The boyfriend was . . She performed well in school, becoming an honors student during her academic career. The case now appears to have finally been solved - but the killer can't go to jail. "When I looked at her, I just knew. Somewhat mysteriously, she was in California at the time. She wanted to come home. Four-year-old Sharon Lee Gallegos partially decomposed body was found over 500 miles from her New Mexico home July 31, 1960. The department identified. Bogle, an airman hailing from Texas, and Kalitzke, a junior at Great Falls High School, had fallen for each other and were even considering marriage, the Tribune reports. 2021 at 12:01 p.m. Unrelenting determination coupled with advancing technology helped solve one of Spokane's most heinous and haunting crimes: the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl, 62 years ago. The cops never took their eye off of Drummond despite the fact that he left the state shortly after committing the crime, and when improved DNA technology allowed them to develop a sturdy profile of Smith's killer, they zeroed in on him in earnest. In most cases, those profiles can end up linking to distant relatives of the culprit say, a second or third cousin. REYNOLDSBURG, OH A 45-year-old cold case has been solved in Ohio, Attorney General Dave Yost and Reynoldsburg Police Chief Curtis Baker announced Wednesday. When they did, the now-elderly killer presumably weary from looking over his shoulder for 45 years broke down and confessed to the crime. In this case, it led back to Rueben Smith. Her boyfriend, who went to her apartment to look for her, discovered her dead of blunt force trauma. The DNA profile matched Eric Drummond. While police determined the murders to be connected and despite following many leads, the case eventually went cold. In late March 1983, the body of Joette Smith was found floating in the San Lorenzo River. On January 7, 1969, 23-year-old Jane Britton failed to show up for an exam. Cold case team says it's ID'd Zodiac Killer. The case now appears to have finally been solved but the killer cant go to jail. If you have any theory of just what might open this case up please feel free to include. . Cottingham, now 73, has said he has killed as many as 100 people in New Jersey and New York and is already spending life in prison for the 1960 murders of several females. Her killer was the last person the family would have . 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. Dukat was only 8 years old, grabbed by a stranger and killed with a 20-pound rock in a shallow stream on her short walk home from school, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Most cold cases do not get solved, soit is still fairly a spectacular occurrence when one is. Of those suspects, one in 20 will be arrested, and just one in those 100 charged will be convicted. As it happened, around this same time, Cates was in the hospital in North Carolina, and as Florida detectives were shoring up their case, Cates blurted out to a nurse that he had killed someone in Florida decades prior. (The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children). Murder of The Lyon Sisters. Authorities traveled to Missouri, where they spoke with Gould's children and told them about the Kalitzke/Bogle case and eventually identified their father as a suspect, Kadner said. They asked for the family's help in either proving or disproving that Gould was the man responsible and the family complied. FOUND: MELISSA HIGHSMITH'S FAMILY 'OVERJOYED' AFTER BEING REUNITED WITH SISTER ABDUCTED IN 1971. Elkhart County, Indiana, is where, in May 2002, Robert Reed was found robbed and murdered inside his residence. Sharons parents died before they were able to learn their daughters fate. Her body was located more than 13 years later, in May of this year, about 35 miles from where she disappeared, officials have said. And they can know it's solved.". It never happened. Take a look at our list of 10 solved cold cases below. 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. By U.S. Army CID July 13, 2021. To law enforcement agencies everywhere, arguably one of the greatest of these technologies would be the myriad uses of DNA profiling and, more recently, forensic genealogy. No one knew he was the killer until 2003, when a new FBI national database matched his fingerprints to those found at the scene almost half. Justice looks different in this case," Yost said. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Here are a dozen of the most stubbornly unresolved cold cases that were finally put to bed in 2022. The case was revived in 2021 when Sgt. In October 2022, Moody was sentenced to life in prison plus two consecutive 30-year stretches, ensuring that the now-62-year-old will never walk free again. Candy Rogers Cold Case Murder Solved. 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.. The body of a young child tragically known as "Little Miss Nobody" was identified in February after remaining a mystery for over 60 years. The Cascade County Sheriff's Office announced on Tuesday that it has closed the. But the memory of Lori Nesson will carry on through her family and friends.. We're starting with a distant relative and trying to work back toward our unknown sample.". "Because it was all theories up to that point we finally had a match and we had a name. While the identification of Kane's killer provided a measure of closure to her daughter, Reyes was understandably disappointed that Grim had eluded justice by way of dying. In 2021, however, police confirmed that Farley's family had been correct: DNA evidence showed that George Smith, the liquor store worker, was the killer. 