Best Practices for Handling “Cold Hits”

Cold Hit Case Management Starts at the Laboratory

Cold hit case management begins when the laboratory accepts and analyzes a case that does not have a suspect. The laboratory needs to ensure that every eligible DNA profile is searched in CODIS.

There are two types of cold hits:

• Case-to-case cold hits – involves at least one unsolved case and may hit to a solved or unsolved case
• Case-to-offender cold hits – involves an unsolved case and an offender reference sample (e.g., arrestee, suspect, detainee)

In both situations, a laboratory must issue a report or written notice to the agencies involved.