Cold Case Playing Cards: Nebraska Issues Deck of Cards Featuring Crime Victims, Hoping to Win Justice

LINCOLN, Neb. (CBS/AP) Nebraska law enforcement is issuing a deck of playing cards featuring crime victims, in an attempt to help solve cold cases.

The Nebraska State Patrol unveiled the cards Tuesday, with details and victim photos from 43 cases dating back to 1969. They're being distributed to state prisons, county jails and local law enforcement offices, and the public can view them through the patrol website.

The 2008 slayings of an Omaha boy and his family's housekeeper and the 1972 shooting deaths of a Grand Island family are among the cases featured.

The number for the state's missing person hot line also is displayed on the cards.

"It is our hope someone who sees the cards may provide us with information that could aid in solving a case," patrol superintendent Bryan Tuma said in a release.

Patrol spokeswoman Deb Collins said about 20 other states have a version of the playing cards. They're based on decks distributed to U.S. troops in Iraq shortly after the 2003 invasion that featured the names and likenesses of that country's most wanted fugitives, including Saddam Hussein as the Ace of Spades.

The oldest case featured is the Nebraska deck is the killing of 17-year-old Mary Heese, whose body was found in a ditch southeast of Wahoo in March 1969.