Cold Case Volunteer Unit disbanded after 24 years amid policy changes, internal tension
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office has quietly disbanded its 24-year-old Cold Case Volunteer Unit, an initiative that brought together retired detectives and veteran law enforcement professionals to assist with long-dormant homicide and missing-persons investigations.
The shutdown followed a series of restrictive policy changes, new administrative controls and, ultimately, internal dissatisfaction by some of the volunteers about how the program was managed—concerns documented in emails obtained by the “Gazette.”
A sudden shift to “pause” the unit
On Oct. 2, volunteers received an email from MCSO Lt. Paul Bloom instructing the group that the unit was immediately halted.
“After discussion, we have decided to pause the cold case volunteer unit right now as the new detectives get their feet under them. Their call volume has increased significantly with the growth of the county and more full-time detectives are needed,” Bloom wrote.
Bloom added that the agency’s long-term goal was “to have a person specifically assigned to only inactive/deactivated cases and cold case homicides. When that happens, I will confer with their supervision and look toward the future reforming of the unit.”
But in subsequent emails to the “Gazette,” Bloom made clear the volunteer unit would not be returning.
“We have full-time detectives assigned to our cold cases. We are not currently using volunteers as was done in the past. It is a full-time assignment for our Major Crimes Unit.”
Bloom stated the cold cases have been assigned to a team of two, “a sergeant and a detective.”
Volunteers cite concerns and “window dressing” role
Several longtime volunteers said the abrupt end simply affirmed their belief that the unit’s efforts had not been fully appreciated by the department long before the shutdown.
Volunteer Ken Featherington told the “Gazette” that much of his work involved digitizing old paper homicide files.
When the “Gazette” showed Featherington the department’s recently provided list of unsolved homicides, he said the information was not accurate, noting he had digitized a homicide file from 1958.
The list included the following cases:
Leon McNiel Roberts Jr. – 17-14072
Eric Hllmbert – 16-27015
Ceon Mile; – 16-17736
Freddie Dillon – 16-10468
Edward Moffitt – 14-27440
Wendy Kane – 14-21763
Vitaliy Olendrnk – 14-2229<8
Michael Sumpter – 14-171913
Daniel Nieves – 13-03064
SoottStowe – 12-3163
Mark D. Hazarsky – 12-009488
Linda J. Cage – 11-24903
James Brown – 09’-48730
Benjamin Canull – 08-00H6
Aliisa Gehring – 06-559183
Patricia Sofia – 05-02251
May Craft – 03-2:6014
Mamioe, Bernard White – 00-03195
Roberta E. Johnson – 91-13425
Sllsie Linon Dvvyer – 96-23030
Sam E. Rittenhouse Ill – 96-24031
Jmge SllIsona-Maitin – 95-39694
Robert Dlllgobo,rski – 94-16473
Maxine Vogel – 93-22924
James Holland – 92-18394
Douglas Giddens – 90-0913&1
Regarding missing persons classified as cold cases, Bloom provided a link to the MCSO missing persons page, which lists six individuals who went missing between 1992 and 2013.
“Cases such as Sarah Ebersole will not appear here because those cases are not closed and are still actively investigated,” he added.
Currently, MCSO records indicate they have twenty-one “active” cases of missing persons. The dates of those “active” files range from 1998 to this year.
Internal tension over new rules and uniform requirements
A revised volunteer handbook issued in August imposed sweeping restrictions on cold-case volunteers—limiting access, prohibiting casework outside designated offices, and requiring new uniforms and security devices.
In a Sept. 3 email explaining the changes, Bloom acknowledged volunteer frustration.
“The sheriff received an email directly from the group that expressed disappointment in his choice of uniforms for the volunteers. He was ‘less than excited’ to receive that and asked me to handle it and ensure the policies are adhered to,” Bloom wrote.
“Typically,” he continued, “none of us like changes. I understand that. But these policy adjustments and increased scrutiny have been made after consultation with sheriff and our Major Crimes Unit.”
