Suwannee Valley Unsolved, Inc. hosted a cold case awareness and education event in the Gilchrist County Library in Trenton Monday night.
Jason Futch said the company wants to get unsolved cases like Junior Kelly’s back into the public eye and hopefully generate tips.
SVU is based in Lake City and covers eight counties including Gilchrist.
They highlight cases over a year old and those with unidentified victims.
Originally intended to be a podcast about cold cases in the Suwannee River Valley, SVU was founded on June 1, 2023.
They try to educate law enforcement on updates in forensic methods and help identify grants for law enforcement.
SVU does not investigate any cold cases. Instead, they advocate for victims’ families and pass tips on to law enforcement.
“Our goal is to be a voice for victims who have no voice,” Tammy Jones, SVU Region 2 Coordinator said.
Jones said they aim to bridge gap between families and law enforcement.
Futch said SVU has 79 unsolved cases in its database with more on the way as they expect to add 12 hit and run cases from Florida Highway Patrol.
Two of those unsolved cases are from Gilchrist County.
The most famous one is the Junior Kelly case.
Kelly was killed in Nov. 2008 in his home in Bell.
Kelly had been a victim of several burglaries before his murder.
He wrote a letter to the editor to the Gilchrist County Journal in July 2008 saying the biggest loss from the burglaries was his peace of mind.
The other case involves a man that was found in a trash dump.
“Unidentified decedents deserve to have a tombstone with their birth name on it and to be reunited with their families,” Futch said.