Dana Ortiz
Investigative Correspondent
Dana Ortiz covers prosecutorial mechanics, evidentiary procedure, and how investigations unwind decades after the original case file went cold.
Articles by Dana Ortiz
The Witness Who Never Came Forward
She drove past the house twice that morning. Once at 6:14, once at 7:02. She watched the second car pull in. For thirty-one years she said nothing — until a 2024 cold-case task force found her name on a Costco receipt.
The Recruiter Who Stayed Twelve Years
She wrote the welcome packet, ran the orientation weekend, and helped place forty-three new members. Then a single phone call from a stranger made her ask the question she'd spent a decade not asking.
The Ledger Found in the Walls
A 2024 renovation pulled drywall in a 1960s ranch house and dropped a ring-bound ledger onto the kitchen floor. The first entry was dated June 1971. The last was three weeks before the original owner went missing.
What The Second Search Warrant Found
The first warrant was for a phone. The second was for a chest freezer. Most prosecutions hinge on what the second warrant turns up — and on whether a judge signs it.
The Forger Who Fooled A Museum
He didn't paint a Vermeer. He painted what a Vermeer would have looked like if Vermeer had had a quieter year — and the museum bought it.