The Family Photo That Solved a Murder

When 16-year-old Michael Chen was digitizing his grandmother's old photos for a school project in 2019, he noticed something unusual in the background of a 1978 family picnic snapshot - a partial license plate that would help solve a 41-year-old cold case. The image captured the last known sighting of missing college student Jennifer Hayes, whose disappearance had baffled investigators for decades. Through advanced photo enhancement technology and cross-referencing with cold case files, Chen's accidental discovery led investigators to identify and convict the perpetrator, demonstrating how modern technology can breathe new life into decades-old evidence.