The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) wants the public’s help in solving a decades-old cold case.
“Do you know what happened to Ricky Rydell Young, 36?” asked a Thursday post on MNPD’s Facebook page. “On May 14, 1998, A resident on Greenwood Avenue in East Nashville was walking his dog when he discovered Ricky suffering from a gunshot wound to his chest in a nearby driveway. There were no witnesses to his murder. Someone knows what happened to Ricky Young.”
The post asks tipsters to call the MNPD Cold Case Unit or Crime Stoppers if they have any information. Callers who help solve the case are eligible for a $5,000 reward.
Asked whether the post had generated any tips, MNPD did not return a comment request.
MNPD’s Cold Case and Missing Person’s Unit defines a cold case as a “case that has been unsolved for 2 to 3 years and no viable leads exist.”
“These cases are reviewed by detectives to determine if new technology or new evidence exists that may help to resolve the case,” according to the unit. “Cases are reviewed any time additional information becomes available.”
According to uncovered.com, there are more than 1,300 cold cases in Tennessee.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), funded by the Tennessee General Assembly, has had success with its newly implemented Unidentified Human Remains Initiative.
In December 2023, the agency cracked a 37-year-old cold case, identifying the remains of a woman who was believed to have been murdered in 1987.
“Betty Lou Wisley, born on December 30, 1935, and originally from Clinton, Missouri, was identified as the Jane Doe whose body was discovered on August 29, 1987, in Roane County. Wisley had been placed behind a dumpster,” The Tennessee Star reported.
As reported by The Star in July 2023, TBI identified the remains of Michelle Lavone Inman of Nashville, born April 17, 1961, who was the victim of a 1985 homicide.
A month before that, TBI announced that it had identified the remains of Jerry Harrison, of Little Rock, Arkansas, who was born in 1957 and lost contact with his family in 1982. His remains were discovered four years later, in 1986, after he was shot to death.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter/X.
