So maybe a 1931 case isn’t too old to solve. Maybe I should try to nudge officials and those with the expertise to take another look at it. The case may be too old to convict someone because that someone is likely dead, but not only would solving it make history, it could lead to the solving of other related cases. Probably only DNA results would be convincing enough to prove a serial killer of children was active, but solving it could help in another important way: criminal profiling. The more facts known that go the heart of how serial killers operate, the more knowledge there is to fight them. And the murder of children always was and always will be the most distressing. That is where this knowledge is most important.
Virginia Brooks was only 10-years-old. Her body was found in a gunnysack and she was so decomposed it was assumed for a time that she was dismembered. Later examination determined her body (hate to have to say this) fell apart when it was moved to where it was found due to the disarticulated skeleton.
Most of the relevant press coverage is in Snake Avenue: The Cold Case of 10-year-old Virginia Brooks. But because it is an open case, it is unlikely the San Diego Police would be willing to share the evidence except in a formal investigation.
But what if @mvacsys and @TheAISOCC or Vidocq gave it a shot at the San Diego PD’s request?
In a December 16, 2005 U.T. San Diego article ’33 murder case solved: Boy drowned about the case of Dalbert Aposhian, the Virginia Brooks case is mentioned at the end of the article:
Dalbert’s case was the second oldest unsolved homicide in the department. The first was Virginia Brooks, 13, who was murdered on Feb. 10, 1931, in what used to be known as Camp Murphy. She disappeared from her home on University Avenue. Her body and schoolbooks were found in two gunnysacks.
Goldberg said the case is still open.
“We never throw anything away in homicide,” he said.
There are discrepancies in the details. Virginia was 10, her body was found in one gunnysack and the books in another; one or more of the gunnysacks were, I believe, sewn shut. She was walking to school, . The article mentions the PD got funding to do DNA testing, so maybe the Brooks case was looked at as well, but the M-vac could be the solution now. So I guess I’m requesting the @SanDiegoPD to make that request. The worst that could happen is nothing, and the case gets one year colder every year.
Colder Case 