Recently, a detective from West Hartford spoke to a class of criminology students as a part of Professor Racheal Pesta’s “True Crime” course at Eastern Connecticut State University. Detective Andrew Jacobson, who previously worked with Hartford Police on a myriad of cold cases, gave students a glimpse into the analytical processes behind criminal investigation.

According to Pesta, the purpose of bringing in Jacobson was to give students the chance to apply their classroom learning to real-world experiences. 

“Because the course focuses on ethical issues in true crime storytelling and consumption, my hope is that by researching the lives of real victims and seeing the impact of these crimes on the community, students will understand the importance of an ethical and victim-centered approach to true crime,” said Pesta. 

Jacobson gave several examples of grisly murders that never saw the perpetrators brought to justice. Despite having an idea of who murdered them in some cases, Jacobson said that the cases involving women dying between the 1980s and early 2000s have “haunted” him.

 “Putting together a case, especially a cold one, is like piecing together a puzzle; it’s tedious and costly, but sometimes it’s the only way to give victims a voice after so many years,” he said. 

According to Jacobson, recent breakthroughs in forensic science and DNA certainly help in tracing people, but the process of securing a conviction on the perpetrator is much harder. 

“One of the most frustrating things about these older cases is the decay of evidence – photos and ligatures are gone. DNA degrades. Water destroys evidence, and poor storage back then didn’t help,” he said. “With suspects, it’s often the psychology that stands out. Some are methodical and almost businesslike in their crimes while others are driven by opportunity. Knowing the difference can help us profile and catch them." 

Junior criminology major Emma Kopycinski explained that she and her classmates were assigned to study a total of 23 cold cases within Hartford County ranging from the 1973 Janet Couture case to the 2006 Cheryl Ruff case.  

“The main goal of the project is to group victims based on specific case details, such as date, location, cause of death and aspects of the murder method,” said Kopycinski. “Another focus is identifying possible suspects by reviewing police records and considering other active killers from the relevant time periods.” 

Kopycinski continued: “This work involves a lot of deep research using publicly available resources, which can sometimes be challenging since these cases are still open and certain records aren’t accessible. Although this research can be emotionally taxing, we all recognize how important it is to honor these individuals' memories and to search for the truth in their stories.”