Unsolved homicides, or cold cases, often dating years back have come to the public's attention through the media and through the victim's loved ones who still hope for justice. In Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC, the police department responded by developing a cold case unit despite budgetary restrictions. The author reviewed the cold case unit 1 year after its inception, interviewing homicide investigators, technical analysts, and district attorneys in order to explore the unique challenges of investigating and prosecuting cold cases. The cold case unit in Mecklenburg County operates with two veteran detectives and three volunteers who review cases on an ongoing basis in an effort to select old homicide cases that may be solved through new technological and investigative techniques. Two of the key components vital to solving and prosecuting cold cases are the physical evidence remaining from the original case and the willingness and ability of the district attorney's office to prosecute the offenders. In order to select cases with the best chance of a positive prosecutorial outcome, the cold case unit must work in concert with prosecutors from an early stage; the author found that in some cases, the suspects were already serving lengthy prison sentences for other crimes, decreasing the chance that prosecutors would want to spend scarce resources prosecuting offenders who were already off the streets. Despite the challenges involved in implementing cold case units, advances in technology have rendered many previously mysterious crimes solvable. Endnotes