WA WA - Michelle Koski, 17, (Murdered), Snohomish, 22 August 1990

[Lastwaltz]

Brutal murder of Washington teen in summer of 1990 remains a mystery three decades later

 

[Lastwaltz]

Suspect identified in cold case killing of Seattle teen Michelle Koski

“I thought I would take it to my grave,” Violet Simonson, Michelle Koski’s mother, told KOMO News, “After 20 years, what are the chances? ”

komonews.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Brooks was in trouble a lot as a kid and he was released from prison August, 18 of 1990 at the age of 22. He was living with a relative just a few blocks from where Koski was living at the time, near the area she was last seen alive two days before the murder.

The cold case unit teamed up with Parabon Labs once again to solve this case with the help of genetic genealogy which uses unidentified DNA evidence from a crime scene and public ancestry databases to ID a person through family members.

In the Koski case, the DNA sample was a mix between the victim and the suspected killer. According to the sheriff’s office, the lab was able to “deconvolute the mixture and ensure that matches would lead to the perpetrator.”

Distant cousins had uploaded their DNA to a public ancestry database — but they were very distant relatives. That’s when genealogist Deb Stone from Oregon got involved, spending about 9 months building out a family tree that eventually led to two brothers – both dead – one of them Brooks.

Snohomish County cold case unit, genetic genealogy ID suspect in 1990 teen murder

More than 31 years later, Snohomish County Sheriff’s cold case unit says they have finally been able to identify a suspect in Koski’s murder.

mynorthwest.com

 

[Sonny Crockett]

Glad they finally found out who committed this horrible crime in order to give closure to the family. However, it's unfortunate that this low-life has passed - so he can't go to jail for this.

These technological advances re: DNA are amazing. It's too bad these weren't available years ago, or many of these crimes may have been solved not long after they happened.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The person probably intended to have sex, and she didn’t want to,” Snohomish County Detective Jim Scharf told the outlet in 2012. “She probably tried to flee, and he ran her down and strangled her.”

“After more than 30 years of searching for answers following this terrible murder, we can finally provide Michelle’s family with some answers,” said Snohomish Sheriff Adam Fortney. “Thanks to the relentless persistence of our cold case detectives, new DNA technology, and advancements in genetic genealogy, we are now able to solve cases we once thought we’d never find the answers to.”

Authorities say Robert Brooks — who was 22 at the time and had just been released from prison, according to Seattle news station KOMO — was living with a relative only a few blocks from Koski. Authorities did not say for what he was previously convicted, though KOMO reported that he'd been convicted as a juvenile.

Brooks died of natural causes at age 48 in King County, Washington, on Oct. 26, 2016.

Authorities Identify Suspect In Washington Teen's 1990 Cold Case Murder | Oxygen Official Site

Authorities in Washington announced they have identified a murder suspect in the 32-year-old murder of a teenage girl. Michelle Koski, 17, vanished from her Seattle Lake City neighborhood on Aug. 18, 1990, according to Fox Seattle affiliate KCPQ. She reportedly visited a Seattle apartment...

www.oxygen.com