- Patrick Day
Naturally I was curious about Patrick Day and wanted to know how he got LD-1734 off the ground. So I asked him for the story in his own words, as no one better than he could tell it:
In April of 2013 I moved back to Maine after being away for many years. I started reconnecting with friends though Facebook and hearing stories of how their lives have been over the years. One person I sent a friend request to was Pam McLain the mother of Joyce McLain, who was murdered in our little town back in 1980. Our town was the Norman Rockwell type town, or so I thought as a young man. No one took the keys out of their car or locked their door and most of the time didn’t turn the car off while running into the store for a gallon of milk on the way home from work. Everyone knew everyone and everyone’s business.
Joyce McLain
I went to bed that night and still could not get that feeling out of my mind. The next day I spoke with Pam again to get an idea of what was needed to bring Joyce, Pam and Wendy (who was in my class in school) justice. My first thought was we needed to bring in the news media, we needed Nancy Grace here, she would get to the bottom of this.I started emailing, Dateline, Nancy Grace, 20/20, and just about every show I could find online about unsolved cases. To my dismay, I heard nothing back. I called an old family friend and State Representative Steve Stanley and United States Representative Mike Michaud. I googled Joyce McLain and started to read newspaper articles of other cold cases throughout Maine.
Eventually, I heard about a new show starting up called ”Cold Justice,” and contacted one of the producers from the show. I sent him a bio of Joyce’s case and I was so excited to think this new show was going to come in and save the day. Bringing Cold Justice to this senseless tragedy and offering some sort of relief to our broken town.
In August of 2013 I contacted Steve Stanley, Mike Michaud, and Deputy Attorney Bill Stokes to see if we could get Cold Justice to look at Joyce’s case. I was quickly told the show was never going to be allowed access by the Attorney General’s office. Mr. Stokes and I seemed to be at odds as a sort of war of statements played out in the Bangor Daily
Darien Richardson
What this law would do is give parents the ability to have a say in who looks at their loved ones cases after 5 years. I thought for sure this would be a winner and that would take away the Attorney General’s control over all cold cases in Maine. While reading old newspaper articles on the other cold cases in Maine I came across a story about how the State Legislature had considered creating a Cold Case squad in 2001, but a lack of funding killed the effort. Once again, I picked up the phone and called Steve and Mike and asked them how we could get a Cold Case squad bill passed and funded. Steve Stanley and I drafted another bill and sent that off to the Reviser’s office. I asked Mike if he could look into Federal funding. I knew we needed to get support for this squad so I also created on Facebook the “Fund Cold Case Squad Maine” page.
On Facebook, I found many families who were using Social Media to share information
Matt Blanchard
Within days of submitting Joyce’s Law we learned that we were never going to get it passed without changing the Maine Constitution as It would remove the Attorney General’s’ office exclusive responsibility over homicide cases and violate portions of existing state law that prohibits the dissemination of open or ongoing state police investigations. Everyone was heartbroken, I am sure no one more then Pam McLain. Bill Stokes had made a comment in a Bangor Daily Newspaper story by Nick Sambides Jr. and mentioned that we would be better served if we had a cold case squad in Maine. I called Mr. Stokes and we talked about a squad and how it would work and what it would need. Bill LD-1734 fit everything Mr. Stokes had said and would give those families what they so desperately wanted a fresh set of eyes on their loved ones case.
On February 20th, 2014 we had our first hearing on LD-1734 before the Judiciary Committee. Prior to the hearing, Steve Stanley and I had met with Gov. LePage’s staff to secure support for the bill. Both the Governor and the Attorney General’s office sent representatives to testify in favor of establishing a Cold Case squad. The Committee passed the bill and sent it to the Appropriations Committee for funding.
Alice Ann Hawkes
After the shock of seeing everyone’s hard work rejected by the Legislature I took to Facebook and together with supporters we made a plan to use the upcoming election to keep attention on the squad and to challenge every candidate running for office to come out and support the funding of a cold case squad. Mike Michaud was the only candidate to come out and commit to putting funding for the squad in his first budget. In 2015 we start a new Legislative Session and Rep. Karl Ward and Rep. Steven Stanley have summited a new funding bill to give funding to the cold case squad.
