Robert Wang, 68, chose to stay home on Thanksgiving Day three years ago when the rest of his family headed out for an annual Chinese food celebration. When family members returned from the restaurant early that afternoon they found Wang on the floor of his southeast Memphis home.
Wang, a U.S. Air Force veteran, had been shot and killed during a home invasion. Investigators had little information to go on and the homicide case grew cold. The spotlight is again being placed on this case in order to seek the community's help. Any piece of additional information could help solve the case.
Hundreds of local homicide cases stretching back a decade and longer have entered a “cold case” period, when no new leads are available for investigators to follow. The Memphis Police Department’s Cold Case Unit began putting new efforts on such cases in early 2020.
To support the detectives working older cases — and to focus the public on some of the crimes once more — CrimeStoppers has launched a website called MemphisColdCases.org in the hopes of helping generate new information.
“Sometimes the smallest extra detail or fact can move a case toward solution,” said E. Winslow (Buddy) Chapman, executive director of CrimeStoppers. “As I’ve often said, in every case someone knows something.”
Chapman said that the website will grow over time, with cold cases added periodically. Any case solved will be noted.
