9 unsolved multiple homicides in Montana
Despite its comparatively small population, Montana has dozens of homicide cold cases dating back decades. But what may be even more surprising is that several of these cold cases involve multiple victims. Some cases have seen suspects arrested and released, while others have left investigators stumped. Law enforcement agencies welcome any leads that may help solve these crimes.
Nels and Annie Anderson 1924 -- Billings
Lloyd Duane Bogle and Patti Kalitzke 1956 -- Great Falls
Richard and Alice Easton 1963 -- McGregor Lake
Jim and Lois Arrotta 1964 -- Great Falls
Marjorie and Nancy McQuiston 1965 -- Butte
Clifford and Linda Bernhardt 1973 -- Billings
George Heinrich and Marlene Mazzola 1980 -- Billings
Kenneth and Iva Larue Cheetham 1991 -- Lake Inez
Dorothy Harris, Brenda Patch and Cynthia Paulus 2001 -- Florence
Suspect named in 1973 killings after genealogy analysis | Daily Mail Online
Investigators solved a double slaying that occurred more than 45 years ago after using a genealogy database to match DNA from the crime scene with the genetic profile of the now-deceased suspect, a Montana sheriff said Monday.
Linda and Clifford Bernhardt, both 24, were found dead in their Billings-area home in November 1973 in a case that would stymie investigators for more than four decades.
It was Linda’s mother discovered her slain daughter and son-in-law. Clifford was found face-down in a pool of blood in the master bedroom, and Linda in another bedroom.
Investigators now believe the couple was killed by Cecil Stan Caldwell, a longtime city of Billings employee who was once a co-worker of Linda Bernhardt, Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder said. Their home showed no signs of forced entry.
Both Clifford and Linda had suffered blows to the head, and Linda showed signs of strangulation and sexual assault. There were also signs that both were bound at the wrists and ankles at some point.
Items missing from the house included a large, green suitcase, all of Linda’s underwear and some of her shoes.
No motive was given. Caldwell died in 2003 at the age of 59, according to his obituary in the Billings Gazette.
[...]
Scott Goodwin, a volunteer with the cold case unit who helped on the case, said those involved in the investigation had been unwilling to let it go even after all prior leads hit dead ends.
'We were obsessed with it,' Goodwin said. 'These are two young people who didn't deserve what happened to them. They didn't do anything. They came home on a Tuesday night and they were murdered.'
[...]
In 2015, the sheriff's cold case unit enlisted a Virginia-based technology company, Parabon NanoLabs, to analyze the DNA by comparing it to genetic samples available through a public genealogy database.
The DNA enabled them to produce a composite sketch with the suspect’s skin, hair and eye color.
Parabon used GEDmatch, a public genetic genealogy database, to compare the crime scene DNA with DNA from 1.2 million other people, and identify relatives of the suspect.
Subsequent rounds of DNA testing, both at the private lab and the Montana State Crime Lab, identified Caldwell, after eliminating the only other possible suspect DNA allowed for at that time — one of Caldwell’s living relatives according to the
Billings Gazette.
That process ultimately narrowed the list of suspects to Caldwell and his brother, who is still alive, said Vince Wallis, a former detective captain with the sheriff's office who now works for the Billings Police Department.
After DNA was obtained from the brother, who is still alive, it was analyzed by the Montana State Crime Lab to eliminate him as a suspect. That left only Caldwell, Wallis said.
Wallis added that there was other 'unspecified behavior' that matched Caldwell to the crime scene, but he declined to offer additional details.
An anonymous donor in 2013 had offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the couple's killer.
