Crime & Safety

Cold Case Playing Cards Distributed Throughout State Correctional Facilities

Special deck features 52 unsolved murders or disappearances, including a 2007 fatal shooting in East Windsor.

Every inmate being held in a Connecticut correctional institution is now the owner of a new deck of playing cards.

The special playing cards feature 52 unsolved homicides or missing persons cases. The cards were created and distributed as part of a joint effort between the state Department of Correction and the state Division of Criminal Justice.

It is estimated that there are 400 to 500 unsolved major criminal cases in the state. Over the past few years, a selection process was undertaken to determine which cases would go on the cards. New cases will be added to these decks in the future.

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"We see this as a continuing process," said Brian Garnett, Director of External Affairs for the Department of Corrections.

The East Windsor cold case is featured on the Jack-of-diamonds. The card reads reads: "On Feb. 27, 2007, Javed Akhtar was found shot in the parking lot of the One Stop Convenience Store in East Windsor. A $50,000 reward is offered."

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Garnett said corrections department officials are confident that there is information among the inmate population that can lead to the solution of some of these crimes.

"We think that getting the word out there will in fact lead to some of these crimes being solved," Garnett said. "This has been done in other jurisdictions across the country and it's worked quite well and we expect to have the same results."

Every inmate throughout the state's correctional system got the first deck for free. Going forward, these will be the only playing cards available for sale through the prison commissaries.

The cards were produced at no cost to the taxpayers.

"It was just over $12,000 and the money came from seized assets from criminal cases," Garnett said.

The decks at this point are not available to the public, but the entire deck is visible on the Department of Corrections web site at http://www.ct.gov/doc/lib/doc/images/coldcasecards.jpg.

Anyone with information on any of these cases is urged to call the Chief State's Attorney's tipline at (866) 623-8058.


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