BOARD MEMBERS
President-Christopher Flanagan
Chris graduated from Radford University in 1987 with a BS in Criminal Justice. He served with the Fairfax County Police Department for over 33 years and was detective for over 27 years working Narcotics, Robbery, Homicide, and Cold Case. Chris retired from the Fairfax County Police Department in August of 2021. He has been a member of the Virginia Homicide Investigators Association since 2000 and was the Training Director from 2012 through 2019. Chris joined the Mid-Atlantic Cold Case Homicide Investigators Association in 2006 and has been the president of MACCHIA since 2015. Chris has instructed and consulted across the country on homicide investigations and specifically the establishment and protocols for cold case units. Chris can be reached at macchia2093@gmail.com.
Vice President-Darrell Price
Darrell Price is a Sergeant with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department where he started in January of 1981. He has worked as a Detective in fields such as Robbery, Homicide, and The Violent Crimes Task Force for over 14 years. Once promoted to Sergeant Darrell supervised the Sexual Assault division for more than 8 years. He Retired from Full time Law Enforcement in 2010 and was re-hired to supervise the CMPD’s Cold-Case Unit which consist of both Homicides and Sex Assaults. The CMPD cold case unit has 3 full-time detectives, 4 part-time detectives and 14 volunteers. The unit carries a case load of over 3000 Sex Assaults and 600 Homicides.
Darrell is an active member with the North Carolina Coalition against Sexual Assault, and works regularly with the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission on issues related to violence against Women. Darrell can be reached at Darrell Price <dprice@cmpd.org>
Secretary- Argiro Magers
Argi Magers currently works at the Maryland State Police Forensic Science Division as the Manager of the Biology/DNA Section.
Argi attended McDaniel College where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology and soon after a Master of Science Degree in Biology with emphasis in molecular genetics from Towson University. Upon completion of her studies, she worked at Johns Hopkins University for approximately one year doing research. She was hired by Maryland State Police where she started as a Forensic Chemist in the Biology section. She has worked on hundreds of cases and has analyzed thousands of samples. She was promoted to a casework supervisor in November of 2005 and in June of 2009 she took the position of the Manager of the Biology Section. She currently coordinates the work between the 4 units of the Biology Section (Database/Collections, Trial Casework, Investigative Casework /Cold Cases and the Technical/Validation unit). Argi has been involved in the Sexual Assault Forensic Examiners program, the SAKI committee for the State of MD. and the training of Collectors of DNA samples from Offenders for the State of Maryland. She is a member of MidAtlantic Association of Forensic Scientists, a member American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the Forensic specialist for the Maryland NamUs Team (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System), the current Secretary and Immediate Past President of MACCHIA (Mid-Atlantic Cold Case Investigators Association) and a member of the FBI's Rapid-DNA Task Force which focus is to identify issues and put forth a plan for the integration of Point of Collection DNA analysis into the booking environment. Argi can be reached at argiro.magers@maryland.gov
Treasurer-Amy Kelly
Amy Kelly currently works at the Maryland State Police Forensic Sciences Division. She is a Forensic Scientist in the Technical Group of the Biology Unit. In addition to analyzing casework she is instrumental in bringing new technologies online to enhance the capabilities and efficiency of the Biology Unit. In addition, she assists in educating investigators from allied agencies in efficient evidence prioritization and case submittal. She has a Bachelor of Science degree from Towson University with a major in Biology and a minor in Chemistry and a Master of Science degree from Johns Hopkins University in Biotechnology. She has served as the secretary for MACCHIA from 2006 through 2017 and as the treasurer from 2013 to current. She is a longstanding member of MAAFS and has been a member of AAFS since 2016. Amy can be reached at amy.kelly@maryland.gov
Training Coordinator-Frank Tona
Frank P. Tona is currently a Sergeant with the Charles County, Maryland Sheriff's Office where he's worked since 2002. The Charles County Sheriff’s Office is a full-service police agency that serves about one hundred sixty thousand residents in Southern Maryland. He is currently assigned to his department’s Criminal Investigations Division where he supervises the Property Crimes Unit. He began his career in the Patrol Division and was later transferred to the Criminal Investigation Division. While assigned as a Detective, he worked cases in the Financial Crimes Unit, Special Victims Unit, Robbery Unit and the Major Crimes Unit. He has been involved with MACCHIA since 2009 and a Board Member since 2012. He has professional affiliations with the International Association for Identification, the National Police Foundation and is a member of the Vidocq Society. Frank is also on the faculty at Norwich University, the University of Maryland-University College and at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Frank can be reached at tonap@ccso.us .
