Buried Evidence to Breakthroughs: Why We Built AI for Investigators

Ten years. That’s how long Rita J. Papakee’s children have waited for answers.

Rita, a Native American mother of four from the Meskwaki Nation in Iowa, went missing in 2015. Her case drew national attention, triggered involvement from over two dozen agencies, and resulted in mountains of data—thousands of pages of reports, social media tips, phone records, sonar scans, body camera footage, and interviews. But despite the urgency, commitment, and time poured into the investigation, the case went cold.

I was humbled when Lt. Jason Gudenkauf of the Meskwaki Nation Police Department called TRULEO and asked for help. He wasn’t calling for a tech demo. He was calling because he was stuck. Not for lack of effort or dedication, but because the evidence was simply too vast and fragmented to get a clear picture of what had been done—and what hadn’t.

That call underscored exactly why we built TRULEO’s AI capabilities for detectives in the first place.

The Hidden Cost of Complexity in Modern Investigations
The challenges investigators face today are staggering. Solving crimes has never just been about intuition or even experience. It’s about pattern recognition across an ever-expanding flood of data. The more advanced our tools become, the more evidence we can collect—but that means we’re asking human minds to keep up with the pace and volume of machines.

Think about a single homicide investigation today. It’s not just interviews and fingerprints; it’s also text messages, social media activity, surveillance footage, body-worn camera video, license plate reader data, dispatch logs, confidential informant statements, and more. Multiply that by every agency that touches the case, and you have a snowball of unstructured chaos.

Even the best detectives can’t connect every dot in real-time. It’s not a failure of skill or dedication—it’s an impossible task to expect of anyone unaided.

That’s where AI should come in. Not as a replacement for experience and intuition, but as an intelligent partner to help clear the fog– a fresh set of eyes on old data. 

Building AI That Actually Helps Cops
At TRULEO, we’ve always believed in building technology with law enforcement, not just for them. Every feature we create—whether it’s for patrol, investigators, or command staff—starts with the same question: “How can this make the job easier, safer, and more effective?”

When we designed our case summarization and analysis tools, we sat down with dozens of investigators. We asked them where they get stuck. Where things slow down. Where doubt creeps in before a court date. What keeps them up at night.

We heard some common pain points:

• “I don’t have time to go through every interview again.”
• “I worry I’ve missed something in an old report.”
• “There are so many formats—PDFs, handwritten notes, audio, video—it’s impossible to bring it all together.”
• “It’s hard to build confidence in a case when the data is scattered.”

These weren’t complaints—they were cries for help from dedicated professionals trying to do right by victims and communities. That’s why we built our analyst capabilities, including case summarization, to directly target those needs.

• Consolidates case materials—reports, audio files, transcripts, video metadata, digital evidence logs—into one system.
• Analyzes each source using large language models (LLMs) trained to identify facts, inconsistencies, patterns, and gaps.
• Generates a detailed, organized summary with timelines, person-of-interest linkages, tips categorized by credibility or corroboration, and metadata comparisons.
• Surfaces weak points and unanswered questions—discrepancies in witness accounts, gaps in timelines, or procedural lapses—that investigators can address proactively before going to court.

What Happened in the Papakee Case
When Lt. Gudenkauf came to us, the situation was clear: this case mattered deeply to the community, but it had become too complex to manage with manual review alone.

We worked closely with the department to upload and structure over a decade’s worth of data. That included:

• Witness interviews from multiple agencies

• Phone records and text logs
• Social media tips from the public
• Body-worn camera footage
• Search grid and sonar scan reports
• Financial transactions
• Internal memos, faxes, and PDFs

We weren’t just looking for new evidence—we were looking to understand the full scope of what had been done, what had been overlooked, and what questions still needed answers.

• Created a unified timeline from Day 1 of the case through the most recent tips.
• Grouped and prioritized leads based on likelihood of corroboration and last-known activities.
• Flagged discrepancies in witness interviews that suggested possible new angles.
• Estimated resource expenditure to help the department assess impact and seek federal support.
• Generated a searchable format that could be used for future updates or court presentation.

The Meskwaki Nation PD shared that the report helped them decide to contact the FBI again. It gave the case renewed clarity and legitimacy. Federal resources—including cadaver dogs—were redeployed to search a previously unexplored area.

That search didn’t yield new physical evidence—but it did reignite momentum. For Rita’s family, that meant something more powerful than a news headline. It meant people were still fighting for her.

Why This Matters Beyond One Case
Cold cases like Rita’s are tragically common in the United States—especially among Indigenous communities, where jurisdictional issues and historical distrust of law enforcement can compound the challenges.

AI won’t solve systemic issues alone. But it can ensure that no tip remains buried. That no case is left behind because of paperwork. That no family hears “we ran out of leads” when the truth is, we just ran out of time.

Technology can’t replace compassion, persistence, or human connection—but it can give investigators the tools they need to keep going when the trail goes cold.
And that’s exactly what we intend to do.

Giving Detectives Confidence Before Court
One of the most underdiscussed benefits of case summarization is how it helps investigators feel more prepared and confident heading into court.

If you’ve ever talked to a detective before trial, they’ll tell you—what keeps them up isn’t just the facts. It’s what they might have missed. Did that one witness statement contradict another? Was the phone ping actually consistent with the suspect’s alibi? Did the supplemental report from an outside agency include something we forgot to log?

These aren’t hypotheticals. These are real fears, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
With TRULEO’s case analysis, we can surface those blind spots before they become liabilities in the courtroom. It’s like having a second set of eyes that never gets tired, never misses a timestamp, and never skips a page.

Confidence isn’t just about being right—it’s about knowing you’ve done your due diligence. That’s what our tools aim to provide.

• No special hardware required. TRULEO runs in the cloud, with CJIS-compliant storage and zero data retention.
• Instant outputs. Summaries are generated in hours, not weeks.
• Searchable and shareable. Our reports can be easily stored in your RMS, shared with partner agencies, or printed for court.

A Note to Investigators
If you’re an investigator reading this, I want to say this directly:
You have one of the most difficult, emotionally demanding jobs in public service. Every unsolved case, every unanswered question weighs on you. We built this technology because we believe your time is too valuable to waste on searching through outdated file structures or trying to stitch together stories by hand.
You deserve tools that work as hard as you do.

What’s Next
The Papakee case is not closed—but it’s no longer forgotten. That distinction matters.

• Witness interview transcription and analysis (including phone-in options)
• Witness canvassing (crowdsourcing crimefighting)
• Personal history reports from RMS/CAD
• Courtroom prep summaries
• Cross-case pattern recognition
• And more tools on the way—built in response to real-world needs.

We don’t claim to have all the answers. But we’ll keep building, keep listening, and keep partnering with those who dedicate their lives to seeking truth and justice.
Because every case deserves that chance.

Learn More
Want to learn more about TRULEO’s AI tools for investigators? Visit truleo.co or reach out to our team for a demo.

We’re here to help you do what you do best—faster, more clearly, and with more confidence than ever before.