KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Detectives Jonathan Schipper and Joe Paul got promoted at the same time in 2016.
They've spent nearly 10 years as detectives with Kalamazoo Public Safety, and in February of 2025, they got a new assignment: cold case detectives.
"Our role is to go back to those older cases. They don't have to be very old. Just inactive cases, starting from now, all the way back," Detective Jonathan Schipper said.
Hear more about the detectives' work:
The pair has looked at cases as far back as the 1980s, but their main focus is on the more recent past.
"As everyone remembers, 2023 was a really rough year. We had 22 homicides I believe," Schipper said.
"The majority of cases that John and I are looking at, are from 2020-2023. The numbers were just so high that year," Detective Joe Paul said.
The team recently made a break in one case from 2023, in connection to the death of Kunta Davis.
"When the arriving officers came, they found a subject down in the garage. It was apparent that it was not a medical issue, but the subject had in fact been murdered," Schipper said.
Recently, the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor's Office authorized a warrant in connection to Davis's death. A man named Daniel Ray Partee is facing charges of open murder.
Partee was taken into custody in Florida, and will eventually be transported back to Kalamazoo.
The detective's impact on these cases is only just getting started.
"It means a lot to the victim's families, as well as the community and city leaders," Schipper said.
