This is a list of characters in the CBS television drama Cold Case.
Main characters
Lilly Rush
Lillian "Lilly" Rush was known as the only female homicide detective in Philadelphia, until the later arrival of Lennie Desalle, then Josie Sutton, and finally Kat Miller. She specialized in working cold cases alongside her partner, Scotty Valens.Vincent LoBrutto, TV in the USA: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas(2018), p. 170. According to Lilly, "People shouldn't be forgotten, even if they're my kind of people. Maybe, they don't have a lot of money, they don't have lawyers, but they matter".
Lilly was raised on welfare by an alcoholic mother, Ellen Rush, who often neglected her. Her father, Paul Cooper, left the family when Lilly was six. Lilly was left to fend for herself and care for her younger sister, Christina Rush. The family lived in Kensington, a rough part of Philadelphia.
At the age of ten, Lilly had been sent out late at night by her mother to buy alcohol, and a man brutally attacked and robbed her. Suffering a broken jaw, among other injuries, young Lilly was nursed by Ray Williams. The detective that apprehended the man that attacked Lilly was Lt. John Stillman. Lt Stillman became a mentor and father figure after capturing her attacker when she was a child. After joining the police force, Stillman followed her career and chose her for Homicide when she passed her detective exam ("The Long Blue Line"/"Into the Blue").
As a child Lilly would have nightmares so her mother would read to her The Velveteen Rabbit.
Lilly has a contentious relationship with her sister. At the end of season seven, after rescuing her sister ("Shattered") Lilly discovers that she is now an aunt to Christina's baby daughter.
Her first homicide investigation was in 1999. The victim was Vaughn Bubley.
Shortly after Lilly's change from on-the-line jobs to cold cases, her partner, Chris Lassing, transfers out because of his diabetic condition, leading to Scotty being promoted to Homicide and becoming Lilly's partner. She thinks rationally but at the same time she also has the necessary compassion to deal appropriately with victims and their families. While cold and unyielding with criminals and suspects, she can be devoted to a fault in her concern for the suffered close ones of the victims.In season one, Lilly started a relationship with ADA Jason Kite. They looked happy together but in the last episode ("Lovers Lane'') she is visited at her home at three o'clock in the morning by the distressed partner of a victim. While her boyfriend Jason is waiting for her in the apartment, she takes time to comfort the man. As a result, Kite breaks up with her, pointing out her too strong devotion to help other people as a reason.
Lilly solves the most difficult cases in order to seek the truth after all these years in hopes of giving the victim's family and the victims themselves, justice. She often works long hours on these cases. Because of this, her relationships with men are relatively shaky and her family can best be described as dysfunctional.
One of Lilly's most challenging cases was that of a serial killer who stalked his victims like wild animals. One of the victim's bodies from 1985, Janet Lambert, is found by hikers in a wildlife preserve. The investigation quickly leads Lilly and the cold case squad to the grisly discovery of 8 more decapitated bodies. Soon, suspicion falls on George Marks, who gets brought into the interview room. During interrogation, he manages to get most of the team members agitated until Lilly is finally brought in to get George to confess to these gruesome murders. Instead, George hints about Lilly's dark secret as being the real reason why she became a cop. By this, he was referring to her being attacked as a child, which she rarely discussed. Months later, when Lilly finally confronted George with evidence that he murdered not only the victims from their previous encounter, but his own mother as well, George forced Lilly into reliving her attack before their shootout, which ended his life.
In 2007, shortly after the death of her mother Ellen Rush, Lilly interviewed a victim, Kim Jacobi, only to be ambushed by the person who had murdered Kim's family the year before. The entire Homicide department was held hostage for a short time, with Detectives Scotty Valens and Kat Miller outside the building and under orders from the SWAT team not to break their perimeter. Scotty broke this order and approached Lilly's location in an observation room, where she was attempting to negotiate with the killer. Using a code word they had established that morning, Scotty shot the killer from the blind side of a two-way mirror in the interview room, but not before he shot Lilly in the chest. While undergoing surgery, Lilly apparently sees her late mother before her. She eventually recovers in time to convince John Stillman to reopen the Jack Raymes case, and credits Scotty for saving her life.
In May 2009, while working on the Kate Butler Case, Lilly is involved in a car accident in which her vehicle was pushed off a bridge and into the river forty feet below. However, later on, Lilly begins stalking Moe Kitchner, who is responsible for the accident. He is eventually killed by the victim's father.
Months later, the FBI is trying to recruit her.
Scotty Valens
Detective Scotty Valens is a Philadelphia homicide detective and Lilly Rush's partner. He transferred to Homicide from West Detectives in the fall of 2003, replacing Lilly's first partner Chris Lassing. Young, cocky, and full of himself at first, he likes to brag about his various romances but he nonetheless quickly earned the rest of the squad's respect. He appeared on a crossover episode of CSI: NY called "Cold Reveal".
