Brenda Gilliam-Miller, Dawn Jackson, Kristy Standford and Karen Dana hold vigil to remember loved ones whose homicide cases have gone cold. (Photo by Kiera Riley for Arizona Mirror)
During a local news conference on September 21, 2026, family members of homicide victims whose cases remain unsolved in Arizona called for sustained attention and resources for unsolved homicide cases. The call, supported by Arizonans for Effective Public Safety — a project of Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona — comes amid broader questions about the costs and effectiveness of capital punishment in Arizona, and whether resources devoted to capital punishment and felony murder prosecutions could instead be used to strengthen cold case and missing person investigations, modernize crime laboratories, prevent violence, and support survivors.
From 1965 through 2025, 36% of homicide cases in Arizona remained unresolved, according to the Murder Accountability Project. For Karen Dana, whose cousin Loretta Lynn’s murder remains unsolved, the need for additional resources in the state is personal. “We need cold-case detectives. It gets harder every year. Time makes it harder. It doesn’t get easier.”
The financial costs associated with the death penalty in Arizona are substantial.
- According to records obtained by The Guardian, Arizona spent $1.5 million in October 2020 on 1,000 one-gram vials of pentobarbital for use in executions.
- A 2025 investigation by ProPublica and ABC15 found that Maricopa County has spent $289 million on defense for capital cases since 2007, including $26 million in 2024 alone.
- According to a 2016 cost analysis, defending a capital case that resulted in a death sentence cost an average of $1,066,187. Some high-profile cases cost three or four times that amount.
“People don’t have to be against the death penalty to recognize a dollar is poorly invested.”
Across Arizona, police agencies approach cold cases in different ways. Some have dedicated cold-case units, house unsolved cases within homicide units, assign detectives to specific cases, or rely on volunteers. But Arizonans for Effective Public Safety argues that the state can — and must — do more to support families whose cases remain unsolved.
For the organization, that means examining how resources are spent and shifting funding toward strategies that can help support survivors andprevent future violence.
- Bonner, T. (2026, September 30). Arizona Co-Victims Speak Out, Wanting Death Penalty Money Redirected. Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved October 21, 2026, from https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/arizona-co-victims-speak-out-wanting-death-penalty-money-redirected
- Bonner, Taylor. “Arizona Co-Victims Speak Out, Wanting Death Penalty Money Redirected.” Death Penalty Information Center. September 30, 2026. Accessed October 21, 2026. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/arizona-co-victims-speak-out-wanting-death-penalty-money-redirected.
- Bonner, Taylor. “Arizona Co-Victims Speak Out, Wanting Death Penalty Money Redirected.” Death Penalty Information Center, 30 Sept. 2026, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/arizona-co-victims-speak-out-wanting-death-penalty-money-redirected. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.
Kiera Riley, Arizona spends millions on the death penalty. Victims’ families want it spent on cold cases, Arizona Mirror, September 22, 2026.
