I just thought about this and thought I would post it.
What cases come to mind where you think the police really did their jobs well and caught the bad guy after a long and trying search?
A case that comes to my mind is that of Larry Dickens, who was shot dead by Edward Harold Bell in 1979.

So many I could name but it'd take me forever. Take it away, forumers :talk:

Even though the police didn't catch him until later, the investigators on the Kidd case were fantastic in their analysis of the evidence.

I think the police one hell of an outstanding job figuring out that Hilda Roche's killer was Gregory Barker. They went through about 25,000-30,000 lease agreements from his apartment complex, narrowed it down to 32 possible suspects, found out that Barker had given out his phone number at a restaurant on the night of the murder, put an employee from the restaurant under hypnosis so she could remember his phone #, and then cross-referenced the number with the lease agreements to track Barker down. Wow! Talk about pain-staking detective work that paid off!

I think the police one hell of an outstanding job figuring out that Hilda Roche's killer was Gregory Barker. They went through about 25,000-30,000 lease agreements from his apartment complex, narrowed it down to 32 possible suspects, found out that Barker had given out his phone number at a restaurant on the night of the murder, put an employee from the restaurant under hypnosis so she could remember his phone #, and then cross-referenced the number with the lease agreements to track Barker down. Wow! Talk about pain-staking detective work that paid off!

Agreed. That was the case that popped in my head as soon as I read the title of this thread. The police did all that pain-staking work without a name or picture of the suspect.

good thread, there have been so many instances of lousy police work on Unsolved Mysteries we sometimes forget the times they do a good job.

You will find this to be a very interesting forum! We are a pretty die-hard group of fans of the show.
I hope you are as excited as I was when I found this site!

Even though the police didn't catch him until later, the investigators on the Kidd case were fantastic in their analysis of the evidence.
I agree, that's my pick too.

I just thought about this and thought I would post it.
What cases come to mind where you think the police really did their jobs well and caught the bad guy after a long and trying search?
A case that comes to my mind is that of Larry Dickens, who was shot dead by Edward Harold Bell in 1979.

This was my first thought.

The Ethel Kidd case came to mind, based off of the "profile" that LE came up with for her killer and how they decoded his note that was left behind.

Let's not forget "Little Miss Panasofkee"...

Let's not forget "Little Miss Panasofkee"...

Yes, even though this still hasn't been solved, I greatly admired the sheriff's willingness to go all out with reopening this cold case, which isn't something all police departments are willing to do, and he obviously was very passionate and dedicated about getting this young woman IDed.

I also believe the medical examiner who identified Gale Delano did one hell of a job pursuing finding out the identity of the "Jane Doe" that had came into the coroner's office.