Johnny Blake Peterson (Photo: LVMPD) LVMPD announced they solved the cold case homicide involving 16 y/o Kim Bryant from 1979. While floating around Missouri for awhile, authorities say Angela and Mikey came into contact with the brothers Dale and Clarence Krusen. While there are thousands of cold cases out there, recent developments and ongoing investigations in these cases may reach resolution by the end of the year. In March 1959, the Spokane community was shaken by the disappearance of a little girl, 9-year-old . (Photo: Codymcarlson / CCBYSA3.0) Stephanie Pagones is a Digital Reporter for FOX Business and Fox News. Here are a dozen of the most stubbornly unresolved cold cases that were finally put to bed in 2022. Refresh the page, check. The Kalitzke/Bogle case is one of the oldest criminal cases that has been solved using forensic genealogy, and authorities are hopeful that they'll be able to use this ever-advancing technology to solve cold cases dating back even further although new state legislation restricting forensic genealogy could complicate matters. Legal Statement. A spot of blood on the victims shirt that seemed to suggest the culprit stood over the body and bled on the shirt as he ransacked the victims pockets. . Fortunately, the profession seems to attract those who have this quality, as proven by the many decades-old cases which finally see their resolutions every single year. 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. That changed the whole dynamic of the case.". The teen was abducted from his . Sixteen-year-old Fawn Cox was killed in the bedroom of her home at 9 th and Van Brunt while the rest of the family slept on July 26, 1989. 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. Most cold cases do not get solved, soit is still fairly a spectacular occurrence when one is. If you've ever thought that you may make a good homicide investigator, there is one important qualification (other than having an exceptionally strong stomach) that you should know about. According to Garden Grove Deputy Police Chief Amir Al Farra, she was sexually assaulted and strangled to death. That is, until 2019, when Detective Sgt. Meyer admitted to prosecutors he had killed Adams. But it was only recently, when widow Barbara Krusenfailed a polygraph test administered by the FBI, that authorities say they were finally able to sift fact away from fiction, subterfuge, rumor, and doubt. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children described how Sharon was with cousins playing behind her grandmothers home in Alamogordo, New Mexico, July 21, 1960, when she was kidnapped. 4 Mysterious Cold Cases to Know in 2021: Unsolved Murders, Disappearances Entertainment Four Mysterious Cold Cases That Authorities Just Can't Crack From the death of a possible Cold. Despite the abundance of blood at the scene, none of the DNA could be conclusively linked to anyone other than the victim. If you have any theory of just what might open this case up please feel free to include. [10], 1980s cold case murders solved, O.C. FOUND: MELISSA HIGHSMITH'S FAMILY 'OVERJOYED' AFTER BEING REUNITED WITH SISTER ABDUCTED IN 1971. 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. Unsolved cases mean mounting caseloads,. In the summer of 1960, the body of a young girl was found near a highway in Yavapai Country, Arizona. 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. As with many such cases, the DNA evidence taken from Smith's body was insufficient to pin the crime on Drummond in the '80s, and although there was significant circumstantial evidence of his involvement, he walked free for nearly four decades. Of those suspects, one in 20 will be arrested, and just one in those 100 charged will be convicted. On the night of July 25, 1841, Mary Rogers, who lived in New York City, told her mother and fiance she was spending the evening visiting relatives in New Jersey. Story tips can be sent to stephanie.pagones@fox.com and on Twitter: @steph_pagones. The sheriff held a news conference . Smith died in 2013 at the age of 94. Recent Unsolved Murders 2021 On Uncovered's website, you can view over 100 real unsolved case files put together by our amazing community members. That detail was a small mole on Geddes' right ear, which was enough for police to make a tenuous connection to Geddes. The test results said Gould was the guy. 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. 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. 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. 