There is no more exciting “whodunit” than a cold case. It is generally a puzzle that many have tried to solve only to come up short. Cold cases test intuition, logic, and plain on common sense. If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at cracking the code on an unsolved mystery, now is your opportunity.
Each Friday evening, plus the second Saturday this month (Oct. 7, 8, 14, 21, and 28), Georgia Writers Museum (GWM) will partner with the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute (CCIRI) to present Crime & Wine at the Museum. For true crime junkies, this program makes you the investigator. Your chief for the evening will be Sheryl McCollum, founder and director of CCIRI and author of Cold Case: Pathways to Justice.
McCollum is an Emmy award-winning crime scene investigator (CSI) from CBS46’s CSI Atlanta, a writer for CrimeOnLine, a forensic and crime scene expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, and a CSI for a metro Atlanta Police Department. She holds a master’s degree in Criminal Justice with an emphasis on Policing and has received the Metro Atlanta Crime Commission Award, Department of Justice Award, and The President’s Innovation Award.
Crime and Wine is a program that takes an in-depth look at unsolved cold case files and was developed by the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute (CCIRI) to assist families and law enforcement with unsolved homicides, missing persons, and kidnapping cases. This one-of-a-kind band of all-volunteer crime fighters ranges from students to nationally recognized experts such as profilers, detectives, crime analysts, prosecutors, and crime scene investigators.
McCollum’s Crime & Wine program team shares their experiences and the case “murder box” with each audience for a hands-on investigation of a real cold case. Each “murder box” includes the reports, photographs, and analysis necessary to understanding each case.
McCollum believes each individual brings knowledge and perspective to an investigation that she and her team may not possess, and that can produce real leads for real cases. She and her team follow up and report back on practical leads suggested during the evening’s event.
Each week in October will present a different case, so sign up for multiple evenings. Each week will be a surprise to the audience, so they come into the investigation without preconceived opinions.
To join McCollum for an investigation of notable cases such as Natalee Holloway, Amber Hagerman, Tupac Shakur, and others, register online at https://www.georgiawritersmuseum. org/fallprograms/. Pre-registration is required, tickets are $45 per person or $70 for the weekend, which includes Ghost Hunting on Saturdays with the Southeastern Institute of Paranormal Research. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the program begins at 7 p.m.
- Contributed