He died in the hospital three days later, and his murder would become the oldest such unsolved crime in the history of the county, according to the New York Post. Nadine Madger was a Willoughby, Ohio, woman who was found murdered in January 1980. The search for Melissa Highsmith had a rare happy ending. Meanwhile, detectives sent the genetic evidence from the cigarette butt to a genealogy company to see if a bigger database of DNA could help them find the killer. Investigators determined Drexel was strangled. All Rights Reserved. Decades after the fact, family members of Hank Wise, a trucker with an extensive criminal history spanning three states, came forward to provide DNA that would be matched to evidence found at the scene. However, using DNA from Goulds surviving relatives, police were able to determine with certainty that he was responsible for the double homicide and sexual assault of Lloyd and Kalitzke. This is why, in order to be a successful homicide detective, one must be possessed of an absolutely superhuman, ridiculously dogged level of determination. We will be examining cold cases that were solved in 2022. In her pockets were two notes and some cash; one note clarified to police that the death had been a suicide, and the other directed them to use the cash for funeral expenses. Recent groundbreaking technology has revolutionized the way law enforcement investigates cold cases and has led to breaks in dozens of previously unsolved cases in 2022 alone. The young mother and dance instructors own father discovered her remains brutally beaten, duct taped and sexually assaulted in her vehicle parked outside the mall. Detective Lt. Jason Moran, Cook County Sheriff's Office, Special Victims/Forensic Services Unit. It is a compilation of videos I have made. Most of us love a good mystery - as long as it's in a book or a movie, and does not remain unsolved. Unfortunately, all the evidence against him was circumstantial, and without enough to connect Louise to the murder, the case went cold. The circumstances around what led up to her death remain a mystery, 34 years later -- but DNA evidence points to her killer. In March 2022, a Chattahoochee County Grand Jury made the decision to indict 64-year-old Marcellus McCluster for the murder of then-20-year-old Rene Dawn Blackmore of Arizona. We share these cases to highlight their resolution and bring closure to the victims and the community . She also said DeRoos strangled her once, the same way Curran died. 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. Schubert began genealogical work on the family tree of our match and very shortly we were provided names of relatives who were scattered throughout the country, a police statement said. 12:45 PM EDT, Fri March 18, 2022. The case gained national attention, even serving as the basis of an HBO special in 1983; justice, though, was a long time in coming. Originally from Rochester, New York, Drexel was spending her spring break vacation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and was last seen walking from one hotel to another. Hepting said in an interview with Burlington police that DeRoos once stabbed a woman in front of Hepting, and later said he thought he stabbed Hepting. For over 60 years, the identity of a girl whose body was found in an Arizona desert has been a mystery. Most recently, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to another 25 years to life in prison for the rape and violent murder of Diane Cusick. DNA collected from crime scenes can now be uploaded to an online service that compares it to DNA submitted by people using companies like 23andMe to explore their genealogy. Crimes have become much easier to solve if DNA is present. All Rights Reserved. Using court records, news reports, and good old-fashioned police work, investigators then determined that one of those people 68-year-old David Sinopoli lived in the same apartment complex as Biechler in 1975. Forte would have been 22 at the time of the crime. REMAINS OF LITTLE MISS NOBODY IDD AS NEW MEXICO GIRL, 4, ABDUCTED IN 1960 AND FOUND IN ARIZONA DESERT. In February 1990, about 15 months after she was killed, the paper received an anonymous letter from a concerned citizen with information that only the killer would know, police said. Now, 'Little Miss Nobody' has a name. This entry is one of the coldest cases to be solved in the U.S. in recent years. Published (Jeff Highsmith). Reyes was 9 when her mother was killed, and said she thinks about her every day. Nine-year-old Marise Chiverella was walking to school in March 1964 when she was kidnapped. Baldwin County cold case solved after 22 years. In March 2022, 15 years after Knutson's murder, police arrested Rice (34 at the time) for the murder. Unfortunately, the 62-year-old mystery has only been partially solved the cops are still on the lookout for Gallegos' abductor, although it seems a safe bet that if they're still alive, the extremely long, doggedly determined arm of the law will catch up to them eventually. The case of the young woman known as "Princess Doe" is just a bit unusual in that the man responsible for the crime was identified by police long before the victim was. All Rights Reserved. After DNA and dental records confirmed the remains were Drexel's, police soon arrested 62-year-old Raymond Moody for her kidnapping and murder. In April of that year, their 17-year-old daughter Brittanee took off for spring break, without her parents' permission, to Myrtle Beach, Florida, and never came home (via Democrat & Chronicle). According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the Highsmith family had just moved to the Fort Worth area, and Melissa's mother placed a local newspaper ad seeking a babysitter. To confirm, Forte was exhumed last month so that investigators could take a DNA sample to match the suspects profile. 