A newly formed team of state investigators will look into old, unsolved homicide and missing-person cases, with hopes that new witness interviews and technology will generate fresh leads.

The "cold case" group's first project is the reopening of an investigation into the October 1987 death of a New Rockford woman, Kathy Bonderson, 35, whose body was found in her smoldering car just west of town.

Ed Allmaras, who was Eddy County's sheriff at the time, concluded Bonderson died in an early-morning car accident, and that her vehicle caught fire after she ran over some railroad tracks.

Other investigators disputed that conclusion, saying Bonderson's car was set afire, and that she was dead before it burned. The case was featured on the television show "Unsolved Mysteries" in 1991.

Bonderson's case is one of 13 that will get initial attention from investigators, said Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, who announced the team's formation on Monday. He said the group will work on one or two cases at a time.

The effort will be headed by Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents Dallas Carlson and Dale Maix-ner, with help from retired BCI agents, who will volunteer their time, and local law enforcement, the attorney general said.

Stenehjem said new technology, including DNA analysis and a fingerprint analysis database, may help shed new light on the old cases. Investigators also plan to conduct new interviews with witnesses, and they may be more willing to disclose information with the passage of time, Stenehjem said.

"We know that there are people who may be holding a secret, because they were a witness, or they had some information that they were not willing, for whatever reason, to bring forward," he said.

"They may realize that sleepless nights are not worth it."

Of the 13 cases listed on the attorney general's initial batch of "cold cases," 10 are listed as possible homicides and three are considered missing-persons cases.

The oldest dates to March 1963, when the body of Larry Phebus, 14, was found 2½ miles south of Alexander in McKenzie County.

He had gone missing in October 1962.

An autopsy indicated the teenager had been suffocated.

(On the Net: The list of cold case files: www.ag.state.nd.us/BCI/ColdCase/coldcase.html.)