By james art LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Metro Police are cracking a 30-year-old unsolved case with the help of a local nonprofit. The family of a murder victim now knows who killed her.
The people who run Justice League Vegas found out who killed Melonie White when the public found out Tuesday afternoon at Metro Police headquarters.
Justice League Vegas co-founder Justin Wu says there’s a reason these details are being kept under wraps, even though they foot the bill for an important part of the investigation.
“That’s because we’re the public and they’re working on the case and they don’t want to release any details,” Wu said. “Some of these cases may have to go to court, and they don’t want the information to be public, so they’re keeping it private.”
Wu says they help bridge the gap with DNA funding, which is expensive.
“Each test now costs $7,500 to do the work and the pedigree that supports it to get the traces for the researchers,” Wu said.
These clues helped police find who killed Melonie White in 1994.
Arthur Joseph Lavery is said to have strangled her to death and then dragged her body to Gypsum Sink.
For decades, the case was cold until now.
Fellow Justice League Vegas co-founder Lydia Ansell says that even when cases are solved, it’s not always happy news.
“It’s kind of a bittersweet moment because it’s so amazing to be able to be a part of giving any answers,” Ansel said. “The hard part is knowing that no matter how many answers you give, there is still a tragic loss. It’s always a weird balance.
Those answers come from DNA tests the nonprofit sends to a leading law enforcement forensics lab in the Houston area.
DNA is reevaluated using new technologies that were not available at the time of the crimes. But in the here and now, Wu thinks his team can help solve ongoing cases.
“Hopefully, the work we’re doing will eventually trickle down to some of these newer cases where we’ll actually help them get the bad guys off the street.”
The latest decision makes it the group’s ninth in Vegas and 41st in the country.
Justice League Vegas has cases with the Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas police departments, as well as the medical examiner’s office. The group has no say in which cold cases are chosen for closer scrutiny.
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