Cedar Rapids Police Department Cold Cases: We Never Give Up
What happens with cold cases? Officer Matt Denlinger discusses how something becomes a cold case and how the Police Department works to resolve those cases.
Featuring:
Matt Denlinger
Matt Denlinger has been a member of the Cedar Rapids Police Department since 1999. Denlinger was a patrol officer before joining the Criminal Investigation Division in 2004, where he has worked homicide, robbery, narcotics, vice, burglary, sex crimes, and youth crimes. In 2015, Denlinger began working on cold cases. He is a graduate of Jefferson High School and the University of Northern Iowa. Denlinger is married to Nicole and has four children. His father, Harvey Denlinger, is a retired Cedar Rapids Police Department Detective. Transcription:
Officer Matt Denlinger (Guest): We don’t think of it as something that cannot be solved.
Bill Klaproth (Host): Meet Matt Denlinger, Cedar Rapids Police Investigator.
Matt: I do get a motivation from the victim’s families and friends to see their desire to have a resolution or at least a complete and thorough investigation done on their case.
Host: This is Inside Cedar Rapids, a monthly podcast that introduces you to the people, projects and programs of your local government. And on this episode, we talk about Cedar Rapids Police Department Cold Cases with Matt Denlinger.
Heh Matt. Thanks for your time.
Matt: Thanks Bill. It’s great to be here.
Host: You bet. So, Matt, what do you consider a cold case?
Matt: We like to look at a couple of things on a cold case. I like to really kind of focus on the more severe crimes. Generally, we focus on homicides. So, anything more than a couple of years, a little bit has maybe lost some traction, or the leads have dried up to the point where the current investigators have moved on to focus on stuff that’s a little more solvable in the meantime.
Host: So, then after a couple of years an active case is moved to a cold case?
Matt: Yeah. There’s not like a set time. But at times, when you are working on investigations or homicide investigations; sometimes it feels like you’ve lost momentum or traction in that particular case and maybe you are kind of at a loss for things to do. And you might put it aside and work on a more current case or something that’s a little more solvable in the immediate future. And sometimes these cases will sit around for a while and that’s where the cold case unit comes in. We like to just pick them up and go through them periodically, just to see if there’s anything that maybe was missed or something that’s changed about the situation that could be revisited.
Host: Right so, how many cold cases is the police department working on?
Matt: Well the unit consists of myself and two other retired investigators. So, we kind of dabble in about six cases currently that we’ve done a little bit on in the last couple of years. Some of them, we’ve had better results that others as you probably have seen.
Host: Absolutely. So, I imagine these cold cases can be very frustrating. What personally keeps you motivated when you are working on a cold case?
Matt: Well myself and J.D. Smith and Ken Washburn who work on them; we are all kind of wired the same way. We just love the challenge of it. we don’t think of it as something that cannot be solved. I like to think of it as kind of a challenge or a puzzle and I like to think that other people looked at it and kind of were either frustrated or just at their wit’s end with it and kind of gave up on it. But I like to think that we have more perseverance and that we are just willing to stick with it a little bit longer which is really all that’s needed in a few of these cases.
Host: Right and I guess thinking there still are families out there that still want answers, right?
Matt: Absolutely. I’ve gotten calls recently from family members on cold cases that maybe weren’t at the top of my list of things to do but I picked them up because I have met with the family and they explained what’s going on and I just felt the kind of a connection with the families and so I really – I do get a motivation from the victim’s families and friends to see their desire to have a resolution or at least a complete and thorough investigation done on their case. And so, we do draw a lot of motivation from meeting with those people.
Host: And I imagine as time goes on, you probably get a random phone call or email saying heh, on this cold case, I just cam across something or I remember something, or something triggered this, and I just want to let you know about it. Does that happen often, or I suppose it does happen from time to time.
Matt: Yeah, it happens all the time actually. Probably a couple of times a week people will call about some really obscure stuff that maybe even happened as long as 40 years ago and I appreciate them, but they just call and share that with me and then I can kind of filter whether or not I find any value in their information.
Host: Right and you never know what something might be very valuable, somebody thinks of something or remembers something or finds something and thinks it might be insignificant when it turns out it could be extremely helpful.
Matt: Yeah, that’s definitely true.
Host: So, let’s turn to advanced technology. We were just talking about people calling in; what about all the new technology that we have today. Do you think that will help solve more cold cases?
Matt: It’s helping solve more cold cases all over the United States just since last year about this time, when they solved the Golden State killer case; people have started using advance DNA technology and it’s almost on a weekly basis that you turn on the news and see that another case has been solved using the same technology that they used and that we have been using in our case.
