cold case

[kohld keys]

noun

1. a criminal investigation that has remained unsolved for an extended period of time.

   This year's award recipient is a state trooper whose work helped close a cold case from 1983.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cold case¹

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

The breakthrough comes just weeks after the release of the HBO docuseries The Yogurt Shop Murders last month, which revisited the cold case.

Read more on Salon

Since then he’s been an executive producer on “Cover Me,” “Cold Case,” “The Agency” and “New Amsterdam,” among other series.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The files, created by the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board, are an initial release of federal records related to the case, the National Archives said.

Read more on BBC

“They’re not gonna make my son no cold case, I promise you that.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“The Carpool Detectives,” a true crime mystery that reads like a novel, begins in the liminal moment before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the country and concludes on an upbeat note two and a half years later: Four L.A. moms with no law enforcement training have solved an icy cold case and moved on to their next, buoyed by newfound purpose.

Read more on Los Angeles Times