Cold case team says it's ID'd Zodiac Killer. 2023 Cable News Network. In addition, forensic genetic genealogy has given back the names of Jane and John Does who had remained unidentified for decades. Arizona: Woman found dead in 1971 identified 52 years later after community fundraiser for DNA testing. That heartbreaking nickname was retired forever in 2022, thanks to DNA retrieved from the little girl's remains in 2015. In 1975, long before DNA evidence would become a factor in criminal justice, 19-year-old Lindy Sue Biechler was brutally stabbed to death inside her home. Diane Lynn Dahn died on May 2, 1988. TheYavapai County Sheriff's Office said witnesses reported that a man, woman and child approached Sharon in a dark green sedan. In April 1986, 32-year-old Janet Love was found raped and murdered in her Bedford, Texas, apartment. 8:33 AM EST, Sun February 13, 2022, 20-year-old man helps solve cold case from 1964. But in a Tuesday news conference, the Burlington Police Department announced that Curran's case was solved and the man responsible for the 24-year-old's murder, William DeRoos, died years ago. (The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children). (NCMEC/ Highsmith family Facebook page). NEW YORK TEEN BRITTANEE DREXEL SENT EERIE TEXTS TO BOYFRIEND BEFORE DISAPPEARANCE, DEATH: REPORT. Her body was located more than 13 years later, in May of this year, about 35 miles from where she disappeared, officials have said. The cases of Sophie Sergie and Marise Ann Chiverella went unsolved for decades, but thanks to DNA a. His remains were identified 47 years later. In addition to providing closure for the families and friends of the victims, every closed cold case serves another important purpose: Letting those who commit murder know that homicide investigators are the Terminators of law enforcement, and that (to paraphrase Kyle Reese) they will not stop EVER! Solid forensic evidence finally came in May 2020. Jerome Frank Jones, 51, has been charged with aggravated murder in the 1994 deaths of Stacy Falcon-Dewey, 23, and her 3-year-old son, Jacob Dewey, in Renton, Washington, according to the documents filed Tuesday. In this video, we are going to talk about cold cases that were solved in 2022, after decades. The difficulty lay in the fact that not only was the available DNA evidence too weak to pinpoint a suspect, but, at the time, the victim herself was also unidentified. Four-year-old Sharon Lee Gallegos partially decomposed body was found over 500 miles from her New Mexico home July 31, 1960. "We determine if someone is missing and if someone is missing with a vehicle. This facial reconstruction is an artist's rendering of what the Jane Doe may have looked like. A look at the best and most underrated in entertainment, music, and sports in 2022. In this case, investigators were looking for relatives whose DNA matched those of the unidentified suspect in Dahns murder. DNA testing of Curran's housecoat at the lab in Florida further confirmed that DeRoos had committed the crime. On March 18, 1964, Chiverella left her house to walk to school. DNA testing at home in Japan is starting to gain traction as more people age and seek answers about their risks for diseases. After he'd moved to Texas, and his letters had stopped coming, his mother says she was contacted by a member of the organization about returning his car. The 1980 murder of Asenath Dukat was one that shook the Columbus, Ohio community for a simple reason. When 53-year-old John Stagner was beaten to death in his bed in Orlando, Florida, in 1992, police honed in on a suspect almost immediately, according to Fox 35 Orlando: Ronald Cates, a friend of Stagner's who happened to be a drug addict. In 1978, he was arrested for recklessly endangering and harassment, police said. REMAINS OF NY TEEN BRITTANEE DREXEL FOUND 13 YEARS AFTER GOING MISSING IN SOUTH CAROLINA, SUSPECT CHARGED, Her mother, Dawn, called the discovery of Brittanees remains "the beginning of a new chapter. NEBRASKA MAN ID'D AS MINNESOTA COLD CASE MURDER VICTIM, The real Melissa Highsmith beside a colorized photo illustration of what she was believed to look like from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Dahn had been bludgeoned and stabbed, according to the San Diego County Sheriffs Department. DNA genealogy was used to compare the sample to public databases to find familial matches. The Hazelton, Pennsylvania, girl was found later the same afternoon, raped and strangled. Former Sen. Patrick Leahy,who was county prosecutor at the time of the murder, said he saw many gruesome crimes during his time as prosecutor but Rita Curran's family stayed in this thoughts for years after. According to Garden Grove Deputy Police Chief Amir Al Farra, she was sexually assaulted and strangled to death. No child should ever have to grow up without their mom.. In 2009, Dawn and Chad Drexel lived every parent's worst nightmare. DNA had