The new manual also mandated:
- Quarterly—rather than monthly—meetings
- Turning in security “Duo Digipass” tokens after each use
- Strict chain-of-command rules, with dismissal for going outside the hierarchy
- No case-related texts, photos, or emails to personal accounts
- No casework performed outside MCSO buildings
- No witness contact by volunteers
Volunteers Say the Program Became Unworkable
Multiple volunteers told the “Gazette” the new 2025 policy made it nearly impossible for them to contribute meaningfully after donating thousands of hours. Under the new policies, volunteers were also required to self-report their hours annually rather than regularly to the detective they worked with.
Frank Iervolino, who had reviewed homicides with detectives for approximately a year, resigned after the meeting schedule was cut from monthly to quarterly. Iervolino told the “Gazette” that once that shift occurred, it was clear to him the unit was merely “window dressing.”
He added that the agency “had no intention of leaning on the group of experienced retired lawmen and women to solve cold cases,” so he resigned.
“I realize that some of the folks on that list of unsolved homicides might not be the most sympathetic victims because some may have been drug dealers—but it still means someone is getting away with murder,” Iervolino added.
Iervolino acknowledged that he never met Sheriff Billy Woods and that the blame for dismantling the cold case unit in the manner it was may lie with his underlings.
Featherington, a retired Ohio police officer, was later fired from the program for concerns about the tone of his inquiries and failing to follow chain-of-command procedures.
In an email announcing the official end of the unit, Bloom told volunteers, “At this time, you may choose to keep your shirts and badges or if you would rather, you may drop the items off to me at Central.”
Featherington told the “Gazette” he felt the volunteers’ decades of experience in local, state and federal investigations were being disregarded.
Cold case strategy and technology
Featherington said volunteers often suggested retesting DNA in older cases. “Going through cases, we’d point out that DNA should be tested again because advances in technology, but it felt like the suggestions went into a black hole somewhere.”
Advances in technology have indeed driven breakthroughs in solving cold cases. A 2002 National Institute of Justice report noted: “DNA evidence has the power to determine truth 10, 15, even 20 years… The power of a DNA database system is evident not only in the success of solving crimes previously thought unsolvable, but through the prevention of crime after an offense is committed.”
The report described the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) as “a computer network that connects forensic DNA laboratories at the local, state, and national levels… Similar to the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), CODIS can aid investigations by efficiently comparing a DNA profile generated from biological evidence left at a crime scene against convicted offender DNA profiles…”
As of September, the CODIS database contained:
- 19,032,868 offender profiles
- 6,073,194 arrestee profiles
- 1,440,700 forensic profiles
CODIS has produced over 774,153 hits, assisting in more than 751,258 investigations nationwide. In Florida, CODIS data has aided 67,413 investigations.
__________________
Current list of “active” missing person files with MCSO:
| Agency Case Number | Name | |||
| 10025181 | ODELL, ADA | |||
| MCSO22OFF007705 | FANN, AMANDA | |||
| MCSO24OFF009515 | JOHNSON, KEVIN | |||
| MCSO25OFF020831 | COWSERT, ELLA; COWSERT, ROXANNA; COWSERT, VIOLET | |||
| MCSO25OFF023838 | MCLAUGHLIN, GEORGIA | |||
| MCSO25OFF007669 | DANNER, KENNETH | |||
| MCSO25OFF018762 | GONZALEZ, MARIA | |||
| MCSO25OFF020464 | PUTNAM, ERIC | |||
| 15010243 | ALONSO, JORGE | |||
| 16035522 | FORSYTHE, JENNIFER | |||
| 18018601 | SCHINGS, RITA | |||
| MCSO20OFF016029 | PERRY, JAMES | |||
| MCSO20OFF018211 | SENECHAL, ROBERT | |||
| MCSO22OFF025341 | BROOKS, ERICKA; BROOKS, KAMARCUS | |||
| MCSO23OFF008788 | CLARK JR, DAVID | |||
| MCSO24OFF003982 | ADKINS, APRIL | |||
| 98015583 | OTTER, MICHELE | |||
| MCSO25OFF024971 | JOHNSON, TA’NIYAH | |||
Support community journalism
The first goal of the Ocala Gazette is to deliver trustworthy local journalism so corruption, misinformation and abuse are not hidden from the public or unchallenged.
