The search for justice

There's only one good reason to reopen a 20-year-old murder

case, particularly one that roiled Long Island like the killing of teen Kelly

Ann Tinyes: the pursuit of justice.

Tinyes' neighbor Robert Golub was convicted of the murder and has been

locked up for 20 years. The impulse to leave well enough alone has to be

powerful. But a prosecutor's job isn't just to win convictions. It's to uncover

as much truth as possible, which is the surest route to justice. "The [Tinyes]

family came to us with questions, and we developed new information that added

to the mystery," Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice said.

The question nagging at investigators is whether there was an accomplice.

Investigators have interviewed new witnesses and retested DNA using modern

technology. It's impossible to know where the probe will lead. But if there are

still serious, unanswered questions about Tinyes' death, then kudos to Rice

and Nassau police for pursuing answers.