Santa Clara police hope advances in technology will help solve cold cases

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara police are seeking the public’s help in solving their cold cases.

They are highlighting six on their website and through social media in the hopes that might generate some new interest and new leads. 

Among them, they are revisiting the case of Matthew Flores who was gunned down, execution-style, in the parking lot of Applied Materials on what would have been his ninth day on the job. 

20 potential witnesses were interviewed, but saw nothing. The shooting happened out of view of surveillance cameras. 

A suspicious Ford Explorer was seen leaving the scene.

"You learn to deal with the heartache and everything else. And nothing is going to bring him back,” said Mike Mauro, Flore's stepfather. 

But police haven't given up the search for answers.

In fact, they're revisiting some of their coldest cases, in the hopes that the passage of time, and advances in technology might work in their favor.

The information is also on their social media pages.

"Given the fact that the internet is so popular and so much information can be shared easily, we wanted to put these cases out for anyone to look at at any time,” said Police Capt. Wahid Kazem.

They're not alone. In Mountain View, the police department is creating a cold-case podcast, launching early next year. New York City has had success with something similar.

"We're always hopeful that something will come of these types of stories and that some information will come to us that will help us break the case,” Kazem said. 

Matthew Flores was an army veteran and a new father at the time of his murder. His family said they still hold out hope that someday they'll get justice.

"One little break and I'll tell you, you can go home and pop the champagne. I pray for that,” Mauro said. 

In the Matthew Flores case, Applied Materials is still honoring the $100,000 reward they started offering back in 1994. 

There are also smaller rewards being offered by Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers in the other cold cases.