EVERETT, Wash. — Cracking cold cases and helping families after heinous crimes is what motivates Snohomish County Sheriff's Detective Jim Scharf.
“I was always interested in trying to catch the worst of the worst,” said Scharf.
After 45 years in law enforcement, Scharf is ready to retire. On his last day at work, he was able to announce another case solved during a news conference on Thursday afternoon.
"Seventeen-year-old Michelle Koski was sexually assaulted and murdered in August of 1990,” Scharf said while standing at a podium in a room filled with Koski’s family and friends. "We have been able to identify the suspect in Michelle's homicide. He's been identified as Robert Anthony Brooks."
Brooks died in 2016.
Melissa Johnson, a close friend of Koski, flew in from Reno, Nevada to be front and center for the announcement.
"After almost 32 years, it has finally come true,” Johnson said.
Koski’s mother, Violet Simonson, says it's the answers they have been desperate to hear.
"I thought I would take it to my grave because what are the chances,” said Simonson.
Koski’s case is one of the 104 cold cases dating back to 1951 that the Sheriff's office has on file. The cold case team deploys techniques like passing out decks of playing cards with pictures and the cold case information attached in places like prisons. It is one tool that's helped solve 24 cold cases in the last 17 years, but DNA has done even more.
"Investigative genetic genealogy is the biggest thing that's ever come along in law enforcement,” said Scharf.
As Scharf looks back, he does think about the unfinished work.
"It's kind of disappointing that you can't solve them all,” he said.
That's why closing the door on this chapter is bittersweet.
"I started June 10, 1977, in the Snohomish County Jail as a Custody Officer. I met my wife working there," Scharf said. "I worked as a police officer in the City of Snohomish from January 11, 1978, to July 1, 1984. I started back with the County as a Deputy Sheriff on July 2, 1984, until today."
Scharf worked in the Crimes Against Children’s Unit and the Major Crimes Homicide Unit before joining the Cold Case Unit. He was there at the beginning when the cold case team was formed 17 years ago. Even in retirement, he says he plans to volunteer to help with the 80 cold cases that currently remain unsolved.
"I feel that I have helped a lot of people get answers to their cases, and I’ve put a lot of very bad guys in jail where they belong," he said.