Assistant Training Coordinator-Don Chewning
Corporal Donald Chewning is retired member of the Pennsylvania State Police with 20-years of service. His last assignments include that of Criminal Investigator and the Intelligence Division of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Don also performed duties as a Criminal Investigation Assessment Unit Member and Major Case Team member at Troop H Headquarters in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He assisted his team in the assessment of offender behaviors exhibited during the commission of violent crimes.
Don is also a retired member of the United States Army of 21-years. He served in a multitude of positions within the Military Police Corps, Army Recruiting and the U.S. Army CID Command as a Special Agent. Don is a Vincennes University Alumni as well as member of the Pennsylvania Homicide Investigator's Association." Don can be reached at donc3288@gmail.com
Round Table Coordinator
Round Table Coordinator
Mr. Sullivan retired as the senior analyst for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service,
Cold Case Homicide Unit after 20 years of service. He has 43 years of law enforcement
experience which began in 1974 when he joined the Metropolitan Police Department in
Washington D.C. (MPDC). His career with the MPDC included assignments as a Patrol
Officer, Narcotics Investigator and Sex Offense Detective. In July 1987, Mr. Sullivan was
assigned to the Homicide Branch and in January 1992 became a member of the unit’s
cold case squad where he remained until his retirement in 1997. During his career with
the police department he received a degree in criminology from the American University,
Washington D.C. In August 1997 Mr. Sullivan was hired by the Naval Criminal
Investigative Service as a homicide analyst to their Cold Case Unit. Mr. Sullivan served
as a lecturer and provided training for agencies and groups throughout the world
specializing in death investigation, advanced homicide techniques and cold case
investigation. Mr. Sullivan is a past President of Mid Atlantic Cold Case Homicide
Investigators Association. He also served in the United States Coast Guard Reserves for
7 years. Mr. Sullivan worked with several law enforcement teams responsible for
recovering evidence from the Pentagon in Washington after the 911 tragedies.
Board Member- Deputy Chief Brian Kohlhepp
Brian Kohlhepp is a Deputy Chief at the Ross Township Police Department. There he oversees the Detective Division as well as the Forensic Investigation Unit. He is also a department Public Information Officer handling all media events for major incidents and investigations. He investigates all major criminal incidents such as suspicious deaths, sexual assaults, and child abuse. He has testified as an expert in Forensic Crime Scene Reconstruction. He has over 1500 hours of specialized training in various policing subjects and is a polygraph examiner. He has a BA from Waynesburg University in Criminal Justice and a Master of Arts in Social Sciences from California University of Pennsylvania (Summa cum Laude).
Deputy Chief Kohlhepp is on faculty teaching in the Legal Studies graduate school at California University of PA, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Duquesne University. He also serves as a Program Director and Instructor in numerous criminal investigation and forensic continuing education classes for attorneys and law enforcement at the Institute for Law and Public Policy at California University of PA held in the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia area. In addition, he has conducted various continuing education seminars for John Jay College at their main campus in New York City. Brian can be reached at bkohlhepp@rosspolice.com.
Board Member - Sergeant John Elliott
John Elliott is a Sergeant with the Charles County, MD Sheriff’s Office. He began his law enforcement career in 1996 as seasonal Police Officer with the Ocean City, MD Police Department while attending the University of Maryland. In 1997 he was hired by the Metro-Transit Police in Washington, D.C. where he worked for three years. In 2000, he was hired by the Charles County, MD Sheriff’s Office. After starting in the Patrol Division, he was later assigned to their Criminal Investigations Division for 15 years where he spent most of his time in the Major Crimes-Homicide unit.
Sergeant Elliott’s formal education includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Fire and Arson Investigation from the University of Maryland and a Master of Science from the Johns Hopkins University, Police Executive Leadership Program. He currently teaches forensic and criminal justice related undergraduate level courses at the University of Maryland Global Campus. Professional affiliations include the Vidocq society.
John can be reached at elliottj@ccso.us
Board Member -Carol Schweitzer
Carol Schweitzer has been with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children since 2005 and has been managing the Forensic Services Unit under the Missing Children Division since 2016. She received her master’s in forensic psychology from Marymount University in 2006. While working in the Forensic Services Unit, she has developed best practices and methodologies that bring long term cases up to current investigative standards, grew NCMEC’s relationships with corporate forensic partners in order to apply critical resources to case work, and played an integral part of forming a multidisciplinary team focused on long term investigations. Carol’s passion is finding new ways to bring forensic technologies to the forefront of missing person and homicide case work with the goal of delivering answers for the victim and their families and justice for the guilty. Carol can be reached at schweitzerct@gmail.com.