BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ( WBRC ) - The oldest, unsolved homicide in Birmingham is from 1948. The case file sits on a shelf inside the Birmingham Police Department headquarters on First Avenue North. Over the past 75 years, the Cold Case Unit has added more than 650 cases.

Each file lays out the crime committed, the evidence collected, the people interviewed and suspected, and the dead ends reached.

Detective Jonathan Ross, who leads the unit, spins the hand crank on a mobile shelving unit to reveal row after row of brown file folders and old Bankers boxes.

“I’d like to let the community know, don’t give up on your loved one if they’ve been involved in a homicide here in the City of Birmingham,” said Detective Ross. “Just keep praying. And, eventually, someone, or some technology, may come forward and we’ll be able to solve your loved one’s case.”

It took seven years for the right person to come forward in Vergil Angela Cook’s homicide. She was found stabbed to death in her apartment on 21st Street North in July 2017 by her daughter.

“I didn’t want to remember my momma like that,” Yikoia Cook told WBRC at the time.

At the time, BPD suspected Cook’s live-in boyfriend, Timothy Eric Stone, but Detective Ross said they did not have enough evidence to make an arrest.

Detective Ross said he got a phone call a few weeks ago from a person he described as a “credible witness.” That person shared enough information for Detective Ross to reopen the case, and within a few days, Stone was charged with Cook’s murder.

“Now, he’s sitting in the Jefferson County Jail,” said Detective Ross.

But, he added, Stone could have been there much earlier.

“That’s why I want people to come forward if they know something, or seen anything, because that little lead may make an arrest.”

He continued that while officers follow evidence, “sometimes we need an individual witness to come forward for us to actually get that case rolling into closing.”

A case is considered cold when the original detective has done “everything they can possibly do,” said Detective Ross.

“Then it gets passed over to me, and then I look the whole case over again and see if I can find anything that can help solve the case. That’s my job.”

Detective Ross urges anyone with information about a crime to call him at 205-254-1764.

“Let’s start the conversation,” he said.

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