RICHMOND, Va. -- Could a deck of playing cards help police solve cold cases?
While Richmond Sheriff Antoinette Irving thinks so, not everyone is on board with the idea. Irving said it's an idea she's been trying for years to help cold case detectives.
"The goal of the playing cards is to ensure we can get just a little bit more information,” Irving said. "To help solve a crime and to bring a bit of peace and resolution to a family."
However, the families of some murder victims aren't a fan of the idea.
"I'm being victimized all over again," Lavon Whitlow, the mother of a victim, said. "I don't like it. It's ridiculous. I've called her several times and left messages and no one has called me back."
Whitlow would like to speak with Sheriff Irving as the grieving mother insists that her son Jamarea is more than the four of spades.
His killing on August 23, 2020, still goes unsolved.
"You put fifty-two families on there without the consent of those families,” said Whitlow. “We already relive it. That issue, every day waking up and not having our loved one here. I know it probably comes from a good place in their heart but the information they’ll get will be false."
Whitlow believes that will be the attitude of many who shuffle the deck.
"As the guy said in the video as he flicked through the cards," Whitlow said after watching a man mock the cards on social media. "He said this doesn't make me feel bad. I ain't saying sh**."
The sheriff has a different outlook, saying the 52 faces represent unsolved murders in Richmond.
The first deck of cards are cases that Richmond major crimes detectives believe they are close to solving, but they need to flush out more information before bringing the cases to the Commonwealth.
"As we all know in this business, information flows heavier within these walls [of the jail], than they do outside,” Irving said. “And that information can be the one tip to help solve someone’s murder."
Out of 600 inmates at the Richmond Justice Center, more than half are incarcerated for violent crimes so some are serving serious time. The cards are an opportunity for them to anonymously tap the P3 app on their tablets.
Irving said other law enforcement agencies have seen more than 630 viable tips generated from decks like this and more than 30 cold cases have been solved.
"The inmates will play cards,” Irving said. “They play all the time. When they're playing, they may see something or someone and it'll jog their memory and they can give information from that. They may talk to a person on the outside on the phone and ask if they've heard about someone and a lot of the guys say that's what they want to do."
The Attorney General's office and the Richmond Police are also working on the playing card project with at least two more decks in the works.
The next 52 will feature missing Richmonders.
