A group of criminology and forensic science students at the University of Texas Arlington (UTA), assigned to investigate a cold-case murder as part of their studies, helped authorities to make the first arrest in a mystery that had stumped detectives for nearly 35 years.
The Arlington Police Department (APD) announced Monday that it arrested Janie Perkins, 63, on Nov. 6 in Axle, Texas, on one count of capital murder in connection with the 1991 death of 25-year-old Cynthia Gonzalez.
In a video shared by the police department, the students involved in the investigation can be seen reacting with shock and glee while receiving the news that Perkins had been arrested and charged with Gonzalez’s murder.
Cynthia Gonzalez’s case goes cold
On the night of Sept. 22, 1991, police found the partially decomposed body of Gonzalez, with multiple gunshot wounds to her head, on private property in a rural area of Johnson County, Texas.
Despite pursuing numerous leads over the years, including those related to Perkins, no arrests were made, and the case lay dormant.
In a 2024 review of the files, investigators did not believe there was any new evidence or leads to pursue, but chose to keep the case open so that they could more thoroughly examine the files as time permitted, the department said in a news release.
At the start of the Fall 2025 semester, UTA’s Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice launched an advanced course in partnership with APD, allowing select students to review real APD cold cases.
The students were granted access to all reports and materials from the case files, except for physical evidence. Gonzalez’s case was one of three cold cases given to the students.
Get breaking National news
Perkins rouses suspicion
Despite looking into her in the ’90s and establishing that she was a friend of Gonzalez, that the two hung out regularly and that they shared a romantic partner, original investigators ran out of road in pursuit of Perkins.
In the weeks before Gonzalez’s murder, they discovered that the individual with whom both women were involved had told Perkins he was leaving her to be with Gonzalez. But Perkins never provided investigators with an alibi for her whereabouts when Gonzalez went missing.
Suspicious, but unable to place Perkins on the night of the killing, detectives performed two voluntary polygraph tests on her, which she failed when asked if she knew who murdered Gonzalez or if it was her.
Perkins had also stated to investigators that she was glad Gonzalez was dead and that she had considered killing her or having her killed. But polygraph tests are not admissible in court, and Perkins maintained she was not involved in the murder. She was never charged.
Students connect the dots
Perkins piqued the students’ interest, and the group working on Gonzalez’s case began asking homicide detectives — with whom they were in direct contact throughout the semester — questions about her, prompting detectives to review her files more thoroughly.
In doing so, they learned that witnesses had come forward claiming Perkins had admitted to them that she was involved in the murder and provided them with specific details about the killing.
“Detectives compared those witness statements to the evidence in the case and found they aligned,” the department said.
“They believe this demonstrated Ms. Perkins either participated in or facilitated Ms. Gonzalez’s kidnapping and murder,” it continued, adding that detectives were then able to move forward with filing criminal charges against her.
The department commended the students for their hard work.
“When we launched our cold case partnership with UTA, we always hoped we’d get an outcome like this one day,” Chief of Police Al Jones said.
“I don’t think any of us expected that lightning would strike the first time. I want to sincerely thank the students for their work and dedication to this case. I also want to thank the UTA faculty for embracing this program. We hope this is just the first of more to come,” he concluded.
Comments