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. Their trip took an immediate turn towards bad when Jeremy was arrested for being in possession of a stolen vehicle. The results came back to match a man named Marcus Love. Jeff Highsmith, Melissas younger brother, said his family had undergone tests through genealogy service 23andMe and received the results on Nov. 22 showing there was a match with Melissas kids. Sharons parents died before they were able to learn their daughters fate. Meyer was convicted of murder in 1963. Jessica Baggen, a 17-year-old from Sitka, Alaska, disappeared in early May 1996. [emailprotected]. The next day, Angela was briefly reunited with her son. 2) A case that could realistically be resolved in 2021, cases that are maybe not as cold or just missing one or two nuggets that could wrap it up. The newlyweds were hurt and needed time to recuperate. Upon further testing, Loves blood was found to be mixed in with other samples of Reeds blood taken from the scene of the murder. This case was solved by pure determination by investigators, the application of modern DNA technology to a decades-old case and a well-timed tip from the public that proved to be true.. At a cemetery in Annandale, Virginia (pictured), the body of a middle-aged woman was found. Still, he hopes that it can be used to help law enforcement improve public safety and "[prevent] tomorrow's victim.". "Families deserve answers, even. The man who would eventually be named as her killer, Raymond Moody, had been a person of interest in Brittanee Drexel's disappearance as far back as 2012 but until just recently, they had nothing solid connecting him to the crime. Paul Joseph Fronczak (Solved! Even without that complication, Singer explained to NPR, the success rate depends heavily on how well the evidence has been preserved over the years. A gruesome double homicide opened the year of 1956 in Great Falls, Montana. Solid forensic evidence finally came in May 2020. (Jason Lee/The Sun News via AP). EUGENE, Ore. -- Retired detectives have solved a Lane County murder mystery that began 44 years ago. Police in Gresham, Oregon, say a suspect in the city's oldest cold case homicide was arrested with the help of DNA technology more than 40 years since the crime. The Cascade County Sheriff's Office announced on Tuesday that it has closed the. Jul 02, 2021 at 2:30 pm A dead blond boy found fully dressed and wrapped in a blanket more than 50 years ago has been an identified through genetic genealogy, bringing an end to one Oregon's . Florida police say they've solved a 43-year-old murder case using advancements in DNA technology. The 74-year mystery of the Somerton man, as experts 'solve' case. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. According to CNN, police were bereft of leads despite the local newspaper running a front-page story seeking information from the public until 15 months later, when a mysterious letter from a "concerned citizen" appeared on the editor's desk. Her death was later ruled a homicide, though a cause was not determined. a 28 -year-old cold case murder in Colton was solved. She stated while Angela was in Chowchilla California, she was working at a Burger King and she told Clarence that she had a change of heart, and did not want to go through with the adoption. Her killer, Eric Drummond, was a customer at her restaurant, and it's likely due to the lack of an obvious connection with Smith that it took police five years to even identify him as a suspect. It was the rare case in which a fleeting moment of conscience, and not new technology, was the key to unraveling a three-decade-old crime. It was a bittersweet revelation: They were grateful for answers, but for many of the older people in the family, it was a struggle to have those wounds reopened. She died of a gunshot wound to the head. Missing Melissa Highsmith reunited with family. A blood sample found in Louises car back in October 1989 was tested for DNA. The extensive family tree Schubert put together led investigators to James Forte, who had a record of violent sexual assault. Nesson was a 15-year-old student at Columbus' Eastmoor High School in 1974. 4. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. The duo were convicted of those crimes in 1977 and again incarcerated. On January 7, 1969, 23-year-old Jane Britton failed to show up for an exam. Evelyn Marie Fisher-Bamforth, then 32, was raped and beaten to death on January 22, 1980, by someone who broke into her home and attacked her in her sleep, WTVJ reports. Audio, . The Hazelton, Pennsylvania, girl was found later the same afternoon, raped and strangled. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. [image via screengrab/Justice for Angie/Facebook], Have a tip we should know? playlist_add. Clarence and Barbara Krusen got to know Angela and Mikey pretty well during this time period, however, and the three adults came to an ultimately abortive adoption agreement. For decades, the Cascade County Sheriff's Office continued to work on it, with multiple detectives attempting to make progress over the years. The case was solved this year, after police came to suspect John Reigh Hoff, who died of suicide in 1970 at the age of 31, of the crime. Prisoner with a conscience helped St. Louis' cold-case unit cross one off the list. Nine-year-old Marise Chiverella was walking to school in March 1964 when she was kidnapped. 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. 1. Physical evidence was able to close the deal in 2022. Missing Melissa Highsmith's mother poses next to a composite sketch of her daughter's suspected kidnapper in a Fort Worth Star Telegram newspaper article. That is what happened with these four cold case murders that the U.S. police solved in 2019. In 2017, the sheriff's office reopened its investigation, and in early 2021, the Texas Rangers Unsolved Crimes . 