For about a year, I had the immense pleasure of seeing the now-retired WBTV reporter (and hometown hero) David Whisenant just about every morning, five days a week.

David and I would meet at the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office and the Salisbury Police Department to go over the previous day’s “bulletin,” which is the listing of incidents and arrests from the day before.

We would have an opportunity to ask questions about anything on the bulletin that raised our curiosity, and we would follow up on cases that were not yet solved.

And David and I, it is my honor to say, built a friendship through those morning meetings, and because he was more than willing to share his lifetime of knowledge about both Salisbury and Rowan County with the old reporter who was new to the area. He was, and remains, a true God send.

And we shared, from time to time, the sadness or the frustration over some police cases.

Back in the summer of 2022, we both reported on the July murder of David Land and the August murder of Michael Mitchke. And initially, we had hope that there might be a relatively quick resolution. Police had information to work, and felt that with just one more piece of information, they could put the whole puzzle together. When Mitchke’s family offered a $10,000 reward and the sheriff’s office offered another $10,000 for that case along with $10,000 for Land’s case on any information that would lead to an arrest and conviction, the hope was that it would spur someone to call up and give investigators even the smallest information that would be just enough, and all would come together.

But over time, that hope began to dim as nothing came.

And David and I would check in on both cases from time to time, but over time, they both grew cold.

The cases are still unsolved, but that doesn’t mean investigators have forgotten them or stopped working them. In fact, this week when I talked to RCSO Lieutenant Ryan Barkley, he said these cases are the Moby Dick of his career and he is determined to solve them. He has done tremendous work on both, and continues to press forward, and in an article in our news section, you can read about the new reward from the governor’s office that has added another $25,000 to the money available for information that helps solve the crimes.

But he said something else that made me feel pretty good, and I hope David reads it here, because he has been a part of this.

“I have always appreciated news outlets getting information out there because it helps us solve crimes,” Barkley wrote to me. “I’m trying to keep these murders in the news and keep the chatter going about them. Don’t want them to sit on a shelf and be forgotten.”

Those words were a balm for my soul, because so much of the time, media is blasted for what many call “negative” coverage. We are accused of keeping stories like those of Michael and David in the news in order to get views, to get readers and even to stir controversy.

We don’t. Believe it or not, we actually believe the information we put out there about cases like these can help, and Lt. Barkley handed me some genuine validation, without my asking.

Rosa Mitchke was also kind enough to grant me an interview this week to talk about the case, about her husband and their life together, and about the impact his death had on her family and her community. She talked about feeling unsafe, about all of her family tending to look over their shoulder because, without a motive or an arrest, they worry they could be targets. But she also talked about her worry for her neighbors. Rosa was able to live somewhere else for more than a year after Michael’s death because the house they were building was not yet livable. But she told me that her neighbors were essentially stuck there, and they, too, were afraid, since no one understood why Michael would have been targeted. The fact that David’s death one month before was so close, just four miles away, also worried everyone in the area. Would there be more, and would they be next?

In the midst of her own grief and loss, she was still worried about others. That sense of community connection humbled me, and it connected back to something Barkley said. He noted that there are far more residents across Rowan County than there are investigators, and those residents can be more helpful than they can imagine if they are willing to come forward. They don’t need to know who committed the crime, but they may have seen or heard something they think is minor that would actually be a big help. They may, having lived in a neighborhood or community for a while, also have suspicions or even just gut feelings about someone or something that could help. After all, those gut feelings or suspicions are often based on something our subconscious minds have picked up on that we are not aware of.

I promise I am circling around to a point here.

David and I worked together incredibly well, and when other journalists came into the mix for stories, we also worked well with them. I am grateful that he and I had the same approach to our job — each of us had a role, a place in informing our communities, and we didn’t need to compete. We could complement one another, and in fact, help each other, which we often did. It was an incredible gift after years of working in an intensely competitive environment in New England, and a reminder that even journalists have a community, and we can and should work together. We can work together to make sure that those we report to get, in the end, the full story, even if it’s putting all the stories we create individually together into one.

The same is true of the neighborhood or area that you live in. There is a community there. And I believe that community coming together is going to be what finally puts closure on these cases. The police continue to do their jobs, the media is doing our job in keeping you up to date, but now, you need to participate. You need to talk to each other, and if you remember anything, realize something you’d forgotten, or even something new you’ve learned, it’s time to share.

Behind all the words I write, behind the stories you hear on television or these days online, there are human beings. The stories are about people’s lives, not unknown entities but neighbors, friends, members of your community. And right now, they need you.

The media and information we provide may not always make you happy, but it is essential. We are tasked with keeping you all aware of and educated about your community. I hope that we encourage you to ask more questions, to get involved, to be active participants in any number of things.

But today, carrying the Mitchke family’s grief, the Land family’s waiting, the police’ continuing efforts, and the overall frustration and hurt that there is still no answer in sight, I am hoping most of all that you will take some time and think if you have any information at all that might help, and that you’ll call Barkley.

As a journalist, I’m not supposed to advocate or take sides, I’m supposed to provide clear and correct information and leave you to it. But in this space, I have a little leeway, and so today, I’m asking not as a journalist but as someone who loves this community and who is cut to the quick by the hurt I bear witness to — if you have seen, heard, or suspect something, say something.

And I have a feeling David would agree.

Elisabeth Strillacci covers crime, courts, Spencer, East Spencer and Kannapolis for the Salisbury Post.