If you guys have old cases, you need to go back to the crime scene to refresh it g et new evidence and it will refresh the age of the criminal. This is why I always collect extra crime scene information so that I can get the whole case in one go. If you have all the evidence for the cause you can skip going to the crime seen just do the new evidence and add it to the case bulletin this will update the case and the age of the criminal in your notebook.
Edit: Also AKA do not try to do an APB on festival day if you got city living most npc will be overload to the festival.