Va. 'cold case cards' printed

Police in southeast Virginia are distributing a deck of playing cards that feature photos and descriptions of 52 unsolved crimes.

Authorities are distributing the "Hampton Roads Crime Line Cold Cases" cards to prisons and jails in an effort to turn up new leads. Fifty are homicides, one is an arson case and another features a person missing since 1987.

The oldest case dates back to January 1973, whcn Gwendolyn Adkins was fatally shot in Portsmouth.

Those with information about a case on the card can call a designated telephone number anonymously.

Hampton Roads Crime Line is in charge of distributing the 10,000 decks of cards, which were paid for by $7,500 in donations. It doesn't plan to disseminate them to the general public.

-- The Virginian-Pilot