SYRACUSE, N.Y. — In the 10 years since Suzanne Lyall disappeared from an upstate New York college campus, her parents have clung to fading hope while trying to rally others who have lost loved ones, even after police have acknowledged the cases have long since gone cold.

Doug Lyall’s latest attempt to learn his daughter’s fate and help others locate long missing people and unravel unsolved murders lies in a deck of cards — customized poker cards — that are being distributed to inmates in county jails throughout New York.

Each of the 52 cards features a different case and comes with a photo and a short narrative.

“The idea is that if you want to find out about a crime, ask a criminal,” said Doug Lyall, who started the Center for HOPE after his 19-year-old daughter disappeared from the State University of New York at Albany campus in 1998.

“Inmates like to talk,” Lyall said in a telephone interview. “They have different motivations . . . They are in a unique position to know, hear and see things that may not reach the eyes and ears of law enforcement.”

“When they play cards, they will be looking at pictures of missing people, victims of homicides, and unidentified deceased. We hope to spark a memory or spark some conscience,” said Lyall, whose daughter’s profile is included in the deck. 
 

Rewards of up to $1,000 will be offered for tips that help resolve cold cases. The state Division of Criminal Justice Services is letting the program use its toll-free hot line for inmates who want to provide tips anonymously.

The approach has seen success in a handful of other states where it has been used.

In Florida, where the cards were first introduced in Polk County in 2005, authorities have already solved two cold homicide cases and arrested six fugitives as a result of tips from inmates who used the cards. Florida followed up by distributing 100,000 decks of cards in its state prisons, describing a total of 104 cold cases.

Rest of the story here

Wow.  That’s great.  Kudos to the person that came up with that idea.

That’s actually a really interesting idea.

A novel twist on the use of playing cards in the military, great idea!