DNA Solves Cold Cases/Parabon Nanolabs & GED/Match.

[DSCrime]

Update on Sophie Sergie case

GUILTY - AK - Sophie Sergie, 20, UAF student, murdered, Fairbanks, 26 April 1993 *Arrest in 2019*

Man found guilty 29 years after woman found dead in Alaska college dorm bathtub

"A jury in Alaska found a man guilty on Thursday of the rape and murder of a woman at a university dormitory that went unsolved for more than two decades until a DNA match for the assailant was found using genetic genealogy tracing.

The killing of 20-year-old Sophie Sergie at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1993 flummoxed investigators for years. Using the DNA evidence they linked Steven Downs of Auburn, Maine, to the crime and he was arrested in 2019.

Jury members in Fairbanks deliberated two days before they found Downs guilty of murder and rape, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Downs, now 47, was a freshman at the university in 1993 and a resident of the dorm where Sergie was found dead."

 

[JerseyGirl]

I think this is a new one, so many of these cases I've had to double check.
_____

The Moline Police Department has made an arrest in a decades-old cold case. An infant dubbed "Baby April" was found dead on the shores of the Mississippi in 1992. Today, an Ohio woman is in police custody, facing charges of first degree murder. Darren Gault of the Moline Police Department says the arrest was made possible by developments in DNA testing, which led law enforcement to a biological match for Baby April.

Angela Siebke
CREDIT MOLINE POLICE DEPARTMENT

Moline Police Make Arrest in "Baby April" Cold Case


Rock Island County State’s Attorney Dora Villarreal said in a media release that a first-degree murder charge has been filed against Angela Renee Siebke, 47, of Whitehall.

[...]

On April 11, 1992, a man walking his dog found the body of a full-term baby girl in a plastic garbage bag floating along the bank of the Mississippi River off 17th Street in Moline, according to police.

The Rock Island County Coroner identified the cause of death as suffocation asphyxiation and hypothermia, according to police.

Ohio woman charged in ’92 death of Baby April in Moline, Illinois

Press releases at 2nd link. Haven't been able to find a WS thread for Baby April.

Mother receives 2-year prison sentence in 'Baby April' case | wqad.com

 

[PaulaDC]

Brutal killing of a mother and son in 1994 is solved through DNA evidence, police say | CNN

 

[Oakie]

Brutal killing of a mother and son in 1994 is solved through DNA evidence, police say | CNN

Inmate Name: JONES, JEROME FRANK
CDCR Number: P25269
Age: 51
Admission Date: 01/15/1999
Current Location: Kern Valley State Prison
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year): 03/2030

Monsters Among Us: Jerome Frank Jones, in prison for killing Gregory Hebdon, charged with the cold cases of Stacy Falcon-Dewey and her 3-year-old son, Jacob

 

[DSCrime]

Mary Jane Thompson murder: Edward Morgan arrested in 1984 killing of aspiring model - CBS News

"Investigators arrested a 60-year-old Dallas man on a capital murder charge in the 1984 killing of a 21-year-old woman after linking him to the crime through genealogical databases, prosecutors said.

Edward Morgan was arrested in the killing of Mary Jane Thompson, who was also sexually assaulted, the Dallas County district attorney's office said Friday."

 

[dotr]

Resolved - Canada - Toronto, fem, 27-49, sleeping bag, cargo pants/grn striped shirt, (Dundas/Crawford), Jun'20 | Page 4 (websleuths.com)

Toronto Police Service :: News Release #52215
Feb 22 2022
'In September of 2021, the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service submitted a sample of the woman’s DNA. The DNA Doe Project developed, sequenced and compared the DNA from the deceased woman to public genealogical databases. Two people that shared some common DNA with the deceased were identified and investigators began reviewing publicly available information (family trees, obituaries, social media posts etc.) in a further attempt to identify the woman.

In December 2021, the DNA Doe Project contacted Toronto Police with a possible identification. Through further investigation, police were able to contact the family of the identified woman and obtain dental records. The Coroner’s Office confirmed that the deceased woman found in Trinity Bellwoods Park was in fact the identified woman.''

 

[DSCrime]

DNA from bite marks leads to arrest in 1994 killing of California woman, DA says

"Sharron Gadlin, 48, of Glendale, was arrested last Friday and is charged in connection with the April 1994 murder of Cheri Huss. Huss, 39, was stabbed several times in her apartment and also was bitten by her killer, the Riverside County district attorney’s office said in a statement.

Huss fought back and her attacker left blood and saliva but the DNA couldn’t be matched until this month, when a cold case team used forensic genetic genealogy to identify Gadlin, who lived about a dozen miles away from Huss at the time of the killing, the DA’s office said."

 

[DSCrime]

Was just wondering what states seem to be most active in using genetic genealogy for cold cases/ unidentified. Feel like Washington state would rank very high. Just thinking out loud.

 

[Betty P]

Was just wondering what states seem to be most active in using genetic genealogy for cold cases/ unidentified. Feel like Washington state would rank very high. Just thinking out loud.

Just a guess, but Washington, California and Colorado seem to be using it a lot. For whatever reason, some states don't want to use it.

 

[Legally Bland]

On May 2, 1988, Diane Lynn Dahn did not arrive at work for her shift at the San Diego Transit Corporation. A coworker went to Diane's apartment in the 8700 block of Graves Avenue in Santee and discovered her body inside her bedroom at around 1:30 p.m. Her son was found wandering in the apartment complex.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Homicide Unit responded and assumed responsibility for the investigation. An extensive investigation was performed to identity a suspect.
[...]

In May 2020, the Cold Case Team, in coordination with the Sheriff's Crime Lab, started working on Diane's murder using investigative genetic genealogy. After a year and a half of DNA testing and collection of familial samples, detectives developed investigative leads and identified a suspect: Warren Robertson.

