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Kelly Siegler On Why ‘Cold Justice’ Takes On Some Of The Hardest Cases
Kelly Siegler, of "Cold Justice," says circumstantial evidence can be more important than DNA and talks about the important work the team does. Hear it all before new episodes of the investigative show return Saturday, November 6 at 8/7c on Oxygen.
This article was originally published in March 2020 and has been updated to reflect a new upcoming season.
Veteran Texas prosecutor Kelly Siegler, of Oxygen’s popular true crime investigative series “Cold Justice,” takes pride in the fact that her team takes on the difficult cold cases that often leave law enforcement frustrated.
Siegler and her team frequently tackle cold cases without DNA evidence and aging witnesses. Instead, they must rely on new witness interviews and circumstantial evidence to help point law enforcement to a suspect.
Asked on Oxygen’s “Martinis & Murder” podcast in November 2019 whether she thinks DNA or circumstantial evidence is more important, Siegler didn’t mince words: “Oh my God, [circumstantial evidence] is more important — y’all better preach that the way I do!”
“I have two missions in life,” Siegler continued. “One is to work on these cold cases, and also to remind people that circumstantial evidence cases are the best and not to give up on them.”
Siegler and her team of rotating experts and investigators have helped authorities make 45 arrests with 20 convictions in some of the most brutal, baffling cold cases around the country. And in the upcoming season of “Cold Justice,” five of the eight cases they tackled have already led to arrests.
Siegler didn’t hold out much hope when she and the show went to Missouri to look into the 30-year-old murder of Cynthia Smith.
“I didn’t think we were gonna solve that one,” she said, adding that although all the witnesses in the case were in their 20s at the time, they also were all at a bar.
However, in September 2019, after help from “Cold Justice,” authorities arrested Lawrence Timmons in the case — and are looking into his possible connection to two other murders.
When Siegler and her team are successful working with local law, she said that they don’t high-five each other, but instead enjoy a kind of relief, because “you didn’t get everybody’s hopes up for nothing.”
“Mothers and fathers’ hearts are still breaking,” Siegler told “Martinis and Murder,” adding, “Somebody’s gotta do this job.”
The Cynthia Smith case was featured on season 5 of “Cold Justice.” A new season of "Cold Justice" will premiere Saturday, November 6 at 8/7c on Oxygen.