2 min. Case Breakers calls for police to conduct a DNA test to verify their findings; Fox News' Eric Shawn has the details. 8. This is why, in order to be a successful homicide detective, one must be possessed of an absolutely superhuman, ridiculously dogged level of determination. At first, the widow now claims, her husband lied to her about the victims whereabouts and said someone came and picked them up.. Before Drummond could be arrested, he died by suicide.[8]. Show. These two cases were investigated separately until 2003, when the national DNA database CODIS revealed that samples from both crimes matched the same man. After being interviewed by troopers in his Arkansas home in early August 2020, Branch died by suicide. Case Solved: On Oct. 26, 2021, Des Moines police announced they had charged William "Billy" Rulli, 35, with first-degree murder Stanley "Mike" Golinsky, 56, of Des Moines, was found dead under a downtown railroad bridge on the Des Moines River Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. In most cases, those profiles can end up linking to distant relatives of the culprit say, a second or third cousin. Her family believed that a man who worked in a liquor store near her apartment was responsible, but authorities never made an arrest. "One of our sisters called her daughter the youngest one and her daughter led us to her mom," Jeff Highsmith,who had never met his older sister, previously told Fox News Digital. She wanted to come home. Moody confessed and led investigators to Brittanee's remains, but his belated cooperation did nothing to keep the entire book from getting thrown at him in court. Market data provided by Factset. She stated when they moved from the farmhouse to the house in Alton, that Clarence told her that they had to move the furnace out of there since it was used to destroy both Angela and Mikeys bodies.. Angela Mack-Cox and her four-year-old son Thomas Michael Mikey Rettew were killed and disappeared in 2002. He was immediately met with the daunting task of digitizing the expansive case file, an endeavor that took months. Charles W. Helem was arrested for murdering his ex-girlfriend in Chantilly. The latest in DNA technology has helped solve a 31-year-old murder case. Unfortunately, there was no match to a suspect at the time. "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.". Traci Rosenbaum/USA Today Network via Reuters Co. Four-year-old Joseph Augustus Zarellis remains were discovered inside a box and abandoned in Philadelphias Fox Chase neighborhood Feb. 25, 1957. They Were the Work of One Man. 2 min. ", PHILADELPHIA 'BOY IN THE BOX' IDENTIFIED 65 YEARS AFTER BODY FOUND BEATEN, WRAPPED IN BLANKET. These familial matches led police to David Sinopoli, one of Beichlers neighbors at the time. The circumstances of what led to that initial decision have yet to be released, though Jeremy Cox told investigators he later heard that Angela had sold her son, Mikey, to the Krusens.. BCI's forensic evaluation of the evidence in Nesson's case led to the development of two DNA profiles of her likely assailants: Meyer and Webber. Fortes DNA was a match to genetic material found on the victims jacket.[7]. Highsmith was only 21 months old when shewas kidnappedby a woman purporting to be a babysitter more than a half a century ago. Families deserve answers, even when years have passed since they lost their loved ones, Yost said. Bur was charged after DNA evidence allegedly placed him at the scene of her death, according to police. Market data provided by Factset. The technique is used to create family trees based on genetic similarities to hopefully lead back to the owner of the unknown sample. Barbara stated that it angered both her and Clarence and she told Angela she needed to come back and pick up Mikey [and] that she didnt want to just be a babysitter. Hoff's daughter provided a DNA sample for police, which helped investigators match semen found at the scene to her father. Two years later, in 1989, a California woman, Renee Cuevas, was also found murdered. "My first impression was that the only way we're gonna ever solve this is through the use of DNA," Kadner said. A viewer contacted police and said Nesson's death shared similarities with the death of Karen Adams, a 17-year-old Whitehall girl whose body was found in Blacklick in 1975. Even older cases, in one instance going back to the late 1950s, were cracked around the country through the use of novel investigative techniques. The case lay dormant for years until, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the killing in 2021, investigators decided to take a fresh look. (Nassau County District Attorney's Office). In announcing his identity, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said Joseph had "experienced horrors that no one, no one should ever be subjected to. The DNA profile matched Eric Drummond. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The case now appears to have finally been solved but the killer cant go to jail. Martinez had been identified as a suspect through familial DNA testing, in which unknown DNA material is matched against offenders in a DNA database to potentially identify close male relatives. Then, in 2021, police turned to the relatively new field of genetic genealogy. 