New Florida bill aims to help families of murder victims with unsolved crimes

DAVIE, Fla. – The Florida lawmakers who are pushing for The Decker-Backmann Act to become state law in July have the families of Marilyn Decker and Clifford “Cliff” Backmann in mind.

Backmann was robbed and shot in 2009 at a construction site in Jacksonville, and he called 911 before he died. He was 56. Decker was the victim of a brutal attack and died of asphyxiation. Her mutilated body turned up in a canal in 1987, in Davie. She was 28.

“She had been there for approximately two to three days,” said Gail Demore, Decker’s sister.

The murders remain unsolved. Decker’s parents died without knowing who killed her. Demore and Backmann’s son Ryan Backmann continue to push for answers and advocate for a better system.

Decker’s cold case reopened in 2019. Demore counts on the help of Bertha Hurtado, a forensic anthropologist-trained crime scene investigator with the Davie Police Department.

“When you open up a cold case you have to go through every single item,” Hurtado said.

Ryan Backmann, who worked for Compassionate Families, a victims’ advocacy group, and founded Project: Cold Case to help “the victims and survivors of unsolved crimes” said the task is tedious but important.

“A lot of times the families of unsolved cases start to feel forgotten like their loved one is forgotten, and like nobody else cares and that really bothered me because I remembered that feeling,” Ryan Backmann said.

Florida Sen. Rosalind Osgood, of Tamarac, filed State Bill 350: Cold Case Murders, in November, and Florida Rep. Christopher Benjamin, of Miami Gardens, filed House Bill 837: Cold Case Murders in December.

The law would allow for reinvestigation requests of unsolved murders on or after Jan. 1, 1970, with a 5-year waiting period unless “materially significant evidence is discovered.” The agencies would have 18 months from the time of the request to review.

It would establish cold case units across the state, improve protocols for evidence storage, order departments to keep victims’ families informed, and require training and data reports to the Global Forensic and Justice Center at Florida International University.

“In the event, the agency doesn’t have enough manpower or financial backing, FDLE, which is the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will take on the responsibility,” Hurtado said.

Before the Senate’s Criminal Justice Committee members voted unanimously on Jan. 30 to support it,
Osgood said the Davie detectives working on Decker’s case lobbied for the bill.

The bills are under review by the Senate’s Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice and the House’s Criminal Justice Subcommittee.

Meanwhile, in Davie, Demore hopes DNA will help detectives solve the case. In Jacksonville, Ryan Backmann said he hopes a tip or new technology will help find his father’s killer.

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