Most Recent News Releases | San Diego County Sheriff

 

[wary]

On May 2, 1988, Diane Lynn Dahn did not arrive at work for her shift at the San Diego Transit Corporation. A coworker went to Diane's apartment in the 8700 block of Graves Avenue in Santee and discovered her body inside her bedroom at around 1:30 p.m. Her son was found wandering in the apartment complex.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Homicide Unit responded and assumed responsibility for the investigation. An extensive investigation was performed to identity a suspect.
[...]

In May 2020, the Cold Case Team, in coordination with the Sheriff's Crime Lab, started working on Diane's murder using investigative genetic genealogy. After a year and a half of DNA testing and collection of familial samples, detectives developed investigative leads and identified a suspect: Warren Robertson.

Most Recent News Releases | San Diego County Sheriff

Robertson lived in the same apartment complex. His DNA was under her fingernails. He moved, shortly thereafter. He died at age 39, in 1999. They referred to the evidence of his guilt as convincing.

 

[Jbetty567]

Yes, San Diego County SD is on a TEAR with these cases! So exciting! I will try to dig up some more info on this case.

 

[DSCrime]

Article title below is a bit misleading. Victim has been identified, now police seek who was responsible for Katrina Bentivegna's death:

OSBI: Forensic genealogy helps solve Oklahoma cold murder case

"The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) says the remains of a woman found partially buried in Caddo County in 1995 have now been identified as 20-year-old Katrina Bentivegna of Midwest City.

The OSBI Cold Case Unit submitted Bentivegna’s DNA to Parabon Nanolabs in March of 2021.

Parabon submitted results back to the OSBI with possible genetic matches in August of 2021. Agents then contacted possible relatives requesting DNA samples to compare to Bentivegna’s.

“We can’t solve her murder if we don’t know who she is. So for almost three decades, we’ve been working to try to get her identified,” said Brook Arbeitman, OSBI Public Information Officer."


Resolved - OK - Caddo Co, WhtFem 16-25, UP6604, in shallow grave, Sz7 'Lee Riders' jeans, bra/underwear, Apr'95

 

[FrostedGlass]

GREENSBURG, Ind. — A Greensburg man accused in seven home invasion sexual assaults in the 1980s spent most of the 1990s in an Indiana prison for a similar crime.

Stephen Ray Hessler is a convicted felon now facing new charges going back 38 years, starting when he was 19 years old.

The Shelby County prosecutor credits advanced DNA and genetic genealogy testing for identifying Hessler, 57, as the suspect in the serial cold case.


Parabon NanoLabs analyzed DNA evidence from a 1985 home invasion in which a husband was beaten with a gun and suffered permanent brain damage and physical disabilities. The man's wife was sexually assaulted in the garage of the home.

[...]

...investigators secretly obtained a DNA sample from an envelope with a check enclosed that Hessler mailed to pay his Greensburg utility bill. A DNA match from the mailing was made to the 1985 evidence, leaving a trillion-to-one chance of it being someone else.

Hessler was arrested at his Greensburg home Monday. He faces 24 felony criminal charges with 10 victims for home invasion sexual assaults from 1982-85.

In 1988, Hessler was charged with abducting a woman in the middle of the night from her Greensburg home while her husband was at work and her children were asleep. Hessler forced the woman at gunpoint to walk through alleys to his house, where he allegedly raped her. It's the same house where he was arrested Monday on the new charges.

Convicted felon Stephen Ray Hessler now faces new charges. | wthr.com

He was finally sentenced: 650 Years.
Steven Hessler sentenced to 650 years for Shelby County 1980s rapes

 

[Oakie]

Picture of Steven Hessler from the Indy Star:

 

[PaulaDC]

He was finally sentenced: 650 Years.
Steven Hessler sentenced to 650 years for Shelby County 1980s rapes

One for the books, he touched a utility bill while commiting a crime.

 

[Ozoner]

One for the books, he touched a utility bill while commiting a crime.

It didn't say that he touched a utility bill at a crime scene. It says that the got his from a utility bill that he sent in the mail (presumably because he licked the envelope in order to seal it) and compared his DNA to DNA found in a victim's garage.

 

[PaulaDC]

It didn't say that he touched a utility bill at a crime scene. It says that the got his from a utility bill that he sent in the mail (presumably because he licked the envelope in order to seal it) and compared his DNA to DNA found in a victim's garage.

Thanks for the clarification. I read a different story that just said this, "A man linked to a series of sexual assaults in central Indiana more than 30 years ago by his DNA on an envelope for a utility bill payment was sentenced Friday to 650 years in prison, prosecutors said." Not quite as detailed.

 

[Jbetty567]

Just a guess, but Washington, California and Colorado seem to be using it a lot. For whatever reason, some states don't want to use it.

Yes - I’d say CA tops the list. Texas is also using it quite a bit, as is Florida.

 

[DSCrime]

Millville man charged in Susan Negersmith cold case in Wildwood

"A man who raped a Wildwood vacationer found slain in 1990 eluded detectives for decades.

But authorities say a suspect in the case couldn’t escape recent advances in DNA technology.

Jerry Rosado, 62, of Millville has been charged with the sexual assault of Susan Negersmith, a 20-year-old New York state woman who was killed while visiting Wildwood with friends 32 years ago.

An investigation into Negersmith’s homicide is ongoing, the Cape May County Prosecutor’s office said.

“And should additional information become available, additional charges could be made,” it said."

....

"He said that intensive effort, “in conjunction with the improvements in DNA technology and genetic genealogy analysis, has led to this long overdue arrest.”

WS thread:
NJ - NJ - Susan Negersmith, 20, Wildwood, 27 May 1990