Suwannee Valley Times is distributed into the following cities and towns: Lake City, Live Oak, Madison, Branford, Dowling Park, Falmouth, Lee, Wellborn, Jasper, White Springs, Fort White, High Springs and Alachua

Suwannee Valley Unsolved Releases New Cold Case Map

12/30/2022

Lake City, FL – Suwannee Valley Unsolved is announcing the inclusion of a new interactive cold case map, which maps each open and cold case homicides in the Suwannee and Columbia County areas. This map comes as the end of the year comes with three active investigations in both counties.

Individuals who access this map will have the opportunity to view the location of where each case originated from as accurately as possible. The cases are coded as follows:

  • Forest Green Badge: Columbia County Sheriff’s Office
  • Light Green Badge: Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office
  • Light Blue Policeman: Lake City Police Department
  • • Dark Blue: Live Oak Police Department
  • Black Squad Car: Florida Highway Patrol

2022 will conclude with a total of 30 unsolved cases in Columbia County, dating back to July 1971. The most recent case is that of skeletal remains located on County Line Road in September of 2022. They have yet to be identified. The number reflects cases between Lake City Police, CCSO and the Florida Highway Patrol. Suwannee County currently has 12 open investigations dating back to September 1976. The most recent one occurred earlier this month when a set of skeletal remains were located north of Branford.

Commenting on the startling number of open cold cases in Columbia County, SVU Creator Jason Futch commented: “It is troubling that Columbia County has a high cold case count for a rural county. But it is hoped that by keeping them out in the public spotlight, we continue to advocate for them and hope that a resolution will come soon. Speaking with investigators in the past year in Columbia County, I am very encouraged by the work being done to attempt to solve them.”

Though the recent cases are not considered cold, they have been included for research purposes.

We hope that this map can be useful for investigators and private citizens not only to keep track of the current open investigations, but also to keep these cases open to the eyes of the public. The map is still minimal, but will have more details and photos at a later date. There is also plans to include Hamilton and Madison Counties in the future.

To access the map, please click on the link provided: shorturl.at/aHRTY

To learn more about Suwannee Valley Unsolved, visit our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/suwanneevalleyunsolved.