Host: Yeah, technology playing a much bigger role. So, Matt, because there is an upcoming trial, we understand that you can’t go into the specifics of the 39 year old cold case that involved the arrest of an individual for the murder of Michelle Martinko who was found stabbed to death in December 1979. However, we learned that your dad was also an investigator and was involved in the early stages of this case. Can you tell us about this unique connection?
Matt: Yeah, whenever there is a crime of this nature; pretty much everyone in the detective bureau steps forward to help out in the early stages of an investigation and my dad Harvey, he started with the Cedar Rapids police department in 1970 and he was a detective at the time of this crime. And he retired in 1999 which is really the year I started so we overlapped by one year which was a pretty fun experience. But yeah, he did a lot of the entry level interviews, a lot of witnesses, canvasing the area and things of that nature.
Host: So, if this cold case is solved and there is a conviction; that would really be unique for your father and yourself having worked both ends of this.
Matt: It would be. I think it’s kind of special. When we get together occasionally, I use him as a little bit of a sounding board or a resource and just to talk about the case. You know what were people thinking back in 1979? What was the area like? I was a younger kid back then and so he’s got kind of a view of the world or Cedar Rapids in particular in 1979 that it’s a little hard to get from just reading reports.
Host: Right. That’s so true. So, if anyone has information about a case even if they think it may not be important or relevant; we were just talking about how tips from the public are extremely useful in cold cases; what should they do?
Matt: Well, we’d like you to – if you have any tips on any cases that you believe may be related to Cedar Rapids; we would like you to call the cold case unit at 319-286-5442 and you just leave a message for myself and then we will sort through that.
Host: Matt, that’s great. Well we’re happy to know that you’re on the case all the time. And if you could just wrap this up for us. Anything you want to say about the cold cases that are still ongoing in Cedar Rapids?
Matt: Yeah, we’re currently working on anywhere between four and six cases at any given time and if you have any information or you have any other particular cases that you’d like some more information about or you have something you’d like to share with us, please don’t hesitate to call. I just encourage people not to – if they are even wondering if their information is even a little bit useful please call and we can figure that out together.
Host: That’s right. You don’t know what may seem like an insignificant tip may actually help crack the case. So, if you think you have information that may help solve a cold case; give Matt and his team a call. Matt, this has been great. Thanks for your time.
Matt: Thank you Bill.
Host: To learn more about the city of Cedar Rapids police department go to www.cedar-rapids.org/police, that’s www.cedar-rapids.org/police. And if you have liked what you’ve heard, please share it on your social channels and be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can also check out the full library at www.cityofcr.com. This is Inside Cedar Rapids. I’m Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.
Officer Matt Denlinger (Guest): We don’t think of it as something that cannot be solved.
Bill Klaproth (Host): Meet Matt Denlinger, Cedar Rapids Police Investigator.
Matt: I do get a motivation from the victim’s families and friends to see their desire to have a resolution or at least a complete and thorough investigation done on their case.
Host: This is Inside Cedar Rapids, a monthly podcast that introduces you to the people, projects and programs of your local government. And on this episode, we talk about Cedar Rapids Police Department Cold Cases with Matt Denlinger.
Heh Matt. Thanks for your time.
Matt: Thanks Bill. It’s great to be here.
Host: You bet. So, Matt, what do you consider a cold case?
Matt: We like to look at a couple of things on a cold case. I like to really kind of focus on the more severe crimes. Generally, we focus on homicides. So, anything more than a couple of years, a little bit has maybe lost some traction, or the leads have dried up to the point where the current investigators have moved on to focus on stuff that’s a little more solvable in the meantime.
Host: So, then after a couple of years an active case is moved to a cold case?
Matt: Yeah. There’s not like a set time. But at times, when you are working on investigations or homicide investigations; sometimes it feels like you’ve lost momentum or traction in that particular case and maybe you are kind of at a loss for things to do. And you might put it aside and work on a more current case or something that’s a little more solvable in the immediate future. And sometimes these cases will sit around for a while and that’s where the cold case unit comes in. We like to just pick them up and go through them periodically, just to see if there’s anything that maybe was missed or something that’s changed about the situation that could be revisited.
Host: Right so, how many cold cases is the police department working on?
Matt: Well the unit consists of myself and two other retired investigators. So, we kind of dabble in about six cases currently that we’ve done a little bit on in the last couple of years. Some of them, we’ve had better results that others as you probably have seen.
Host: Absolutely. So, I imagine these cold cases can be very frustrating. What personally keeps you motivated when you are working on a cold case?
