Daniel Dudley was riding in a car in Hartwell in 2007 when a driver pulled up alongside it and began firing a gun. Dudley was killed.
Police believe Dudley wasn't the intended target. His murder has yet to be solved. His mother, Hope Dudley, has never stopped looking for answers, though.
"It's been 17 years walking the streets, trying to find answers," she says. "Nobody came forward, nobody said anything."
Dudley began making and posting flyers seeking information. Eventually, she started doing it for other cold case families, too. She now works with Crime Stoppers, encouraging people to come forward with information about unsolved murders.
RELATED: New hope for solving an Ohio cold case
A new task force is designed to get answers for families like Dudley's. The partnership between Cincinnati Police, the ATF, the Hamilton County Coroner and the Hamilton County Prosecutors Office looks to leverage new technology not available during the initial investigations into murders to crack cold cases.
Cincinnati has more than 400 such cases dating back to the 1940s. CPD Chief Teresa Theetge says while the department's closure rate is above the national average, it still takes those unsolved cases seriously.
Theetge says the department will dedicate two of its most experienced investigators to the new cold case collaboration. But it won't cost the department more money.
"We've allowed these two offices to concentrate some of their time on these cold cases, and the other investigators are willing to pick up the slack because they see the significance of this," Theetge said during a news conference announcing the task force Tuesday.
Theetge points to another 2003 murder case that had long gone unsolved until investigators were able to obtain DNA evidence from a cigarette butt in 2020. Advances in technology make those kinds of discoveries possible, she said.
"That's the kind of work we want to do with this task force to bring these cases to closure," she said.
The Hamilton County Prosecutors Office, coroner and the ATF will provide specialized knowledge, technology and financial resources to the partnership.
RELATED: Rhoden family TV documentary airs on Oxygen
"We bring a lot of capabilities to the task force," ATF Special Agent in Charge Daryl McCormick said. "One is a talented investigator who is an expert in digital forensics and things like that. Also, open and complete access to all of our ballistics evidence. Another big thing is we're going to tap into our resources as the federal government in offering rewards to generate information."
Hope Dudley says she thinks the partnership could help families like hers.
"Our cases are not just sitting on a shelf waiting on a tip," she says. "But people around the clock are actually looking."