More than four decades after William Emmett Groff was found shot to death along South Wildwood Drive in Irving, police are once again asking the public for help cracking the case. Police are seeking information about the killing.
The case, labeled 1984-43, centers on Groff's death on May 27, 1984.
Groff was found along South Wildwood Drive.
Police Also Want to Find Groff's Family
Irving Police are also asking for leads to help locate Groff's surviving family members.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Irving Police. Detective Burkleo is a contact for the department's Cold Case Unit.
A Nonprofit Partnership Behind the Push
The renewed appeal is part of Irving Police's broader partnership with Solve the Case, a nonprofit the department credits with helping bring attention back to unresolved investigations. Solve the Case describes itself as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, according to its website, and says it offers free case pages for unsolved murders, missing persons, unidentified persons, and fugitives, with tips routed directly to the assigned detective.
The partnership is bringing renewed attention to Groff's case decades after his death.
A Case Like Thousands of Others
Groff's file is far from unique in the broader landscape of American cold cases. More than 352,390 homicide and non-negligent manslaughter cases went unsolved nationwide between 1965 and 2024, according to FBI Uniform Crime Report data examined by the Murder Accountability Project. The same analysis found that the rate at which homicides get solved has been declining for the past five decades — a trend that makes efforts like the Solve the Case partnership feel less like a long shot and more like a necessity for departments trying to keep old files from being forgotten entirely.
For now, the Groff case remains exactly what it's been since 1984: unsolved, according to Irving Police. Whether the renewed attention turns up a name, a lead, or a long-lost relative remains to be seen.