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. 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. Phil Matteson, a now-retired detective with the sheriff's office, sent that sample to a local lab for testing in 2001, and the team there identified sperm that did not belong to Bogle, her boyfriend, the paper reports. 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 . Angela was off on her own. "The babysitter called the mother later, saying she really wanted the job, had a nice big yard and cared for other children as well.". 2 min. Fortes DNA was a match to genetic material found on the victims jacket.[7]. Now, the sheriff's office is considering forming a cold case task force, as other law enforcement agencies have done. 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. And they catch the killers just when the offender was feeling home free. Police theorized that the killing may have been part of a pattern of attempted child abductions going on at the time, and over the years following, they investigated a slew of potential suspects, even resorting to the not-so-solid technique of hypnotizing subjects in their attempts to elicit a confession. These two cases were investigated separately until 2003, when the national DNA database CODIS revealed that samples from both crimes matched the same man. A double homicide of two teens in Montana has been solved after more than 60 years thanks to forensic genealogy. That changed in 2022 when those family members who had long lived in fear of Cates and his abusive, violent tendencies came forward to do a fresh round of interviews with police. "Families deserve answers, even. The test results said Gould was the guy. Authorities arrested 58-year-old . According to NPR, the investigation into the crime went nowhere for decades, until the resolution of a cold case in a nearby county prompted investigators to use blood evidence from the scene to attempt to whittle down their suspect list. 1987 Army CID cold case solved, suspect convicted. Greg Harder of the Elkhart County Police noticed a possible piece of DNA evidence that was missed. 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. She was last seen at a high school football game. The extensive family tree Schubert put together led investigators to James Forte, who had a record of violent sexual assault. Jessica Baggen, a 17-year-old from Sitka, Alaska, disappeared in early May 1996. In announcing his identity, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said Joseph had "experienced horrors that no one, no one should ever be subjected to. 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. In 2022, NoVA Police Solved Multiple Murders Stretching Back to 1987. Beichlers case was revived in 2019 when prosecutors released composite images of a man whose DNA was supposedly left at the scene. Have a tip or story idea? (Photo: Codymcarlson / CCBYSA3.0) The man behind the abduction, rape and death of upstate New York teenager Brittanee Drexel pleaded guilty in October to a case that went cold after the 17-year-olds disappearance during spring break 2009. Cold Case Murder of Krystal Beslanowitch, 1995 : Solved through forensic technologies. Highsmith disappeared from Fort Worth, Texas, Aug. 23, 1971, when she was just 21 months old. 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. Investigators discovered, however, that soon after that interview, Smith had moved to Little Falls, New York, and changed his surname to Becker a circumstance that prompted them to bring him in for a new round of interviews. 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. Legal Statement. While the couple was recuperating, Jamess brother Jeremy Cox picked up Angela and Mikey. Not every murder gets solved. While initial tests done previously on the blood were inconclusive, advances in DNA testing allowed for the blood to be positively identified as belonging to George Peacock. 14 Creepy Missing Persons Cases That Were Eventually Solved. 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.. Unfortunately, all the evidence against him was circumstantial, and without enough to connect Louise to the murder, the case went cold. Technology that would help solve the killing was nearly half a century away from development, Yost said. The latest in DNA technology has helped solve a 31-year-old murder case. Nadine Madger was a Willoughby, Ohio, woman who was found murdered in January 1980. ): Paul Joseph Fronczak was kidnapped as a day-old baby out of a Chicago hospital in 1964. One such investigator was Detective Sgt. 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. 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. Prisoner with a conscience helped St. Louis' cold-case unit cross one off the list. Charles W. Helem was arrested for murdering his ex-girlfriend in Chantilly. He was arrested in July 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. "Give them some closure.". Of those suspects, one in 20 will be arrested, and just one in those 100 charged will be convicted. The case eventually went cold. At around 10 pm on August 26, 1976, Cynthia decided to go to the Fox Theater to watch the film, "The Omen." The 1980 murder of Asenath Dukat was one that shook the Columbus, Ohio community for a simple reason. 