A cold case warming up? We might find out who murdered Linda Malcom in 2008.

PORT ORCHARD — A cold case may not be so cold anymore.

Fifteen years after Linda Malcom, a 47-year-old Navy veteran, was found being murdered in her home on Sidney Avenue, Port Orchard Police Department said advanced forensic testing is being conducted and federal and state agencies are working together to solve the case.

Port Orchard Police Chief Matt Brown said the department is collaborating with the FBI and Washington State Attorney General's Office to conduct this active investigation. The chief didn't specify the timing of other agencies' involvement, but said that homicides are always open and that the police have been working to move the case forward. The timing of increased resources, however, also comes at a time when the public has been engaged in Malcom's case by a volunteer investigative team based on the East Coast and its true-crime podcast.

Unsolved Murders database: A look at Linda Malcom's 2008 murder in Port Orchard

As many people associated with the homicide are being interviewed by the police, Brown calls on the public's help to provide information related to Malcom, he said.

"Someone may not think a piece of information is important, and it might be," Brown said. "So it would be excellent for us to be able to hear from people that have anything about Linda's life or her life leading up to her untimely death."

Born in 1961 in Springfield, Illinois, Malcom joined the Navy in 1984. According to her family, Malcom was stationed in Kitsap County and decided to stay after she got out of the Navy in 1993. She worked as a paralegal for the Kitsap County Prosecutor's Office and other law firms.

On April 30, 2008, Malcom's body was found among the ashes of the home she rented. An autopsy showed she was stabbed to death. Investigators believed that the house was set on fire to conceal the crime.

In 2009, the police identified a person of interest, who was Linda's boyfriend. That individual died of natural causes that year, and police searched his home in Gig Harbor. No arrests have been made over the years, but now evidence is being reviewed again as new forensic techniques are available to test what was found in 2008.

"We're able to look at evidence that we have had in our possession since the beginning, just differently, because technology is advanced," Brown said.

Read more: Home of Deceased Man Searched for Evidence in Port Orchard Death

More resources are being pulled into the investigation. The state's attorney general received a federal grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance at the Department of Justice to be used in the investigation, Brown said.

In addition, an American Military University's volunteer cold case investigative team, based in Charles Town, West Virginia, has been working on Malcom's case for the past six months. The team uses multiple media platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, podcast channels and other social media, to generate and facilitate discussions related to the murder. They believe that crowdsourcing can encourage people to tip them new leads that may contribute to solving the case.

Linda's killer should be worried, cold case team says

Starting in November last year, the team managing a Facebook group called "Unsolved Murder of Linda Malcom" began posting its progress looking into the case and promoting discussion in the group. Contents include the team's two trips to Port Orchard in November and April, and video recordings of their two public Zoom meetings with a knife expert and an arson expert to analyze the murder.

As of Friday, the group has over 770 members. Some members said in the group that they knew Malcom in Port Orchard, while some said they were not familiar with the area but were interested in the case.

Related: Investigator specializing in cold cases looks into the 2008 killing of Linda Malcom

The team also featured Malcom's case in AMU's team's podcast, Break The Case. So far, there are 6 episodes in Season 3, in which the team talked about their progress to diving into the murder.

On April 28, the team flew to Washington to meet with the Port Orchard Police Department. The team's lead advisor, Jennifer Bucholtz, a professor and criminal investigator and former U.S. Army Counterintelligence Agent, said they've made progress in recent months and has handed over relevant information to the police department. Some are their contacts that were reluctant to talk to the police before, Bucholtz told Kitsap Sun on Saturday.

Bucholtz said they were surprised and glad to see that multiple agencies were participating in the investigation.

In a presentation to discuss the AMU team's methodology to investigate cold cases and the current status of Malcom's case on Saturday, Bucholtz and another lead advisor, George Jared, described the police's investigation as "open and very active."

Based on the police's active investigation and recent moves, "Linda's killer should probably be a little bit worried right now," Bucholtz told the crowd.

"There is evidence in this case. So, the killer out there, wherever you're at, just know that you left evidence," said Jared, who is an investigative journalist and true crime author.

The presentation was hosted in the Kitsap Regional Library in Port Orchard, not far from the crime scene, on April 29. Bucholtz and Jared also hosted a meet-and-greet at Golden Grill on the Bay, one of Malcom' favorite bars in Port Orchard, for local residents to meet with the team.

Family now 'comfortable' Malcom's case will be solved

Linda Malcom's sisters — Cindy Booker, Dianna Malcom, Sherry Lopez and Rochell Malcom — flew from their homes in California and Illinois to Port Orchard that weekend to attend the AMU team's presentation and meet-and-greet event.

"Stop! In the Name of Love" by The Supremes was the song the sisters sang for Linda to celebrate her 46th birthday before she died. Booker and others sang the song again at the bar Saturday evening to commemorate the 15-year anniversary of their sister's death. Some of Malcom's local friends also showed up to chat with the siblings about Malcom.

"We laughed and caught up and it wasn't a depressing evening. We had a good time," Booker said.

After meeting with Bucholtz and Jared, Booker said the AMU team is very into the case and that she believes the case will be solved very soon, though Booker wasn't shared with details related to the investigation.

"I feel comfortable that this is going to be solved. I really do. I really really do," Booker told Kitsap Sun.

Malcom's mother is 94 years old, ill and living in a nursing home. Booker said she talked to her after the sisters' trip to Port Orchard and recalled their conversation.

"She said, 'I just hope they find out what happened to her (Linda) before I pass away,'" Booker said.

Those having information regarding the case can email Det. Andee Walton at awalton@portorchardwa.gov.

Kitsap Sun Archives contributed to the story.

Reporter Peiyu Lin covers the military for the Kitsap Sun. She can be reached at pei-yu.lin@kitsapsun.com or on Twitter @peiyulintw.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Linda Malcom murder: FBI, true crime podcast investigating