been found on Smiths clothing at the time of her murder, but it was only recently that new advances in technology allowed the sample to be tested and matched. The 40+ Best Companies To Work For By The Beach in Southern California. Genetic genealogy uses an unknown DNA sample and compares it to databases of DNA to look for partial, but not exact, matches. She described Dahn as an amazing person who played the violin and guitar. She was portrayed as this slain prostitute, like she deserved what happened to her, said Reyes, 43, who lives in Lenhartsville, Pennsylvania. Rita Curran was a 24-year-old second grade teacher when she was violently murdered in her Burlington apartment in July 1971. In January 1981, the remains of a man and a woman were found murdered in woods outside of Houston, TX. According to WRDW News, the case is believed to be the first time that both a murder victim and perpetrator were identified using DNA technology in the same case. appreciated. She was more than that, she was a victim. He was identified as a suspect five years after Smith was found, but with no physical evidence to tie him to the murder, he was never arrested. "Boy in the Box" identified as 4-year-old Joseph Augustus Zarelli. Raymond Moody was sentenced to life in prison Oct. 19 for the 2009 rape and murder of 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (Georgetown County Sheriff's Office/Associated Press). For instance, some of the contents of Stacys purse were strewn about the vehicle including her wallet. The family did not see Melissa for decades until November. Eventually, direct relatives of Robertson gave their DNA samples and confirmed his identification and matched the hair strand that was found in Dahns hands. Highsmith was only 21 months old when shewas kidnappedby a woman purporting to be a babysitter more than a half a century ago. Over 30 years after her murder, researchers and investigators identified El Dorado Jane Doe in May 2022. The most incriminating evidence: a cigarette butt found next to Curran's body that contained DNA evidence. Follow reporterLilly St. Angelo onTwitter: @lilly_st_ang. Although police had fingerprints and photographs of Kelly, they believed that they had done all DNA testing possible in 2004. One March day in 1983, she turned down a stranger's request for a date and a short time later, her body was pulled from a nearby river (pictured), shocking what was at the time a cozy, tight-knit community, according to the Los Angeles Times. Baldwin County cold case solved after 22 years. Victoria Dahn-Minter, Dahns sister, said not knowing what happened almost consumed her all these years. Cates had developed a habit of borrowing and pawning power tools from Stagner, a city maintenance worker, in order to support this habit; even Cates' own family members had long suspected his involvement in the killing, but police were never able to gather enough evidence to support a probable cause warrant for his arrest. No one knew what had become of her. Using genealogy techniques, detectives discovered that the murderer had ancestral origins in the small Italian town of Gasperina, and that only a couple thousand people with such ties lived in the area at the time of the killing. The case went cold until 2007 when the states DNA lab was able to develop the suspects DNA profile using fluid that was left on Chiverellas jacket. According to NPR, the investigation into the crime went nowhere for decades, until the resolution of a cold case in a nearby county prompted investigators to use blood evidence from the scene to attempt to whittle down their suspect list. Missing Melissa Highsmith reunited with family. Of those suspects, one in 20 will be arrested, and just one in those 100 charged will be convicted. Melissa, who had been living in Fort Worth the whole time, met her parents for the first time on November 26 at age 53. Why did he kill a young woman who was just trying to take care of her children? They later determined that it matched the DNA on the envelope from 1990, confirming investigators belief that the person behind the letter was the killer. It also did not match the known DNA of the police's 13 main suspects. Published Many questions still remain about the case, but Holly has reportedly been in contact with her newfound family members. For over 60 years, the identity of a girl whose body was found in an Arizona desert has been a mystery. On Tuesday,. The crime scene outside of the apartment complex where both Robertson and Dahn lived on May 2, 1988. FOLEY, Ala. ( WALA) - Twenty-two years ago, a man's body was pulled from Styx River in . Rita Curran was violently murdered in her Vermont apartment in 1971 and the case remained a mystery for decades. Detective Lt. Jason Moran, Cook County Sheriff's Office, Special Victims/Forensic Services Unit. DNA WINS THIS SEARCH! The letter writer also left his DNA when he licked the envelope. Soon after the