Son of a Cuban father, Ramiro, and a Puerto Rican mother, Rosa. Episode 1.16, "Volunteers", states he was born some time in the 1970s, likely making him the youngest detective in the squad (with the possible exception of Kat Miller). It was further revealed in the 2005 episode "The Promise" that he was 28 when he transferred to Homicide, giving him a birth date sometime in 1975. Scotty is mentioned as having a number of siblings though only one, his older brother Mike, has appeared on the show.
Scotty's Granddad had ALS. He used to be a boxer, but at the end he couldn't even hold up a spoon. He suffered for weeks before he died. Scotty went to soccer camp as a kid. As a kid his late girlfriend Elisa lived 6 blocks away from Scotty. He has been shown to have a short temper at times, but is a very loyal partner to Lilly. Like she, he also has difficulty with personal relationships. It's striking that Scotty was often interested in Lilly's relationships.
In 1998, season 3, episode 15, he worked as undercover under the alias of Alvaro in a drug investigation and he met a Colombian woman named Ana Castilla, a drug mule. Scotty started to develop feelings for her but she rejected him because he told her that he had a girlfriend (Elisa) who wanted to marry him but he didn't. Ana probably saved Scotty and Elisa's relationship by advising him he take it seriously. Ana only wanted to return to her country, Colombia. She realized Scotty was not who he said. Valens tried to protect Ana giving a phone number in case she need help. Ana was murdered shortly after. In 2006, Scotty captured Ana's murderers and their boss Ramiro.
In the first season, Scotty kept his and Elisa's relationship hidden from his colleagues until she introduced herself to Lilly. Later, he revealed to Lieutenant Stillman that he and Elisa were once engaged before she got sick with schizophrenia. However, when she was discharged and her health improved for several months, Scotty showed no real interest in marrying her. He had known her for many years and felt affection and conmpassion for her. They had a dispassionate relationship that looked more like a friendship but Valens was probably by her side because her suffering moved him and wanted to help her. At the end of the first season, Scotty decided walk out on her and in the second season Elisa is hospitalized again due to her illness. She commits suicide in the Season Two episode “Blank Generation.” In the beginning, he receive the news of Elisa's death calmly. She left a suicide note in which she talks about the good times they had together. Her death is ruled as a suicide but Valens does not believe this. He insisted on keeping a cold case file open on her. Scotty was unfaithful to her and, finally, he broke up with her that's why he was guilt-ridden for the suicide of the unlucky girl for a long time.
Shortly after, Valens had an intimate relationship with Lilly's sister Christina which severely strained his friendship with Lilly for its duration. Scotty and Christina lived together for some time until she was accused of fraud and fled without saying goodbye to him. In season seven, she was abducted by her daughter's father in the series finale. Scotty is shown assisting Lilly and the squad in rescuing her.
In season three, Detective Josie Sutton was assigned to Homicide and Scotty quickly expressed interest in her but she rejected him. Later she was transferred.
Scotty also had a passionate relationship with ADA Alexandra Thomas. She is introduced in season four due to a child abuse case that involved Scotty's brother Mike as a past victim. In the last episode, Scotty is devastated after Lilly is seriously wounded by a gunshot and Alex comforts him. In season five, when Valens was investigated by Internal Affairs, Alex revealed compromising information about him, putting his job at risk. Despite that Scotty and Thomas start a relationship which they kept secret at first, although later a few months, he wanted to bring it to light but she refused it. Their relationship took a turn for the worse when her office disclosed that a serial bomber's intendend target had survived, which nearly killed the man's wife and adaughter. Scotty blamed Alex for this and so their relationship broke up.
After, he briefly dated with Frankie Rafferty, a lab technician, but the affair ends due to her marriage. Frankie decided to reunite with her husband but months later, she decides to end her marriage and attempts to reconnect with Scotty but he rejected her.
Scotty's rogue attitude has worked against him more than once. In the episode "Offender", he revealed the identity of a suspect to a vigilante father which allowed the father to find and nearly kill said suspect. In the season four finale, during a hostage situation in the police squad room, he disobeys a S.W.A.T. commanders' orders and enters the building. He ends up shooting the gunman, drawing the interest of Internal Affairs, who question whether or not the shooting followed protocol (as well as bringing up the Burrell case). They ordered Scotty to take a month's unpaid leave as punishment, but Lt. John Stillman overruled them, taking the leave for himself in order to ensure Scotty stayed on the force.
In season seven, Scotty learns his beloved mother was assaulted, but she refuses to say more or even press charges. Investigating on his own, Scotty realized his mother was actually raped and goes on a personal quest to find the perpetrator. Valens catches him and he sends him to prison but when he learned the rapist would be free in no time, Scotty made sure that he couldn't harm anyone else.
John Stillman
Lieutenant John Stillman is the Chief of the Homicide Division in Philadelphia also the Commander of the Cold Case Squad.
A Vietnam combat veteran with some war-era stress as seen in the episode "Honor" he has shown himself to be stern but caring boss. His daughter was once assaulted, but survived and gave him a grandson. Due to his commitment to the job, his marriage was very strained and finally ended in divorce. He is an Irish-American (as is John Finn, the actor who portrays him). His older brother is a Catholic priest.