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 double homicide of two teens in Montana has been solved after more than 60 years thanks to forensic genealogy. 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. They were also connected to the kidnapping, assault and attempted murder of two other women in the northwest Ohio area. Angela was off on her own. Her body was found in a field, but police never identified a suspect. In October 2020, [sheriffs investigator Dale] Weaver contacted Barbara Krusen who advised that she met Angela Mack Cox in the fall of 2002 while Angela was working for her husband Clarence on their farm. Authorities arrested 58-year-old . At around 10 pm on August 26, 1976, Cynthia decided to go to the Fox Theater to watch the film, "The Omen." A man confessed to the crime shortly after. (Provided by family to Fox News Digital), "A woman answered the ad and agreed to meet her at the restaurant where she worked, but she never showed up," the NCMEC said. Cold case team says it's ID'd Zodiac Killer. This would prove to be an incorrect guess, and as there was a dearth of reported missing child cases involving children of that age, police hit a dead end in the case of the girl who would become known to locals as "Little Miss Nobody" (via CBS News). . Cold Case Murder of Krystal Beslanowitch, 1995 : Solved through forensic technologies. (The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children). Murder of The Lyon Sisters. By searching public records (such as death certificates and newspaper clippings), forensic genealogists are then able to construct a family tree that can point them right to the suspect, even if that suspect has never provided their DNA to any public database. The DNA was eventually matched to one Ray Chapa, who at the time of the murder was Loves 19-year-old neighbor. 1. "Because it was all theories up to that point we finally had a match and we had a name. They were previously linked to one other death and two kidnappings, Yost said. 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. The family reunited with Melissa, who now goes by Melanie, in Texas on the night of Thanksgiving and learned that she had grown up just minutes from where she was taken. Chahorski was likewise identified through the DNA of living relatives, finally putting a lid on a case that had stumped investigators for 34 years. "Based on sperm recovered from the body of Kim Bryant at autopsy revealed that Johnny Blake Peterson was the person who kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered Kim Bryant," Lt. Ray Spencer, LVMPD said. From there unraveled the solution to cold cases spanning decades-and the identity of a serial killer. According to the Fulton County Sheriffs Office in Arkansas, the mother and child were murdered in late 2002 or early 2003 before being placed in a furnace and burned away into nothing. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. 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. "Let this serve as a warning to every murderer, rapist, and violent offender out there," said Keri Farley, special agent in charge of the investigation. DNA genealogy was used to compare the sample to public databases to find familial matches. 14 Creepy Missing Persons Cases That Were Eventually Solved. Traci Rosenbaum/USA Today Network via Reuters Co. Anna Kane 6ABC News Tamika Reyes was only nine years old when her mother, 26-year-old Anna Kane, was found strangled and left in the woods outside of Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1988. 40 year old Kara Vaughn disappeared from Natchitoches, Louisiana on November 3, 1993. Another missing persons case that was solved in 2021 is that of Kara Vaughn who disappeared more than 25 years ago. He was found guilty of at least three other rapes in Ohio. Also in 2020, 10TV in Columbus ran a story on Nesson's case. The Lyon sisters disappearance sparked one of the largest police investigations in Washington metropolitan area history. 5 Cases We Believe Will Be Solved in 2021 CrimeCon Jan 05, 2021 2020 certainly held a number of surprises for the true crime community. In the 36 years since, the case was passed to many detectives, all to no avail. Lori's sister, Toni Hastings, returned to her gravesite to let her know police finally identified her killers. Highsmith disappeared from Fort Worth, Texas, Aug. 23, 1971, when she was just 21 months old. 21 Cold Cases Solved In 2021 | CompilationSupport us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Merc07MERChandise: https://teespring.com/stores/merch-35Subscribe:-h. 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! 5 min read The cold case slaying of a Nevada teenager whose body was. The family of Melissa Highsmith provided this photo of her as a baby. Unfortunately, all the evidence against him was circumstantial, and without enough to connect Louise to the murder, the case went cold. The team's years of digging uncovered new forensic evidence and photos from .