Unlocking Cold Cases: The Power of Open-Source Research

This week we were joined by Bellingcat's Peter Barth.

Peter has been researching a cold case murder from Corpus Christi, Texas, 1971. As part of his research , he's uncovered links to multiple murders and high profile criminal networks, and learnt some invaluable research tips along the way.

This talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday the 3rd of July 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist.

Recorded live in the Bellingcat Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat

Links discussed:

Peter's article on Bill Richardson's killing: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/05/27/pigeon-shoots-and-hitmen-new-leads-in-a-texas-oilmans-cold-case/

The cold case investigation groups Peter suggested: https://uncovered.com/ , https://www.solvethecase.org/

Our Discord Server channel for looking into cold cases: https://discord.com/channels/709752884257882135/1375086026275688488

Familysearch.org is free and similar to ancestry.com

MuckRock: https://www.muckrock.com/foi/

For UK: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/

For Australia: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/

For EU: https://www.asktheeu.org/

For Canada: https://theijf.org/open-by-default

404 Media FOIA forum: https://www.404media.co/our-new-foia-forum-6-18-1pm-et/

Missing persons:

Ireland: https://www.garda.ie/en/missing-persons/

Netherlands: https://www.politie.nl/en/missing

Canada: https://www.services.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/missing-disparus/search-recherche.jsf?lang=en

Interpol: https://www.interpol.int/en/How-we-work/Notices/Yellow-Notices/View-Yellow-Notices

Cold Case lookup Netherlands: https://www.om.nl/