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Last updated on Monday, April 29, 2013
(UNDATED) - The third edition of “cold case” playing cards aimed at solving old homicides in the state have been released and a 17-year-old Greene County case is featured.
Nick Schneider of the Greene County Daily World reports that the disappearance of 79-year-old Eva Mae Hale is featured on the "2-Clubs".
Hale disappeared from the Marco Cemetery in Stafford Township on Oct. 14, 1996.
There is an error on her playing card, which lists the date of her disappearance as Sept. 15, 1996.
Hale reportedly was visiting her brother's grave when she went missing.
Hale is a small woman -- 4 feet, 10 inches tall, and weighing about 98 pounds. Her hair was light brown (thinning) and she may have been wearing a wig.
Her unlocked car was found at the cemetery with the driver's side window halfway down and her purse in the front seat. A few dollars were found hidden in her purse. However, she normally carried her money in bank envelopes, and no bank envelopes were found in her purse.
Her car was parked in a different location from where she usually parked. However, the car keys she normally used were found on the ground where she usually parked.
Hale was also featured in the second edition of the playing cards as the "9-Spades".
The Indiana Department of Correction, in partnership with the Indiana State Police and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, sponsors the "Indiana Cold Case Homicides Playing Cards."
The deck of playing cards profiles 52 unsolved homicides and missing persons cases from around the state. The card decks are being distributed throughout Indiana prisons and to law enforcement authorities, and will be the only decks of cards available for purchase in the state's 25 prison facilities.
The cards are produced at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility print shop at Carlisle, by PEN (Prison Enterprises Network) offender workers, according to Rich Larsen, who serves as public information officer at the prison facility.
Each playing card features information on an unsolved murder or missing persons case and a photo of the victim.
The aim of the project is to create an awareness of these unsolved cases in the prison population and encourage offenders to provide information that might help solve the cases. Officials hope the cards may jar inmate memories or provide a clue that, when combined with other information, might provide the break investigators need to solve a case, according to Douglas S. Garrison, Chief Communications Officer for the Indiana Department of Correction.
"A further goal is to remind the families of victims who have suffered through years of uncertainty and despair over the inability of the system to bring the responsible criminal to justice that their loved ones are not forgotten, and that law enforcement remains committed to resolving these cold cases," Garrison stated in a prepared news release.
Members of the public who would like to provide information on the victim of a cold case homicide or missing persons case, or who would like to have a case reviewed for inclusion in a future release of the deck, may contact the Indiana Department of Correction at coldcasetips@idoc.in.gov
If you have information about any case in this deck or a case that does not appear in this deck, please call the Indiana State Police Hotline 1 (800) 453-4756.
Copies of the playing cards may be viewed at http://www.in.gov/idoc/2826.htm
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