Under the
direction of the St. Joseph County Prosecutor, the St. Joseph County Metro
Homicide Unit was formed in March of 1993 and was known until January 2003 as
the Special Crimes Unit. The Unit's goal is to investigate all homicides and
suspicious deaths from the time of the incident until criminal prosecution. The
Unit is on-call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, with normal office
hours from 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. weekdays.The St. Joseph County Metro Homicide is comprised of a commander, an assistant commander, four investigators and four crime scene technicians. One additional investigator solely reviews "cold cases" to bring conclusion to older cases which remain unsolved. The investigators and technicians include officers from the St. Joseph County Police Department, the South Bend Police Department and the Mishawaka Police Departments. In addition to the above law enforcement agencies at the Metro Homicide Unit's disposal, the Unit is equipped with specialty vehicles and equipment for crime scene processing, an in-house laboratory, and secure evidence storage areas.
Since it’s inception in 1993, the Metro Homicide Unit (Special Crimes) has investigated a total of 563 cases, with 279 of those cases determined to be homicides.