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Warning: The following article mentions graphic themes and murder. Please read with caution.
In 2023, Introducing Firecracker: The Murder of Carol Ryan, a true-crime podcast, and an accompanying movie, Firecracker Documentary: The Murder of Carol Ryan, were released about the Carol Ryan unsolved murder case in Syracuse, New York. That news came as advancements in DNA technology might help solve the case.
In the early morning hour of Sept. 1, 1996, Ryan was found naked, unconscious, and catastrophically injured but alive along the side of a road near where Ryan lived. The 42-year-old mother later succumbed to her wounds, which authorities said were caused by an explosive device, according to Syracuse.com. From the start, authorities investigated the sadistic crime, and several suspects were questioned, but the culprit was never found.
According to witnesses who last saw Ryan alive in Eastwood, a suburb of Syracuse, she was out drinking the night she died. She left the bar alone around 2 a.m., according to witnesses.
A few hours later, Ryan was found nearly dead and so severely disfigured she was only identified through her fingerprints.
Evidence may have been lost
According to Former Onondaga County Sheriff Eugene Conway, who worked the Carol Ryan case, the fact she was found alive may have hampered the investigation. Responders at the scene were understandably focused on saving her life rather than gathering evidence. The witness testimony was also cast in doubt: Everyone who saw Ryan before she died had been drinking.
From the start, Ryan’s then 25-year-old son, Shawn Hamilton, was involved in the investigation. Hamilton, who has worked to keep his mom’s case alive, says police ineptitude caused the few leads they had at the time to go cold. Hamilton also narrates the 2023 documentary about his mother’s death.
Investigators now say that they’ve identified someone they think is guilty. They now hope DNA evidence will help solve the crime.
The DNA evidence
In 2023, the Syracuse police department launched a new cold case unit to reexamine Carol Ryan’s unsolved murder, among others, and apply modern DNA technology to the few samples, such as fingernails from the Ryan case, to help catch her killer, who, who authorities believe was likely someone she just met, Localsyr.com reported.
Former Sheriff Kevin Walsh, who in his tenure, also investigated Ryan’s death, said, “We barely had knowledge of DNA in those days. We certainly didn’t have the specificity of DNA testing that they can do today. The big hope is that, with ever-improving technology, we may be able to really pin it down in the future.”
Meanwhile, Alexander Hebert, the lead detective on the Ryan cold case, told Syracuse.com, “I definitely think there’s a potential suspect that will eventually be brought to justice when this testing hopefully gets done. Ideally, we would be able to find the person before they pass and hold them accountable for their actions.”