Buffalo Police Launch New Initiative to Solve Cold Cases

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Buffalo Police Department announced a new initiative Tuesday that it hopes will help them solve manslaughter cases in the city.

The department will use a monthly billboard, located at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Cherry Street, with photos of a homicide victim whose case they are trying to solve, as well as posting a video with family testimonies asking for help finding the perpetrators.

The first victim to be introduced is Jazzmine Fomby, a 14-year-old girl who was killed as one of six teens gunned down at a party near Jefferson Avenue on the evening of May 4. Her billboard was erected Monday. Fomby’s family was present at Tuesday’s news conference.

“We know for a fact that a significant number of people were involved in the homicide,” Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said. “We know for a fact that there were witnesses and there are people who know something and they can come forward and bring this case to the forefront so that we can make an arrest.”

No arrests have yet been made in the incident.

“I just wish they would come forward,” said Fomby’s mother, Angel. “That’s all.”

The department has used bulletin boards before to solicit help on cases, but using social media is new. The department plans to strategically choose who it puts on the bulletin boards based on the evidence it already has.

Gramaglia said the city’s homicide clearance rate is above 50 percent this year. There have been 22 homicides in Buffalo this year, including a shooting Monday night in the city’s Schiller Park neighborhood that left a 45-year-old man dead. Of the 22 homicides, 14 have resulted in arrests, and other cases are “very active and very close,” so the department expects the clearance rate to increase.

“It’s a huge courage for families to be able to come forward and talk about their loved ones,” Gramaglia said. “Somebody will see this and have a conscience, and they’ll want to come forward and do something.”