I created a website http://www.coldcasesquadme.com/ in 2014 and discovered that the State’s cold case site was not correct and many other cases were not listed as they
- Maine’s Cold Case Names
The Maine State Police and the Attorney General’s office are not infallible. Mr. Stokes declined Pam’s request to exhume her daughter’s body for a second autopsy, suggesting that nothing could be achieved by it. Yet the autopsy performed by renowned forensic experts Dr. Michael Baden and Dr. Henry Lee yielded “promising DNA and forensic evidence” and “Physical evidence”.
Evidence, the family was told, that would help to prove and convict the person responsible for the death of Joyce McLain.
We need a funded cold case squad in Maine to offer new perspectives into these cold case files instead of leaving Pam and other families of missing loved ones out in the cold.
There was a quote I happened upon at the start of this process and it has been a guiding force with me since: “They want you to keep your mouth shut. If you keep quiet, they’ll get away with murder.” ~ Kyle Gregory Quinn
The National Institute of Justice currently defines a cold case as “any case whose probative investigative leads have been exhausted.” I’m told that the average overall is 2 years for an absolute declaration of a “Cold Case.” As early as November 22, 2014 Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, has said that Ayla Reynolds’ investigation remains “active and ongoing.” However, even the press has begun to surmise that her case is now a cold case.
Patrick Day, Governor LePage, Mr. Stokes, Mr. Stanley, Mr. Michaud, and Mr. Ward all agree that a task force devoted to cold case files is needed. It is destined to get murderers off the street and in jail where they belong as it has with other states. By solving cases, it will help families of murder victims find closure for their personal tragedies.Funding for the cold case squad team will be before the legislature early this year (hearing date to be announced soon). Patrick would like your help in getting LD-1734 funded. He needs your signatures to submit to the Legislative Committee in Augusta.
Please sign and share now: https://www.change.org/p/permanently-fund-a-cold-case-squad-in-maine
You can find many details on victims and their cases on Patrick’s website http://www.coldcasesquadme.com/ or on his https://www.facebook.com/coldcasesquadme page.
Related News Links and Articles
Cold Justice Case Submission Site
The National Institute of Justice
George Hale and Ric Tyler radio show
Cold Squads: Leaving No Stone Unturned – U.S. Department of Justice
The Multiple Dimensions of Tunnel Vision in Criminal Cases – SSRN
Maine Chapter Parents Of Murdered Children
State declines request to exhume Joyce McLain’s body - BDN
McLain autopsy reveals new evidence – BDN
A Cold Case Comes to Life – People Magazine
Olympia Snowe asks FBI to review 32-year-old Joyce McLain murder case – BDN
Inspired by death of Joyce McLain, Medway lawmaker to submit ‘cold case’ bill to address unsolved homicides - BDN
Maine needs cold case squad, deputy attorney general says – BD
State mulling appeal to ‘Cold Justice’ TV show for help on 33-year-old homicide – BDN
No ‘Cold Justice’ for 33-year-old Joyce McLain homicide case – BDN
State Legislature opts to drop review of ‘Joyce’s Law,’ cold case proposal – BDN
Rep. Stanley of Medway presses LePage to support cold-case squad, ‘Joyce’s Law’ – BDN
State legislative panel rejects cold-case squad proposal for a year – BDN
Proposal to create cold case squad, help solve McLain homicide revived, legislator says – BDN
‘The victims deserve more’: Murdered woman’s brother, others testify in support of Maine cold-case bill – BDN
Maine cold case squad bill awaits word on funding – BDN
Federal funding for Maine cold case squad could come from new Justice Department grants – BDN
Maine cold case squad does not receive federal funding to help solve old homicides – BDN
Pair of Maine lawmakers seek state funding for cold-case squad – BDN
Nearly 3 years later, no charges in missing toddler case – CentralMaine
Mother of Ayla Reynolds supports effort to fund cold-case investigation squad - BDN
COLD CASE SPOTLIGHT: Ayla Reynolds – Dateline
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