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Saint Leo University will offer students the opportunity to dig for clues and investigate a long "cold" case for the Ocala Police Department beginning this fall.

WCJB-TV, the ABC-affiliate in Gainesville and Marion County, featured the course in its broadcast on July 27 as well online.

Cold Case Homicide (CRM 490) will be offered 5:30 to 8 p.m., Mondays, at Saint Leo's

Ocala Education Center, 1930 S.W. 38th Ave., in the Meadowbrook Office One complex at the intersection of South West 20th Street and South West 38th Avenue. The course will be offered during the Fall 1 Semester, which begins August 20 and ends October 14.

Any criminal justice student, who is interested in learning about homicide investigations, is invited to enroll, said Dr. Robert J. Sullivan, assistant professor of criminal justice. "We are the only university in the United States that offers this undergraduate course wherein an actual cold case homicide is studied," Sullivan said. "It is not a case study from a book, but an actual, and typically really old, homicide."

Meghan Shay, the public information officer for the Ocala Police Department told WCJB-TV, "This is a great opportunity for us to provide a case that can now get a fresh set of eyes on it, from them to possibly see things that have been missed or new developments that could potentially arise."

Saint Leo has many partnerships with law enforcement agencies, and counts many law enforcement leaders as alumni, including Ocala Police Chief Greg Graham and Deputy Chief Mike Balken. Since the Ocala area has several unsolved cases, the chief offered one for study in the Saint Leo class.  A case from 2016 will be examined in the course.

This will be the second time that Saint Leo has offered the Cold Case Homicide course at one of its education centers rather at University Campus in St. Leo, FL, north of Tampa. The first was at the Lakeland Education Center, and Saint Leo partnered with the Winter Haven Police Department. Chief Charlie Bird is an adjunct faculty member as well as an alumnus, having earned three degrees from the university.

Those interested in more information about the Cold Case Homicide course as well as other degree programs at the Ocala Education Center, may email ocala@saintleo.edu or call (352) 671-3391.