Playing cards for local inmates are newest crime-fighters
52 ‘cold case’ photos now being featured
Local inmates playing cards in their jails will now see the faces of victims from unsolved murders and missing people as they shuffle the decks.
Each of the 52 playing cards features a synopsis of a “cold case.”
Authorities hope that inmates will recognize someone’s face on the cards and read a synopsis of their case, triggering memories or guilt.
On the bottom of each card, inmates will find a toll-free number they can call to divulge any information they know about these cold cases. The payoff could be a $1,000 reward.
The statewide program is a new way to turn inmates into informants to help crack cold cases.
“We know that inmates have a lot of time of their hands and inmates share information,” Erie County Sheriff Timothy B. Howard said Wednesday. “It is our hope that in distributing these cards, an inmate who has information on any one of these cases will call the 1-800 number . . . It’s a way of keeping old cases alive and breathing.”
Decks of the playing cards were distributed Wednesday in the Erie County Holding Center downtown and Erie County Correctional Facility in Alden, where the new playing cards will replace inmates’ old ones.
A total of 7,200 decks of cards — featuring unsolved murders and missing people from across New York State — began being distributed across the state about five weeks ago.
The playing deck features five local cases — two in Erie County, two in Chautauqua County and one in Genesee County.
• The four of spades in the deck is William Fickel. The 46-year-old man was shot to death outside his home on Burns Road in Oakfield, Genesee County, on Nov. 10, 2005.
The murder left his wife, Lisa, widowed after 18 years of marriage to her high school sweetheart.
“I think it’s a great idea,” she said when asked about the playing card program. “We’re still hoping for closure on this, and I support anything that provides leads and generates interest in my husband’s case.
Decks of playing cards — featuring Fickel — started being distributed in Chautauqua County’s jail last month, and within two weeks, they had sparked new leads about his murder, she said.
The playing card project was coordinated by the New York State Sheriffs Association, and the cost of printing the cards was covered by a $10,000 grant from State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.
The inmate rewards are being funded by private donations to Center of Hope, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping people cope with the disappearance of a loved one.
According to Howard, the local program is modeled on a successful program in Florida, which saw at least 17 positive leads come out of the 52 cases in its deck.
• Another local case is the two of clubs — the unsolved homicide of a John Doe.
The unidentified black man — about 30 years old, 6-feet tall and 168 pounds — was found floating in the Niagara River near the South Grand Island Bridges in the Town of Tonawanda on Aug. 16, 1998.
An autopsy showed that he died from strangulation from a black leather belt looped tightly around his neck.
Erie County Sheriff’s Senior Detective James F. Hatch said police found no matches despite checking his fingerprints, dental records and missing persons reports, along with getting the FBI, Interpol and Canadian police to check their records.
“There’s speculation that he was an undocumented person working on a Great Lakes freighter, who was murdered and dumped overboard,” said Hatch.
Other local cases include:
• Missing person — Jordan
W. Hall, of Orchard Park, was last seen in Buffalo on March 23, 2001. Hall is white, with a keloid scar on his right elbow, and suffers from mental illness.
• Unsolved homicide — An unidentified woman was found in a roadside ditch, off the Southern Tier Expressway, in the Town of Ellery, Chautauqua County, on Dec. 6, 1983. The woman, who was in her 30s, 5- foot-4 and 128 pounds, had been shot four times. A letterhead from the Blue Boy Hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia, was found in her coat pocket.
• Missing person — Lori A. Bova, whose husband told police he last saw her after she left their Lakewood apartment following a dispute on June 7, 1997. He said she was going to smoke a cigarette. Family and friends say they last saw her at a Red Lobster restaurant the night before her disappearance.
