Crime cases gone cold in Denver could finally be solved, thanks to a federal $500,000 grant announced Tuesday by leaders of the Denver Police Department, its Crime Laboratory and the Denver District Attorney’s Office.

The three-year grant from the National Institute of Justice will be divided among the three agencies. They will collaboratively work on 72 unsolved homicide and sexual assault cases, from 1970 to 2016, in which a suspect has been identified but not prosecuted.

“These violent crime cold cases are among the most challenging of all cold cases,” Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said during a press conference at the Denver Crime Lab. “The potential to see justice for more than 70 families is really exciting and very powerful.”

Her sentiment was echoed by Denver City Councilwoman Jamie Torres, who is vice chair for the city’s Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee.

“The ability to solve cold cases is more than bringing long overdue cases to resolution, it is truly about bringing peace of mind to families and ensuring that the individuals responsible for the crimes are brought to justice,” she said in an email to Colorado Politics.

“No matter how many years and decades go by, families need closure,” Torres said.

The institute’s competitive grant program, called “Prosecuting Cold Cases using DNA and Other Forensic Technologies,” is intended to further the mission of the U.S. Department of Justice and “improve public safety, prevent and reduce crime, and ensure the fair and impartial administration of justice,” according to the DOJ’s grant applicant solicitation letter released in March.

Over the past 15 years, the grant has funded forensic laboratories across the country that do testing on cold cases, said Susan Berdine, who works at the Denver Crime Lab and wrote Denver’s grant application submitted in May.

But this funding was especially notable, she said, because, as reflected in the grant title, the institute is aiming to increase the capacity of state and local prosecution offices.

“The real resolution comes when criminal charges can be filed, and a case can be prosecuted if there is enough evidence and proof,” Berdine said. “And [NIJ] wanted to shift funding to that to bring pieces to full resolution.”

The grant, which Denver law enforcement learned they won last month, largely will cover employee overtime hours at the Denver Crime Lab and the Denver Police Department’s cold case unit. McCann said it also will allow the District Attorney’s Office to add another deputy attorney to its existing cold case unit.

In 2004, the Denver Crime Lab looked “administratively” at 5,500 cases to see if it was possible to use forensic science to help crack them. Those cases were then narrowed down to about a thousand, Denver Police Crime Lab Director Greggory LaBerge said, half of which were matched in DNA databanks.

“This grant is going to finish [that work] for us,” LaBerge said.

Denver City Councilman Paul Kashmann said by email that he was “very pleased additional funding has been made available to provide the personnel and technology that may help in resolving these heinous crimes.” Kashmann chairs the Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee.

“We know there are victims and families who haven’t forgotten what happened, and we don’t [forget] either,” Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said . “We cannot leave any stone unturned. We must investigate and use every tool and resource at our disposal.”

NIJ has awarded Denver two other grants in the past, all three of which together total more than $1 million.