murder, William DeRoos left his then-wife, moved to Thailand and became a monk. ", "This is truly a mothers worst nightmare," she said. As the months and years pass by, these families live in a . On Tuesday, investigators said they had solved the casethrough modern DNA and genealogy technology. Using data from Brittanee's cell phone, authorities were finally able to pinpoint the location of Brittanee's disappearance more effectively than in previous attempts, which led to the discovery of a surveillance video implicating Moody in the crime, as reported by Democrat & Chronicle. In March 2022, 15 years after Knutson's murder, police arrested Rice (34 at the time) for the murder. This is the fifth time the Sheriffs Homicide Unit has used investigative genetic genealogy to solve a cold case. Family members who knew Dahn described her as a goofy, funny person who loved to draw qualities Beyer said, he too, has within him. The case was revived in 2021 when Sgt. Behind every long-term missing person or unsolved murder case is a family who continues to look for answers. A Warner Bros. The case was revived in 2020 with new DNA technology and the help of Eric Schubert, an expert in genetic genealogy. For 34 years, Reyes, along with her two brothers and their grandmother, have wondered who killed Kane. She was only 9 years old. "I was happy to finally put a face behind the monster who took her from us," she said, "[but] upset that he will never be able to face consequences.". It was hurtful. Raymond Moody, 62, pleaded guilty Oct. 19, 2022, in Georgetown, South Carolina, to raping and killing 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel in 2009. Reyes said shes still bothered by the image the media painted of her mother, who was unemployed at the time of her death. A number of true crime updates came to light in 2022, with many cold cases solved through forensic genetic genealogy. At the time, the San Diego County Sheriffs homicide unit conducted an extensive investigation, but the department came up short on identifying a suspect until now. CNNs Jessica Prater contributed to this report. The nurse told a security guard, who relayed the information to Orlando police, who paid a visit to Cates in the hospital where they were able to obtain a confession on an officer's body cam. The prior DNA connection between the suspect and swabs taken from Falcon-Dewey was also confirmed, it said. The woman allegedly offered her clothes and sweets, but she refused, at which point she was forced into the vehicle. Warren Robertson was Diane Lynn Dahn's neighbor inside the same apartment complex in San Diego, California in 1988. "When I looked at her, I just knew. She also said DeRoos strangled her once, the same way Curran died. CNN has reached out to Karim Merchant, Jones public defender, for comment. The man behind the abduction, rape and death of upstate New York teenager Brittanee Drexel pleaded guilty in October to a case that went cold after the 17-year-olds disappearance during spring break 2009. Greg Harder of the Elkhart County Police noticed a possible piece of DNA evidence that was missed. All Rights Reserved. A DNA sample taken at the time of that arrest was eventually used to connect him to the Lloyd and Cuevas slayings. Now they're using DNA to help cops crack cold cases. Because Forte had been dead since 1980, DNA was taken from his exhumed body. Raymond Moody was sentenced to life in prison Oct. 19 for the 2009 rape and murder of 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (Georgetown County Sheriff's Office/Associated Press). Applying Modern Investigation Methods to Solve Cold Cases. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. In February 2019, DNA from Baggens clothes and body was submitted to a public genealogy database after previous attempts to match the DNA had been unsuccessful. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much The keys to the car appeared to have been dropped between the drivers seat and the door and were not readily visible, the document says. The answers that my family received is closure and closure is everything even after so much time had passed.. Unfortunately, Simcak will never be tried for the death of Madger, as he died in 2018.[9]. After being interviewed by troopers in his Arkansas home in early August 2020, Branch died by suicide. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. He then resurfaced in San Francisco in 1974 when he met his second wife, Sarah Hepting. Jessica Baggen, a 17-year-old from Sitka, Alaska, disappeared in early May 1996. When they did, the now-elderly killer presumably weary from looking over his shoulder for 45 years broke down and confessed to the crime. While it's undetermined who killed Dean and Tina, and whether it was their killer(s) who gave Holly up for adoption, family members have their suspicions. Police had gained new information about a party back in 2008 or 2009, where Rice allegedly admitted to the murder while intoxicated. But in November 2022, a DNA test from the website 23andMe connected Highsmith's children to the family she was born into. