when Richard Pierce was sentenced to life in prison last August — his conviction coming nearly 50 years after his then-wife went missing in 1975.
The Pierce case is one of several unsolved cases the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation, or DCI, recently worked to help solve.
“We work for victim families on these cases. When you receive those hugs, those firm long, prolonged hugs from family members, that’s what’s worth it,” says DCI Special Agent Jay Yerges. He is part of the team that worked to convict Pierce.
Nicholas Grode was the assistant district attorney in Door County last year. He prosecuted Pierce.
“It certainly took a village to do, but it was something that we were lucky, even though it was 47 years later, so many of the crucial pieces were still there that they allowed us to ensure justice was done,” he said.
While DCI has committed special agents and is asking in its budget proposal to add more to continue investigating these unsolved cases, the renewed interest is also driven by advancements in technology. Evolving forensic science techniques, and the use of familial DNA, have helped to bring new capabilities to investigators, leading to resolutions decades after crimes are being committed.
“Law enforcement is getting better — they’re more trained, they’re more savvy, they’re more experienced, they’re learning more from the other cases that go before them, so that helps,” Yerges said. “And then, the use of prosecutors — you need zealous prosecutors that are willing to take very, very difficult cases and advance them in the judicial system.”
Success in cases such as Pierce’s is motivating for investigators who vow to continue the work. It’s dedication prosecutors appreciate too.
“Knowing that DCI is going through that work and willing to continue these investigations, I can’t say enough about it. It really speaks to their commitment, how deep they value and how serious they take what they do to really ensure that these victims get the justice that they deserve,” adds Grode.
Because for every case such as Carol Jean Pierce’s that is solved, there is another family waiting for answers.
