April 22, 2025

Ep. 70 - From Raleigh PD to True Crime Author: Cameron Santana on his law enforcement career and the Virginia Olson Cold Case.

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Ep. 70 - From Raleigh PD to True Crime Author: Cameron Santana on his law enforcement career and the Virginia Olson Cold Case. Cameron has 20 years in law enforcement. He started with Raleigh PD in 2005. In our conversation, we jump right in with his first call straight out of the academy – a violent murder scene. Cameron talks about what it’s like hitting the streets with no real world LE experience, being surrounded by chaos and relying on the direction of his Field Training Officer. Then, within short two years, Cameron would go from having an FTO to being an FTO and later Taser Instructor. In all, he trained more than 30 officers.

Cameron later joined Raleigh PD’s Strike Team the goal of which was to aggressively address the city’s problem areas through proactive policing. The unit’s focus was on violent gang offenders, street level drug sales, and prostitution. The team also conducted surveillance during spikes in burglaries. After about 13 years on patrol, Cameron transitioned to School Resource Officer because the set schedule would allow him to spend more time with his family after his daughter was born with special needs. School Resource Officer was a role he never expected he would want, much less come to love. Throughout our conversation, Cameron shares funny, often wild stories of police work, as well as the painful calls that all of you respond to in this profession, calls that live with him to this day.

Cameron has co-authored a true crime book with his brother Brian, an English professor. The book, “A Murder on Campus: The Professor, the Cop and North Carolina's Most Notorious Cold Case,” investigates the 1973 unsolved rape and murder of 19-year-old Virginia Olson, a student at University of North Carolina Asheville.

It is the first book to thoroughly investigate her story and attempt to find answers to solve this now 52-year-old cold case. The book has led to Cameron’s launching his own podcast “Santana True Crime” on the Failure to Stop network. As well as a podcast called “Free Daniel Holtzclaw” with Eric Tansey of Failure to Stop. Available on all podcast platforms. Links below.

I want to thank Cameron for coming on the show, his commitment to law enforcement, and his mission to not only find justice for victims, but also to make sure the rest of us know the story of their lives beyond their incident.

Santana True Crime on Spotify

Free Daniel Holtzclaw on Spotify

You can find Cameron on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/santanatruecrime/

https://www.instagram.com/santanabrotherstruecrime/

https://www.instagram.com/freeholtzclaw/

The book is available wherever books are sold. You can get it here on Amazon.

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