Janice Krause was 53 years old when someone killed her only child. Krause is 73 now.<\/p>\n
Nearly 20 years have passed since 18-year-old Ericka Brair disappeared from Philadelphia, and Krause estimates it has been about 10 years since a homicide detective last contacted her about the case. She has moved to Missouri and waited through several detective changes and has been promised a callback.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time I would contact the police, they\u2019d say, \u2018Well, so-and-so is not handling it now. Hold on. We\u2019re going to connect you with somebody that does,\u2019\u201d Krause told the Tribune. \u201cI get connected with somebody else, and they say, \u2018Well, we know nothing about that case. I\u2019m sorry. We\u2019ll have to check into that and get back to you,\u2019 and they never do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Philadelphia enters the 20th year of a mother\u2019s wait as its Police Department solves homicides at a rate the city has not seen in nearly four decades. A department spokesperson confirmed that the homicide clearance rate has reached 82%, up from 41.8% in 2021, and police are clearing more than 40% of nonfatal shootings.<\/p>\n
But success in more recent cases coexists with a much older problem \u2013 homicide cases that remain unsolved after decades.<\/p>\n
The Philadelphia Police Department told the Tribune that its computerized database lists 4,952 unsolved homicides dating back to 1988. We found the actual number is higher. Dozens more cases stretch back to at least 1972.<\/p>\n
Unsolved murders before 1988 are stored in older files and would require a physical review to be counted, according to Cpl. Jasmine Col\u00f3n-Reilly of the department\u2019s Office of Media Relations and Public Affairs.<\/p>\n
Col\u00f3n-Reilly also said that nearly every homicide investigator carries at least one cold case alongside other responsibilities.<\/p>\n
Over the past five years, PPD records show that at least seven homicides that are at least 10 years old have been solved.<\/p>\n
According to PPD, approximately 20 unsolved cases have been reexamined using newer DNA or forensic technology, and more than half have been resolved with genetic genealogy to identify victims.<\/p>\n
Detectives are clearing a large share of the killings now, while thousands of murders accumulated over decades remain unsolved.<\/p>\n
For Krause, she eventually stopped calling because \u201cI would get madder and madder, and more upset and more upset\u201d she said, explaining that police officials either didn\u2019t have answers or didn\u2019t return her calls.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s not the only person hoping for police to solve cases of a murdered loved one.<\/p>\n
Francis \u201cFranny\u201d Klein, a 47-year-old father of three daughters, was standing in the back of a bar in the 2100 block of South 65th Street on Aug. 1, 1981, when a man entered through the back door and fired a single shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur father, better known as Franny and in some circles \u2018Whitey,\u2019 was a very caring man who would do anything for anyone, especially those who could not do for themselves,\u201d his daughters wrote in an appeal on PPD\u2019s unsolved murders website.<\/p>\n
His daughters grew up, married and had children without him present.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis murder was devastating alone, but not having it solved has made the weight of our loss last longer for far too long,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n
Myrna Williams was 41 when she was found dead in 2004 on the living room floor of a home in the 6000 block of North 16th Street.<\/p>\n
Her family remembered a mother of four who seemed to know everyone as she entered a room.<\/p>\n
\u201cMyrna was the life of the party,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n
Her children reject the idea that the years necessarily make violent loss easier.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome say that it gets easier with time, in which over the years I find that hard to believe because it\u2019s gotten harder,\u201d the family wrote. \u201cWe just want our mother to be able to rest in peace with her killer behind bars.\u201d<\/p>\n
What science can recover<\/p>\n
Old homicide investigations face problems that cannot be reversed. Witnesses die. Memories fade. Suspects disappear or die. Evidence collected before DNA testing existed may have deteriorated or may not have been preserved in a condition suitable for testing decades later.<\/p>\n
But Philadelphia has also seen what can happen when old evidence meets technology.<\/p>\n
For generations, the child found dead in Fox Chase in 1957 was known only as the \u201cBoy in the Box.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Philadelphia police are solving homicides at their highest rate in decades, but thousands of cold cases like Briar\u2019s remain unsolved. \u2014 SUBMITTED<\/p>\n
Forensic genealogy helped investigators finally identify him. In 2022, Philadelphia learned his name was Joseph Augustus Zarelli.<\/p>\n
Genetic genealogy also helped investigators identify a suspect in the 2003 killing of Rebecca Park, one of the victims linked to the man police called the Fairmount Park Rapist.<\/p>\n
PPD said it has reexamined about 20 unsolved cases using newer DNA or forensic technology. More than half used forensic genetic genealogy to identify victims.<\/p>\n
The department also cited a review of juvenile deaths that led to two arrests.<\/p>\n
Those cases demonstrate that age alone does not necessarily make a homicide unsolvable.<\/p>\n
Families who still cling to the hope that their loved ones\u2019 cases will eventually be solved have asked which files should be reexamined.<\/p>\n
PPD told The Tribune that there is no formal requirement to review every cold homicide at prescribed intervals. Reviews do occur, and nearly every homicide investigator has at least one cold case.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs someone still trying?\u201d<\/p>\n
At least seven 10-year-old homicide cases have been solved over the past five years, meaning seven families have received answers that thousands of others are still waiting for.<\/p>\n
For Krause, that work includes her daughter.<\/p>\n
Ericka disappeared on March 16, 2007, from the 1400 block of East Cheltenham Avenue. A month later, her body was found in a wooded area in the 5200 block of Kubach Street. The Medical Examiner determined that she had been stabbed multiple times.<\/p>\n
Krause said there was once a detective on the case whom she considered a \u201cgo-getter.\u201d She believed he was pursuing the person responsible for her daughter\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Then she said he was removed from the investigation. PPD did not say why.<\/p>\n