Matt: Well myself and J.D. Smith and Ken Washburn who work on them; we are all kind of wired the same way. We just love the challenge of it. we don’t think of it as something that cannot be solved. I like to think of it as kind of a challenge or a puzzle and I like to think that other people looked at it and kind of were either frustrated or just at their wit’s end with it and kind of gave up on it. But I like to think that we have more perseverance and that we are just willing to stick with it a little bit longer which is really all that’s needed in a few of these cases.
Host: Right and I guess thinking there still are families out there that still want answers, right?
Matt: Absolutely. I’ve gotten calls recently from family members on cold cases that maybe weren’t at the top of my list of things to do but I picked them up because I have met with the family and they explained what’s going on and I just felt the kind of a connection with the families and so I really – I do get a motivation from the victim’s families and friends to see their desire to have a resolution or at least a complete and thorough investigation done on their case. And so, we do draw a lot of motivation from meeting with those people.
Host: And I imagine as time goes on, you probably get a random phone call or email saying heh, on this cold case, I just cam across something or I remember something, or something triggered this, and I just want to let you know about it. Does that happen often, or I suppose it does happen from time to time.
Matt: Yeah, it happens all the time actually. Probably a couple of times a week people will call about some really obscure stuff that maybe even happened as long as 40 years ago and I appreciate them, but they just call and share that with me and then I can kind of filter whether or not I find any value in their information.
Host: Right and you never know what something might be very valuable, somebody thinks of something or remembers something or finds something and thinks it might be insignificant when it turns out it could be extremely helpful.
Matt: Yeah, that’s definitely true.
Host: So, let’s turn to advanced technology. We were just talking about people calling in; what about all the new technology that we have today. Do you think that will help solve more cold cases?
Matt: It’s helping solve more cold cases all over the United States just since last year about this time, when they solved the Golden State killer case; people have started using advance DNA technology and it’s almost on a weekly basis that you turn on the news and see that another case has been solved using the same technology that they used and that we have been using in our case.
Host: Yeah, technology playing a much bigger role. So, Matt, because there is an upcoming trial, we understand that you can’t go into the specifics of the 39 year old cold case that involved the arrest of an individual for the murder of Michelle Martinko who was found stabbed to death in December 1979. However, we learned that your dad was also an investigator and was involved in the early stages of this case. Can you tell us about this unique connection?
Matt: Yeah, whenever there is a crime of this nature; pretty much everyone in the detective bureau steps forward to help out in the early stages of an investigation and my dad Harvey, he started with the Cedar Rapids police department in 1970 and he was a detective at the time of this crime. And he retired in 1999 which is really the year I started so we overlapped by one year which was a pretty fun experience. But yeah, he did a lot of the entry level interviews, a lot of witnesses, canvasing the area and things of that nature.
Host: So, if this cold case is solved and there is a conviction; that would really be unique for your father and yourself having worked both ends of this.
Matt: It would be. I think it’s kind of special. When we get together occasionally, I use him as a little bit of a sounding board or a resource and just to talk about the case. You know what were people thinking back in 1979? What was the area like? I was a younger kid back then and so he’s got kind of a view of the world or Cedar Rapids in particular in 1979 that it’s a little hard to get from just reading reports.
Host: Right. That’s so true. So, if anyone has information about a case even if they think it may not be important or relevant; we were just talking about how tips from the public are extremely useful in cold cases; what should they do?
Matt: Well, we’d like you to – if you have any tips on any cases that you believe may be related to Cedar Rapids; we would like you to call the cold case unit at 319-286-5442 and you just leave a message for myself and then we will sort through that.
Host: Matt, that’s great. Well we’re happy to know that you’re on the case all the time. And if you could just wrap this up for us. Anything you want to say about the cold cases that are still ongoing in Cedar Rapids?
Matt: Yeah, we’re currently working on anywhere between four and six cases at any given time and if you have any information or you have any other particular cases that you’d like some more information about or you have something you’d like to share with us, please don’t hesitate to call. I just encourage people not to – if they are even wondering if their information is even a little bit useful please call and we can figure that out together.
Host: That’s right. You don’t know what may seem like an insignificant tip may actually help crack the case. So, if you think you have information that may help solve a cold case; give Matt and his team a call. Matt, this has been great. Thanks for your time.
Matt: Thank you Bill.
Host: To learn more about the city of Cedar Rapids police department go to www.cedar-rapids.org/police, that’s www.cedar-rapids.org/police. And if you have liked what you’ve heard, please share it on your social channels and be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can also check out the full library at www.cityofcr.com. This is Inside Cedar Rapids. I’m Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.