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. Because Forte had been dead since 1980, DNA was taken from his exhumed body. Publish Date 11/11/2020. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. 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. Most cold cases do not get solved, so it is still fairly a spectacular occurrence when one is. 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. Scientists were able to use the unknown DNA to find potential matches in public databases and create a reverse family tree. This method eventually led to a man named Kenneth Gould, who unfortunately passed away in 2007. After being interviewed by troopers in his Arkansas home in early August 2020, Branch died by suicide. One March day in 1983, she turned down a stranger's request for a date and a short time later, her body was pulled from a nearby river (pictured), shocking what was at the time a cozy, tight-knit community, according to the Los Angeles Times. It is unclear how Love actually came into contact with Reed; regardless, Love was arrested for the murder of Robert Reed in 2022 based on the DNA evidence.[5]. Nothing, that is, until 2018, when an amateur cold case enthusiast came forward with one tiny detail after police reopened the case. But James never saw or spoke with his recent bride ever again. A double homicide of two teens in Montana has been solved after more than 60 years thanks to forensic genealogy. 5 Minutes On. The place where they were believed to have been killed was a known "lover's lane," according to a clipping from a local newspaper posted on a memorial page. But not always. We live in an era of incredible technology: cars, computers, and even robots. In the summer of 1960, the body of a young girl was found near a highway in Yavapai Country, Arizona. X Unsolved Cases Unsolved Homicides Unidentified Remains Missing Persons Robberies X News 2023 Press Releases 2022 Press Releases . 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. He was found guilty of at least three other rapes in Ohio. 40-year-old cold case solved with new genetic genealogy technology. The Pecos, Texas Police Department . Two years later, in 1989, a California woman, Renee Cuevas, was also found murdered. What's more, Sullivan, her . Her body was found on the west side of Reynoldsburg the next day. 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. 2 min. That is, until 2019, when Detective Sgt. The technique is used to create family trees based on genetic similarities to hopefully lead back to the owner of the unknown sample. Police said Josephs parents have since died, and no one claimed the child or reported him missing at the time his remains were discovered. "I hope that it gives her peace knowing that, even though it's not really justice because he doesn't get any punishment, but that his name has this on it now. News 13 True Crime Cases That Were Solved In 2022 For years, these cases have been cold until 2022, when advancements in DNA technology helped bring closure to the victims' family and friends. It's the first time this technique has been used to make an arrest in New York City. Feb 7, 2022 1 min read Save A lot of cold cases are solved by looking for matches for a relative. While he was in prison in 2012, Meyer admitted to prosecutors he had killed Adams, 10TV reported. Case Breakers calls for police to conduct a DNA test to verify their findings; Fox News' Eric Shawn has the details. Another victim of a brutal murder who went unidentified for decades, Lina Reyes Geddes was found near a spring in the vicinity of Lake Powell, Utah, in 1998, shot, bound, and wrapped in a sleeping bag. Highsmith was only 21 months old when shewas kidnappedby a woman purporting to be a babysitter more than a half a century ago. The case was partially resolved in 2005 when Richard Kinlaw serving a 20 years-to-life sentence in prison for the murder of another woman confessed in writing to Princess Doe's murder. 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. hide caption. Cold Case Solved: Widow Says Her Late Husband Killed and Incinerated Mother and Child in 2002 Colin Kalmbacher Apr 10th, 2021, 7:51 pm Angela Mack-Cox and her four-year-old son Thomas Michael "Mikey" Rettew were killed and disappeared in 2002. Investigators have solved a 28-year cold case and a Texas man is in custody. The subsequent investigation led Santa Cruz County police to a man named Eric Drummond, who had reportedly previously asked Smith on a date and was declined. (Jason Lee/The Sun News via AP). Like so many other cold cases, the eventual identification of the killer hinged on one thing: The collection of DNA evidence at the scene of the murder, and its careful preservation. (Yavapai County Sheriff's Office). EUGENE, Ore. -- Retired detectives have solved a Lane County murder mystery that began 44 years ago. A blood sample found in Louises car back in October 1989 was tested for DNA. 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. QUANTICO, VA - More than three decades after the body of a female Fort Carson Soldier was found, justice has . Jon Kadner, who was assigned the case in 2012 his first cold case, he said during an interview with NPR. 