- In short: All Tasmanian cold cases will be re-examined using new forensic technology, with a hope it could help families desperate for answers.
- What's next? The new technology will start to be used later this year, with further upgrades set to happen over the next three years.
New forensic technology will be used to re-examine all Tasmanian cold cases, with police hoping it could finally provide answers to long-suffering families.
A $3.7 million upgrade will see Tasmania's DNA analysis and testing process automated, reducing the risk of contamination and human error.
Forensic Science Service Tasmania director Matthew Osborn said the new technology would ideally provide answers about both new and old cases.
"When the new instruments become fully online, we will be going back through cold cases and re-running those," he said.
"Obviously we've got to balance that with the current cases as well and making sure that we're bringing resolution to victim-survivors of crime now, but at the same time looking backwards to cold cases.
"We would hope so certainly that the greater sensitivity of the DNA instrument would provide some opportunities there."
Police Minister Felix Ellis said the upgrade would be worth it if it helped to solve even one cold case.
"They're just such traumatic crimes … this investment will bolster [our] capability [to solve cold cases]," he said.
Tasmania Police offered $500,000 rewards in 2021 for information that would help it solve seven high-profile cold cases, including 20-year-old Italian tourist Victoria Cafasso, who was murdered on Beaumaris Beach on the state's east coast in 1995.
Other cases include then-26-year-old Nancy Grunwaldt, who went missing from the east coast in 1993, Simon Crisp — who was shot dead in the car park of the Marrawah Hotel in 2013 — and 32-year-old Paul Byrne, who it is suspected was murdered in Rossarden in north-east Tasmania in 1996.
Mr Osborn said the new technology would assist in the re-examining of cases dating back to the early 1990s, when DNA testing started being used for forensic purposes.
New tech to help prevent crime
Forensic scientist Paul Holloway said the new technology would also help to solve "less exciting" crimes like burglaries and car thefts in a quicker time frame.
"The faster we can do that sort of thing the faster we can get results out, and often people who are involved in those small crimes are also more involved in larger crimes," he said.
"So, it's that preventative thing that can be very valuable. Those things don't seem so big, they don't seem so interesting, but they have a big impact on what can happen with major crimes as well."
Tasmania's Forensic Science Service receives more than 22,000 requests for forensic analysis each year, with about 10,000 of those for DNA.
As well as automating the process — with a program able to handle 96 samples at a time — the upgrades will also fund a microscope to detect drugs and powders and a new mass spectrometer for toxicological analysis.
It will also be spent on extra storage capacity — allowing DNA samples to be kept indefinitely.
Sexual Assault Support Service chief executive Jill Maxwell said the added capacity would allow victims of sexual assault to be confident to undergo DNA analysis, but not be required to provide an official police report until they're ready.
"We fully support this for victim-survivors," she said.
"It's really important in the response that they have choice and options and that they take time and understand what they are," she said.
Mr Ellis said it would give victim-survivors agency.
"If they choose, and when they choose to come to Tasmania Police, they can do so knowing that sample is available there," he said.
