09/02/2026
Up first on our list of speaker bios is Mr. Jim Holmes, Special Agent (Retired)
Wisconsin Department of Justice
Division of Criminal Investigation.
Jim Holmes was first employed as a certified law enforcement officer in Wisconsin in 1995. In 1996, after working for the Dane County Sheriff’s Office and the Fitchburg Police Department, he became a special agent with the Wisconsin Department of Justice/Division of Criminal Investigation.
In Aug. of 2024, Jim retired from the WI DOJ-DCI, but was quickly rehired as a Special Agent-Limited Term Employee between 2025-2026 to serve as a court officer in a high-profile homicide trial in which he had been lead agent in the investigation.
Jim was assigned to DCI’s Major Crime’s Unit for over 24 years and was the lead investigator in numerous adult and child homicide and equivocal death investigations, officer involved death investigations, other officer involved critical incidents, and investigations involving murder-for-hire, missing and abducted children, child sexual exploitation, and child abuse and neglect.
Jim was the coordinator of DCI’s annual statewide two-week death investigation school for 22 years. During his tenure, he graduated over 1200 homicide investigators who went on to work for law enforcement agencies within all 72 WI counties.
Jim has served on the Board of Directors for the Wisconsin Association of Homicide Investigators (WAHI) for the past 23 years, where he is the current Membership Chair and a member of the Training Committee, as well as the past President.
Jim had served on the Board of Directors for the International Homicide Investigator’s Association (IHIA) for 8 years where he held the positions of President, Vice President, and Northern Regional Director.
Jim spent the last five years at DCI assigned to the Wisconsin DOJ’s Wisconsin Identity Resolution Team (WISCIR) working with a team of individuals from DCI and the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory (WSCL) in utilizing investigative genealogy to identify perpetrators of homicides and sexual assaults, while also identifying unidentified human remains.
Prior to his law enforcement career, Jim served three years on active duty in the United States Army’s Military Intelligence Corps, 732nd Military Intelligence Battalion, as an Electronic Warfare Signal Intelligence Analyst.
Jim graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a Baccalaureate of Arts Degree in two majors: Behavioral Science & Law and Sociology, while also receiving a Criminal Justice Certificate.
With this extensive background, we are thrilled and consider ourselves extremely lucky to have him presenting at this year’s symposium!
