How not to solve a cold case

Since at least March 3, 2004 the webpage https://www.troopers.ny.gov/Wanted_and_Missing/Missing/view.cfm?ID=7d2586b3-87fc-44bb-b602-52825c71e4f0 https://web.archive.org/web/20120504065637/http://www.troopers.ny.gov/Wanted_and_Missing/Missing/view.cfm?ID=7d2586b3-87fc-44bb-b602-52825c71e4f0 has stated that there is a “Man sought as a possible witness" regarding the disappearance of Suzanne Lyall.

A 2010 article about the case:

Crimesider staff. "Suzanne Lyall Missing Since 1998 After Leaving Her Job." CBS News. May 26, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100529052353/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20006008-504083.html? appears to indicate that the man had been identified, located, and questioned, in which case he is presumably no longer sought and the webpage ought to be updated.

In the program "Disappeared: Final Exam" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2321176/combined it was stated that the “Nike Man" was identified in February 1999. It would seem to serve the Lyalls, the public, and the "Nike Man" himself no good to continue to represent him on their website as unidentified if in fact he was identified, located, and questioned fifteen years ago.

Caption: ”February 1999 Albany, NY”

Narrator: “Nearly a year after Suzy’s disappearance, prominent billboards and continued news coverage provoke a solid lead in the case. Investigators have finally found the elusive 'Nike Man', the unidentified customer at the convenience store who police say could have used Suzy’s ATM card.”

New York State Police Senior Investigator John Camp: ”We had numerous, many, many calls. Two or three people identified one particular subject who we located and admitted to us he was the 'Nike Man', that he was in the store that day.”

Narrator: “But after an extensive interview, police are struck with yet another disappointment.”

Camp: “At this point there is no credible evidence that we have found that links him to Suzanne’s disappearance.”

Disappeared: Final Exam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNLyaEGoiow

I’ve made a couple attempts to get the state police to update their webpage for Suzanne Lyall’s case if in fact they did identify the “Nike Man”, but so far I’ve been unsuccessful. If/when the site finally does get updated, at a minimum some kind of press release should probably accompany it so that the information gets corrected everywhere it appears. Ideally, all the places where the information appears would be contacted directly.

There’s quite a few webpages that state that the Nike Man is unidentified:

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/l/lyall_suzanne.html

http://doenetwork.org/cases/2293dfny.html

http://www.411gina.org/cases/lyallsuzannegloria.htm

http://www.nampn.org/cases/lyall_suzanne.html

http://projectjason.org/forums/topic/442-missing-woman-suzanne-gloria-lyall-ny-03021998/

http://briansdreams.com/2014/lyall_suzanne.html

I understand Marianna Boncek’s 2011 book Gone Missing in New York also states that the Nike Man is unidentified.

I’d guess they were all copying the claim from the State Police website, which makes the failure to properly maintain the webpage for Suzanne Lyall that much more problematic.

I am glad that the State Police have a webpage for Suzanne Lyall, though. The SUNY Police used to have one that they did not maintain (her name was misspelled and they never corrected it) which they allowed to become orphaned (not linked from any active webpage) and they ultimately deleted it. Evidently the SUNY Albany Police are wholly uninterested in encouraging tips that might solve the case; given how notoriously corrupt the SUNY Police are, it’s no wonder.

"SUNY police chiefs serve at the pleasure of the campus president, thus are motivated to keep crime stats down by any means […] SUNY can no longer afford to staff, or overstaff, a body, or overstaff, a body which is subject to inefficiencies, manipulation, cronyism, ill motivation and mismanagement." Peter Barry, VP & Legislative Director of NYS University Police Officers Union Local 1792 of the American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees AFSCME, Council 82 & AFL-CIO. (127-128).

http://www.nysenate.gov/files/SUNY%20Testimony%20pt.%203.PDF

Given the eagerness of some SUNY Albany faculty and staff and SUNY Albany Police (Jeannette Altarriba, Clarence L. McNeill, J. "Frank" Wiley, John Murphy, Tamra Minor, Christine Bouchard, Sue Faerman, John Reilly, Janet Thayer, Susan Phillips, etc.) to ignore victims and witnesses of crimes or to engage in or assist in retaliation against them, and the willingness of other SUNY Albany faculty and staff to ignore that problem, one has to wonder how many witnesses in the Suzanne Lyall disappearance might have been threatened or ignored?