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Reyes knows shell never get the answers. The Fort Worth Police Department said it plans to investigate the disappearance, but the statute of limitations on pursuing criminal charges in the kidnapping has passed. Due to these advances, police have been able to close the book on many cold case murders, all thanks to criminals who left a little DNA before they even knew it could get them caught. An undated image of Sharon Gallegos. Discovery Company. In October 2022, Moody was sentenced to life in prison plus two consecutive 30-year stretches, ensuring that the now-62-year-old will never walk free again. Chiverellas siblings said that their parents never sought revenge or punishment to their daughters killer. The DNA was eventually matched to one Ray Chapa, who at the time of the murder was Loves 19-year-old neighbor. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig). Richard Cottingham makes a remote appearance in a courtroom in Mineola, N.Y., Dec. 5, 2022. According to one friend, Rice had told Knutson, One way or another, Im going to get you out of this house. Still, Rice had an alibi; she said she had been staying out of town at her family's farm all weekend. Thanks to these samples, a number of high-profile crimes have been solved in the past few years, perhaps most notably the arrest and conviction of the Golden State Killer. In 1988, state authorities in Georgia were presented with a crime that would seem nearly impossible to solve: The killing of 19-year-old Stacey Chahorski, whose body was found alongside a highway near the state's border with Alabama. Then, in 2021, police turned to the relatively new field of genetic genealogy. The most stubborn cold case in the history of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was finally cracked in 2022 thanks to an ingenious piece of investigative work. Detectives began watching Sinopoli, and before he boarded a flight at Philly International Airport, they collected a discarded coffee cup that provided the DNA sample they needed to nail him. Fortes name never came up over the years, police said, and they believe this was a random attack. By Hal Scheurich. 2. Case Breakers calls for police to conduct a DNA test to verify their findings; Fox News' Eric Shawn has the details. He spent two decades in prison for church murders. In September 2022, Drummond died by suicide as the police were closing in a life that almost certainly would have been lived out in the slammer otherwise. Published Related: Top 10 Grim Cold Cases With Recent Twists And Turns. A match was made, confirming Edward Geddes as the murderer and giving a modicum of closure to the family of Lina Reyes Geddes, who for 20 years had been known to Utah law enforcement only as the "Maidenwater victim," after the area in which she was found. DNA technology was credited with cracking the case. Most cold cases do not get solved, so it is still fairly a spectacular occurrence when one is. Anna Kane, in an undated family photo. Chahorski was likewise identified through the DNA of living relatives, finally putting a lid on a case that had stumped investigators for 34 years. Story tips can be sent to stephanie.pagones@fox.com and on Twitter: @steph_pagones. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. You know you have family, you know you have family who loves you, but sometimes you do feel alone all the time.. On July 31, 1960, the decomposed body of a small child, dubbed "Little Miss Nobody" was found just outside of Congress, Arizona in Yavapai County and she was never formally identified. Over 65 years after a young child was found severely beaten to death, wrapped in a blanket and left in a wooded area of Philadelphia, the little one, nicknamed the "Boy in the Box," was identified earlier this month. State police worked tirelessly over the years but were unable to identify her killer until now. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Acting on the suspicions of her family in Mexico, authorities examined trace DNA from the ropes used to bind her, comparing it with DNA given by the family of Edward Geddes (pictured), Lina's husband, who had died by suicide in 2001. Two other possible suspects, who remain unnamed, were not properly ruled out nor disclosed to the defense, Mosby said. The most incriminating evidence was a cigarette butt found next to Curran's body. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Investigators determined Drexel was strangled. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much The case gained national attention, even serving as the basis of an HBO special in 1983; justice, though, was a long time in coming. 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