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'Everybody On This Team Is Real' — Former Prosecutor Kelly Siegler On Solving Cold Cases
Kelly Siegler also discusses DNA technology and the best parts about working with the "Cold Justice" team.
The hope is that when homicides occur, the killers can be quickly brought to justice and families can have the answers they need. Tragically, that isn't always the situation — some cases can go cold for years, decades, or even longer.
These cold cases are what veteran prosecutor Kelly Siegler and her rotating team of seasoned detective — Steve Spingola, Tonya Rider, and Abbey Abbondandolo — aim to solve as they travel to small towns and dig into unsolved homicide cases that have lingered for years on "Cold Justice," airing Saturdays at 8/7c on Oxygen. By working alongside local law enforcement across the country, the "Cold Justice" team has successfully helped bring about 51 arrests, which so far have led to 21 convictions and many active prosecutions.
Recently, Siegler spoke with Oxygen about solving cold cases and the "Cold Justice" team.
"What would be ideal is if a department could dedicate at least one, if not more, officers to working on nothing but cold cases — where they didn't have to catch any fresh cases and that could be all they worked on, one case at a time. Unfortunately the luxury of being able to do that just doesn't exist hardly anywhere," Siegler told Gomulka of the resources department needed to solve cases.
It's not easy working on these kinds of cases. But that's exactly what Siegler likes about it.
"The challenge is — think about that how hard is it to work a fresh murder case when the witnesses are down the street and it just happened yesterday. To present to a jury a cold case with all the challenges and twists and turns and difficulties, that's a challenge and that's what made me like doing it," she said.
And of course, working with the "Cold Justice" team is a rewarding experience for Siegler.
"Everybody on this team is real, everybody is here for the right reasons to do the right thing, and all anybody really wants to do is help these cops solve their cases and that's what everybody is all about. That's the best part of it," she concluded.
To see more on Siegler's thoughts about cold cases and the role DNA technology plays, watch the video above. And tune in tocCold Justiceairing Saturdays at 8/7c on Oxygen or stream episodes here.
