FL FL - James Foote, 53, Fort Myers, 14 Nov 2004

White Rain

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FORT MYERS, Fla. - A prison card game dealt police the tip they needed to arrest a man in a killing that occurred nearly three years ago, authorities said Saturday.
In July, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement gave nearly 93,000 state inmates playing cards that highlight 104 of the state's most troubling unsolved homicide and missing-persons cases.
On Friday, police arrested Derrick L. Hamilton after an inmate tipped them off about the November 2004 killing of James Foote, who was found dead with a gunshot wound to his chest in a Fort Myers parking lot. Foote's picture and the details of his death were featured on a card bearing the seven of clubs. more at link http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21395888/
 
Wow, I'm impressed.

What a novel way to try and get information on cases. I hope it doesn't start false accusations rolling between inmates with beefs against each other, but I'm still impressed!

Good one Fla :)

Sami
 
I remember reading about this program when it was first getting started. Maybe it was a different state, I'm not sure, but I'm glad to hear that it is working!
 
Very smart of them. I hope this game nets more murderers.
 
Maybe they should do it for missing and UIDs. I thought this was a great idea when they started this program and am glad to see it is successful. Hoping that more cases are solved as a result.
 
:clap:
What a neat idea and I'm glad it's already been effective in solving one old case.
 
This is an excellent resource for LE. I wonder how the premise works....i.e. inmate paid for tip or is it given anonymously?
 
This is an excellent resource for LE. I wonder how the premise works....i.e. inmate paid for tip or is it given anonymously?

Inmates don't get paid for tips, that I know of, but I do bet it's as anonymously as can be, though - snitches aren't thought well of in prison.

I got a deck of these cards when I was visiting an inmate on Death Row and he said he knows it's rather cold, but when the cards came out, the inmates would quip amongst themselves things like "Bet you got a full house" or something like that. My sense of humor isn't always PC either, so I don't think that should be held against them, really. The deck was (I think) fifty cents on the canteen, but free for the inmates to each have a deck. I do know he said they took it seriously and read all the cards. Not everyone is cold hearted that is in there, for sure.

Tiffany Sessions is in this first deck of cards. I remember helping to look for her, putting up fliers and my boyfriend (at the time) passing out Taco Bell to searchers. I always wondered what happened to her, I guess everyone else wonders too.

The cards have a photo (not all have a photo) and a brief synopsis of what the information is. They're to the point. I think it's a wonderful idea because who plays more cards than inmates? Probably just casinos. Inmates have time to actually read the cards though. I'm sure they could mail a card out to a family member with information if they didn't want to be identified.

I also feel... who better to know something that they wouldn't tell anyone before than inmates? Inmates hear more about who-dun-it's than the rest of us. I hope more comes out of this, or the next deck. Or... even just gets someone to talk about something else just because they realize people do still care and are still looking.
 

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