SUPPORT THE LEGISLATIVE REFORM CAMPAIGN FOR NY STATE
Justice for
Kristin O’Connell
New York State cold case reform has never been more urgent. In August 1985, Kristin O’Connell — just 20 years old — was brutally murdered while visiting a friend during Spring break in Ovid, New York. Nearly 40 years later, her case remains unsolved. Her mother, Phyllis O’Connell, has spent every day since fighting for answers, facing decades of frustration, official inaction, and repeated refusals from state agencies to re-test crucial forensic evidence. Kristin’s story is why reform cannot wait.
New York Families Deserve Better: Phyllis O’Connell’s Fight for Justice
Phyllis O’Connell’s story reflects the reality facing too many families across New York State — loved ones taken too soon, and justice indefinitely delayed. NY cold case reform exists because families like hers have been failed by a system that should be fighting for them.
Despite retaining multiple private investigators, attracting national media attention, and securing an offer from a certified DNA lab to re-test evidence at no cost, New York authorities repeatedly denied requests for outside forensic testing. In 2009, even with bipartisan support from U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Amy Klobuchar, a request to use advanced Dutch touch DNA technology was rejected by the New York State Department of Health. Families like Phyllis’s deserve access, answers, and a fair path to justice.
New York is not leading this movement — it is falling behind it. At the federal level, the Homicide Victims’ Families’ Rights Act became law in 2022, establishing the right of families to request a review of cold case files after three years. Georgia followed in 2023 with the Coleman-Baker Act, creating a fully funded state cold case unit and giving families the legal right to demand reinvestigation. Colorado has operated a dedicated state cold case team since 2007. New York State — with more than 10,000 homicides gone unsolved since 1993, according to Murder Accountability Project data — has none of these protections in place. That is what NY cold case reform must change.
Kristin’s case — and the decades of doors closed on her mother — are the reason Cold Case AdvocacyHub is supporting the families push for New York lawmakers to adopt practical, evidence-based reforms that increase homicide clearance rates and restore victims’ families’ right to answers.
Why NY Cold Case Reform Matters
The Impact of Reform: New York cold case reform delivers measurable results for families, law enforcement, and the public:
✔️Increases homicide clearance rates and public safety
✔️Provides overdue support, information, and transparency to families
✔️Brings modern science and expert partnerships to New York’s justice system
✔️ Restores public trust in law enforcement and the criminal justice process
What We’re Asking The NYS Lawmakers to Propose:The NYS
Cold Case Justice Act
Fund dedicated cold case units or partner with outside agencies and/or academic institutions to systematically reduce New York’s unsolved homicide backlog
When state crime labs are backlogged or capacity is limited, allow evidence testing at certified accredited private labs — expanding New York’s forensic options without compromising standards