CLAY COUNTY – Jillian Berrios and a friend spent most of the night dancing at clubs on Oct. 19, 2013, while celebrating a friend’s birthday. As they arrived at the friend’s house on Loring Avenue, a black man approached the car and fired five shots.

Berrios was killed. The friend was injured.

Nearly 19 years later, the case remains unsolved – but not forgotten.

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office, along with the Green Cove Springs and Orange Park police departments, joined forces to create a deck of playing cards that identify 52 of the county’s most-puzzling unsolved crimes.

Berrios is the ace of spade.

Lt. Cody Monroe has been assigned to dig deeper for facts that may lead to the arrest of Berrios’ killer.

“Obviously, you want to catch a perpetrator,” Monroe said. “I think it’s important that we keep the memory of the victims fresh in people’s minds. We might get something if things pop up, or connections are made by people that may have connections with the victim or if new information comes forward. I think the more that we can talk about cold cases, educate the public on the cold cases in this area, the more likely that we might have people come forward and give us information that could lead to an arrest of the suspects.”

Clay Today will work in collaboration with all three agencies to highlight each of the cases. The series will start next week with Berrios.

Detectives often have a solid lead on the perpetrator, but they lack one piece of evidence that proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. By refreshing the community’s memories of the crimes, law enforcement officials hope they can find the final missing piece of the puzzle.

“Sometimes we think that we have a lot of information to say that that person did it, but unfortunately, it’s not enough to prove beyond reasonable doubt and coordinate a trial,” Monroe said. “And you don’t want to risk going to trial and losing. You just always want the next piece of evidence to help ensure that you have the right person because, on the flip side of it, the last thing we didn’t want to do in the world is put the wrong person in jail.”

CCSO Det. Daniel Tenbusch will be working on a cold case from 2009. He will be the ninth person to investigate the shotgun slaying of 54-year-old disabled truck driver Mark Glenn in Green Cove Springs.

Tenbusch said the sheriff’s office will distribute the cards to inmates, knowing they likely are a source of significant leads.

“There might be somebody out there …,” Tenbusch said.

Eight of the cards identify unsolved homicides. In addition to Berrios and Glenn, CCSO is looking for information on the murders of Teryl Orcutt in 1990 in Middleburg, Jennifer Medernach in 2001 in Maxville and Chelsea Rohn and Matthew Brumbaugh in 2007 in Middleburg and the 2000 slaying of Yvonne Belcher in Green Cove Springs in 2000.

CCSO Sheriff Michelle Cook, Undersheriff Ron Lendvay and other members of the agency met with Project Cold Case founder Ryan Backman recently. CCSO said the purpose of the cards is to help “bridge the gap between surviving families and the investigating agency while advocating for those who have been taken too soon.”

Visit projectcoldcase.org if you have any information on a cold case, or call the sheriff’s office or the Green Cove Springs and Orange Park police departments.