If Krause could sit across from Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel today, she would already know what to ask.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy will they not put anyone on it?\u201d Krause said. \u201cWhy did they take my detective off?\u201d<\/p>\n
For police, whether a decades-old homicide can still be solved may depend on evidence, witnesses, and what advances in science can recover.<\/p>\n
Krause has a question she has waited years for someone to answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs someone still trying?\u201d<\/p>\n
What PPD says<\/p>\n
Bethel acknowledged that PPD has struggled to communicate with families, particularly as homicide cases age and detectives change.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re right,\u201d Bethel told The Tribune when asked about relatives who reported that contact with investigators diminished or disappeared over time.<\/p>\n
Bethel told the Tribune that PPD has changed how it communicates with homicide victims\u2019 families, creating a system to help relatives maintain their connection to the department when detectives leave, transfer, or retire.<\/p>\n
The department created the Office of Victim Advocates about two years ago. Executive Director Ayanna Greene leads a staff of 10 victim advocates, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we do now after every homicide, the victim advocate reaches out to the family,\u201d Bethel said. \u201cThey become a point of contact.\u201d<\/p>\n
The advocate, he said, is supposed to remain with the family regardless of what happens to the detective assigned to the investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if the detective retired, the victim advocate never leaves,\u201d Bethel said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ericka Brair was killed in 2007 when she was 18 years old. For nearly 20 years, her mother has waited for answers, holding on to hope that the case will one day be solved. \u2014 SUBMITTED<\/p>\n
Bethel said PPD also has case followers and case holders, providing relatives with another way to seek information about an investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, there should be no family unable to communicate with PPD about a homicide or shooting investigation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The department is also trying to reconnect with relatives from older cases when they contact police, Bethel stated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are working hard to make sure that doesn\u2019t happen moving forward,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd also trying our best to go back so when families do reach out, we are connecting with them to make sure that they have the information they need.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have some work to do, but we\u2019re far better than we were two years ago,\u201d Bethel determined. \u201cAnd we\u2019re going to grow and make it even better.\u201d<\/p>\n
A mother\u2019s texts<\/p>\n
More than a year after Amya Devlin was killed, her cellphone is still connected. Her mother pays the bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery once in a while, I\u2019ll send her a text, just telling her I miss her,\u201d Devlin\u2019s mother, Ryan Brunson, said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I would ever get her cell phone cut off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Devlin\u2019s sisters sometimes text her, too.<\/p>\n
It is one way a Philadelphia family lives with a homicide that has produced no arrests. Eleven people were shot in the 800 block of Lemon Hill Drive on Memorial Day night in 2025. Devlin, 23, and Mikhail Bowers, 21, died.<\/p>\n
Brunson said she does not believe anyone is actively investigating her daughter\u2019s murder. \u201cNo, no,\u201d she told The Tribune. \u201cNone at all. None at all. I don\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Devlin\u2019s father, Will Devlin, said he once heard from a homicide detective shortly after his daughter\u2019s death. \u201cI haven\u2019t heard from a detective since, probably, the first week my daughter passed away,\u201d he said. \u201cI haven\u2019t heard from anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both parents praised a Philadelphia Police Department employee who has continued to reach out to the family with resources and support. What they say they have not received is regular updates from homicide investigators on the investigation\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n
That leaves them with just their memories of their last time seeing their daughter.<\/p>\n
Brunson spoke with Amya around 4:30 that afternoon. Her daughter was excited to go to a cookout.<\/p>\n
They talked. They laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe just seemed so happy,\u201d Brunson said.<\/p>\n
Will Devlin saw her that day, too. His daughter stopped by for about five minutes before returning to her friends.<\/p>\n
Asked what he misses most about his daughter, Devlin did not need many words to say it. \u201cI just wish I could see her and talk to her,\u201d he offered.<\/p>\n
\u201cLot of work to be done\u201d<\/p>\n
The police commissioner pointed to the extraordinary number of killings Philadelphia saw during the city\u2019s recent surge in violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognize, I mean, you went through a period, we had almost 2,000 homicides in a four-year period,\u201d Bethel said. \u201cAnd many of those cases still remain unsolved. So there\u2019s still a lot of work to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the years, Krause said she has collected phone records, searched for phone numbers and addresses and investigated people herself. Police officers she knew tried to help her obtain information, but those efforts led to dead ends.<\/p>\n
She still watches shows about unsolved murders.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy head\u2019s always going there,\u201d Krause said.<\/p>\n
Krause does not know what career her daughter would have chosen, where she might have lived, whether the teenager fascinated by forensics would have pursued investigative work or what the intervening 20 years might have brought.<\/p>\n
She knows she once had an 18-year-old daughter who liked helping other kids with their problems.<\/p>\n
She knows that somebody killed her. And she still does not know who.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t lost it yet,\u201d Krause said of growing older while waiting for an answer. \u201cI\u2019d like to hear this before I do lose it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then she returned to the wish that has endured for nearly two decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to go to my grave knowing this is settled,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n