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Nesson's family urged Reynoldsburg police to reexamine the cold case in August 2019. Hall's daughter, happy to finally have closure, had a message for those facing the unsolved murder of a loved one: "Please don't give up. Fox News Digitals Audrey Conklin, Danielle Wallace, Pilar Arias and Louis Casiano contributed to this report. On Feb. 25, 2021, more than 39 years after her death, police announced that they arrested 62-year-old David Dwayne Anderson in Nebraska. 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. In 1988, state authorities in Georgia were presented with a crime that would seem nearly impossible to solve: The killing of 19-year-old Stacey Chahorski, whose body was found alongside a highway near the state's border with Alabama. Investigators said they determined Robert Meyer of Cincinnati, and Charles Webber of Columbus killed Lori Nesson in 1974. 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. That letter happened to contain information that only the killer would be privy to, and saliva on the envelope was matched to that found on Kane's clothing. Market data provided by Factset. In 1979, Sandra Matott disappeared without a trace, leaving behind several children, including her son Darrell Haymes.. Then, in 2021, police turned to the relatively new field of genetic genealogy. You see, homicide cases as you likely realize from the six thousand true-crime documentaries which set you on this career path in the first place can often take a very long time to resolve. 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Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Before moving to Missouri in 1967, Gould had lived with his wife and children in the Great Falls area around the time of the murders, according to the Tribune. But with new technology, including advances in genetic identification, breakthroughs do occur. Both mother and son were quickly murdered after that. Over the next 14 years, authorities diligently ruled out the presence of any DNA not matching Strutner's in the 1980 evidence and finally, in 2022, he was named as Dukat's murderer. As later reported by the Great Falls Tribune, 18-year-old Lloyd Bogle was found shot in the head with his arms tied behind his back with his own belt. Her body was found in a field, but police never identified a suspect. Paul Joseph Fronczak (Solved! They were also connected to the kidnapping, assault and attempted murder of two other women in the northwest Ohio area. December 7, 2021, 3:41 PM ET Police Identify College Student's Suspected Killer By Linking It To Another Recently Solved Cold Case Diana Hanson, 22, disappeared after leaving her parents home to go for a run on Dec. 30, 1983 and was discovered dead the next day by a construction worker who had stumbled upon the body, police said. Highsmiths mother gave her the job. The search for Melissa Highsmith had a rare happy ending. It's the oldest cold case solved in #MiramarPD history: Evelyn Marie Cold Cases With the killer finally identified, Kadner was able to reach out to the victims' surviving relatives and deliver the closure that had taken more than 60 years to procure. Smith died in 2013 at the age of 94. 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. According to Garden Grove Deputy Police Chief Amir Al Farra, she was sexually assaulted and strangled to death. Candice Rogers, a 9-year-old in 1959, was killed in Spokane, Washington, as she sold mints for her Girl Scout-like group Camp Fire Girls, according to The New York Times. 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. Someone climbed up and broke into her window, sexually assaulted her and killed her. The newlyweds were hurt and needed time to recuperate. 40 year old Kara Vaughn disappeared from Natchitoches, Louisiana on November 3, 1993. 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). "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. [image via screengrab/Justice for Angie/Facebook], Have a tip we should know? Refresh the page, check. SALT LAKE CITY Salt Lake City Police have solved a 42-year-old cold case. The Delphi Murders For 31 years, Kurt Wuest has been solving Lane County crimes. "It felt great because for the first time in 65 years we finally had a direction and a place to take the investigation," Kadner told NPR. 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. Please keep after. 1. 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. [W]e were able to close this case as of April 7, 2021, Sheriff Roork said. Detectives had an uncomfortable task ahead of them: letting a dead man's family know that, despite the fact that he'd never previously been identified as a person of interest, he was now the key suspect in a double homicide and rape. In a post polygraph interview, she advised the agents that Clarence had told her he had done away with both Angela Mack Cox and Thomas Michael Rettew (Mikey) by killing them and destroying their bodies in a furnace that they had attached to their farm house, the press release continues. The Hazelton, Pennsylvania, girl was found later the same afternoon, raped and strangled. NEBRASKA MAN ID'D AS MINNESOTA COLD CASE MURDER VICTIM, 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. It was January of 1980 when 21-year-old Helene Pruszynski was kidnapped, raped and murdered in Douglas County, Colorado.