Cold case playing cards distributed in Ohio jails, prisons to help with unsolved murders

CINCINNATI (FOX19) - Inmates in numerous jails and prisons across Ohio now have access to playing cards that feature cold cases.

Hope Dudley is behind the project. She started the non-profit “U Can Speak For Me” after her son was murdered in what is now considered an unsolved crime.

Dudley’s goal is to help the families of the missing and murdered get answers.

“It’s been a community effort to put out information on unsolved homicides,” Dudley said. “Everyone wants to see these cases solved.”

According to Dudley, there are three different cold case decks that have been handed out to jails and prisons in Ohio. The cards feature the faces of more than 100 victims from Cincinnati, Butler County and beyond.

Inmates at the Warren Correctional Institution were seen playing with the cards in photos posted on social media.

Dudley said detectives have told her that the playing cards do help them.

“People will call in and give information on a jack of spades or whatever that card number is,” Dudley said. “I did have a family years ago call me and said they knew six people on the cards that had been murdered, and I literally picked them up and drove them down to the homicide department myself.”

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction officials have called the cards “effective tools” for helping investigators close unsolved cases. A spokesperson shared a statement that said:

“We value our partnership with Ms. Dudley, and we continue to support the important work being done by her organization.”

Dudley encourages anyone with information on any of the cases to come forward.

“If you know something, no tip is too small,” Dudley said. “If we have over 150 unsolved homicides, that means these people are still walking around in our communities, and we need to get them off the streets before they destroy somebody else’s family.”

Dudley said anyone who wants to take a closer look at the playing cards can visit her non-profit’s website.

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