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). A DNA sample taken at the time of that arrest was eventually used to connect him to the Lloyd and Cuevas slayings. "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.". The defendant bound Stacy Falcon-Dewey, beat her, orally raped her and likely shot her child to death in front of her before killing her. After she hadn't been responding to calls from her family, her father and two maintenance workers made their way into her apartment. Looking back, some of the struggles you go through is you feel alone because of what you went through, you lost your mother, he told police. But while her killer was soon arrested and convicted, her identity turned out to be a longer mystery. State police worked tirelessly over the years but were unable to identify her killer until now. All rights reserved. But she was disappointed to learn that Grim had died in 2018 of natural causes at age 58 and will not pay for robbing her and her siblings of a childhood with a mother. 2023 Cable News Network. On February 3, the result confirmed his DNA matched. Police had gained new information about a party back in 2008 or 2009, where Rice allegedly admitted to the murder while intoxicated. 8:36 AM EDT, Fri August 26, 2022. (Yavapai County Sheriff's Office). After more than 25 years, she was finally identified as Joyce Meyer, a woman who had drifted apart from her family after moving to Virginia in the mid-'80s. An image of "Little Miss Nobody," a girl discovered in a remote Arizona desert more than 60 years ago. these two cold cases were finally solved after decades in 2022, thanks to genetic genealogy and witnesses coming forward. She died of a gunshot wound to the head. A photo of 20-year old Eve Wilkowitz from Project: Cold Case. She was stabbed 19 times, and prosecutors say evidence at the scene suggested a sexual motive. Unfortunately, no substantial leads were obtained in the case, and Beichlers murder went cold. Investigators said the biggest breakthrough in the case happened this year after they obtained a new sample of Grims DNA to compare with the older evidence. Diane Lynn Dahn died on May 2, 1988. Using DNA from living relatives, the little girl was finally identified as Sharon Lee Gallegos, a 4-year-old who was abducted from her grandmother's home in Alamagordo, New Mexico 500 miles from where her body had been discovered in July 1960. Greg Harder of the Elkhart County Police noticed a possible piece of DNA evidence that was missed. Now Reyes finally has some answers although shes sad for her grandmother, who died before learning the case was solved. Through that, police were able the get their first genealogical match: a very distant relative, possibly a 6th cousin, according to Brutosky. As we've seen, DNA technology is growing by leaps and bounds every year and while no workable DNA profile could be created at that time, it was a different story just seven years later. In this case, it led back to Rueben Smith. In 1978, he was arrested for recklessly endangering and harassment, police said. 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. 2 min; DEC 14, 2022; 3 YEAR OLD COLD CASE SOLVED FOLEY, Ala. ( WALA) - Twenty-two years ago, a man's body was pulled from Styx River in . Richard Cottingham, nicknamed the "Torso Killer" or "Times Square killer," allegedly admitted in December to killing five women on Long Island, New York, in the late 60s, early 70s. Over the subsequent years, additional evidence was submitted for DNA testing and a significant advance was made in December 2021 when DNA traces linked to Jones were found on a jacket worn by Jacob Dewey at the time of his killing, the document said. But shes glad her family finally knows her mothers killer. More than 27 years after a woman and her son were killed in a Seattle suburb, authorities have charged a man in their deaths. What is everyone talking about? While his identity was a major break in the case, police are still working to determine who killed Joseph and why. Published On April 25, she left her Myrtle Beach hotel to visit a friend staying at another hotel. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much In Alabama: A college student disappeared in 1976. 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. Theyre trying to determine whether he knew Kane, and have urged anyone who knows the nature of their relationship to reach out. Grim died in 2018, but through an undisclosed method, police were able to obtain a sample of his DNA to match the evidence retrieved from the letter. Fortes DNA was a match to genetic material found on the victims jacket.[7]. In recent years this method has helped solve some of the nations most high-profile cold cases, including the one of the notorious Golden State Killer. She was more than that, she was a victim. This is fourth oldest cold case to be solved in in the country using genetic genealogy and the oldest in the state of Pennsylvania, according to state police Cpl. 8:33 AM EST, Sun February 13, 2022, 20-year-old man helps solve cold case from 1964. This facial reconstruction is an artist's rendering of what the Jane Doe may have looked like. But years turned into decades, and police still didnt know who the suspect was. Because Forte had been dead since 1980, DNA was taken from his exhumed body. A podcast dedicated to highlighting cold cases that have been solved and closed. "Boy in the Box" identified as 4-year-old Joseph Augustus Zarelli. The serial murderer known as the "Torso Killer" admitted to killing a 23-year-old woman outside a Long Island shopping mall in 1968 and four other women decades ago. And I went running down the street like a wild woman until I found a place I could just collapse and cry.. 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