A state House

committee’s post-Irma recommendations for nursing homes include new standards to prevent deaths like those in South Florida last year. But the plans say little about oversight.

Since Brian Molina was killed in 2006, the detective investigating his case regularly talks to Molina’s mother.

“I talk to Maria Molina sometimes more than my own mother,” said Michael Moreschi, a homicide detective with the Orlando Police Department.

But Moreschi never has a new lead on Molina’s killer, and that frustrates him.

State Sen. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement hope a newly launched website highlighting some of the state’s unsolved homicides will help bring answers to the victims’ families.

“In Florida, the bad guys are never off the hook,” Bean said. “By empowering our citizens, they can help local law-enforcement agencies by providing tips on these cases.”

More than 400 cases are featured on the website — web.fdle.state.fl.us/unsolvedcases — and that number is expected to grow. Orlando Police have more than 100 cold cases dating back to the 1960s, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office has 248 since 1937.

“You want so badly to get answers for families,” Moreschi said. “If any information comes up about Brian’s case, I will stop what I’m doing and investigate it.”

The website features a number of Central Florida homicide victims — including Joshua Hur, who was shot during a robbery Dec. 23, 2015, in front of Kim’s Food Mart in Sanford. And Roland DeLoatch and Joseph Lee Smith, who were shot Oct. 31, 2016, in their mother’s Sanford house during a home invasion.

Investigators have been able to resolve cases as science and technology evolve. Federal grants since 2007 helped Orlando Police test DNA in decades-old cases. A new state system introduced last year helped Orange County deputies isolate DNA samples to narrow in on a suspect profile.

Testing helped solve the 1995 slaying of 28-year-old Angela Gary. Moreschi delivered news of Albert Taylor’s arrest to Gary’s mother. Her father died before the case was solved. In 2011, Taylor was sentenced to life in prison.

But some cases require someone to speak up, especially in cases where DNA is missing.

It wasn’t until a key witness began cooperating with the Orange County Sheriff ’s Office last year that Homicide Detective Peter Hernandez was able to identify a suspect in a 2011 shooting. From there, Hernandez built a case and got an arrest warrant. Law-enforcement officers are still looking for the suspect, and Hernandez offered few details so the suspect is not alerted.

Hernandez did tell the victim’s mother and brother, whom he knew from phone conversations over the years. They called to check in. He’d tell them deputies were still investigating. They were skeptical, Hernandez said. All the while, the case file was on Hernandez’s desk.

A few days before Christmas, Hernandez called the mother. This time, he had news she had eagerly awaited for years.

“They were elated. Extremely

happy,” Hernandez said. “You know — that excitement where you can’t make out the words, but you could hear the emotion.”

The new website is an added tool detectives hope will lead to credible tips.

“We need people in the community who are willing to come forward and be willing to testify,” Hernandez said. “We cannot function without their help.”

Waiting for answers is hard on grieving loved ones, Moreschi said.

“I hear the heartbreak she had 12 years ago,” Moreschi said of Maria Molina. “It never stops for those families.” ktorralva@orlando sentinel.com, 407-420-5417 or Twitter: @KMTorralva