19 Dec 1979 18-year-old Michelle Martinko, leaving school party, went to the parents ‘ car in the Westdale Mall in cedar rapids (Iowa) — for a new coat. The next day the girl’s body with multiple stab wounds to the face and chest found in the Parking lot of the shopping center.
The wounds on the hands testified to the fact that Michelle struggled with her killer, but, according to forensic examination, was not raped. Due to the large number of injuries, especially in the face, detectives were confident that the murder on the basis of personal hostile relations.
«I cried a lot and was looking out the window all night long — said deceased, the victim’s mother Janet Martinko in an interview with CBS in 1987. — I was talking to myself and didn’t know what to do… In such moments you need to pray.»
According to the chief of police cedar rapids Wayne Germana, this tragic incident haunted the law enforcement for almost 40 years. I have compiled a list of more than 80 suspects, but none of the versions has not been confirmed. The crime remained unsolved.
The Cedar Rapids Police Department will be announcing a major development in the 39-year old homicide case involving Michelle Martinko. Details will be released at a 7 PM Press Conference. More info will be released on our PD Facebook page. pic.twitter.com/GnBmXFp1C0
— Cedar Rapids Police (@CR_Police) December 20, 2018
Progress has been made only in 2006, when the laboratory for analysis were transferred to a DNA sample from the car Michelle. It is uploaded to the database Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), but then failed to find a single match.
The case resumed in 2017, when police in cedar rapids have turned to Parabon NanoLabs for help in compiling a profile of the suspect based on DNA from the crime scene. Experts of the company specializing in the determination of the phenotype of the DNA, identified the «origin, eye color, hair color, skin color, freckles, and face shape» probable murderers, and in may 2017 was published his sketch.
«In the genetic database, we can reconstruct the family tree [the suspect], through distant relatives, providing DNA,» — said in an interview with ABC News chief expert Parabon CECE Moore.
According to the chief of police cedar rapids, received the genetic tree of the suspect investigators have identified one man, secretly got his DNA and sent to the lab. The analysis showed that the sample matched the DNA of blood found on the clothes of the murdered schoolgirl.
The suspect was taken in developing and 19 December 2018 — exactly 39 years after Michelle’s death, Martinko — arrested. They found 64-year-old Jerry Lynn burns from Manchester (Iowa), who at the time of the murder was about 25 years old.
This is the man now accused of killing Michelle Martinko 39 years ago, 64 year old Jerry L. Burns of Manchester will make his initial court appearance tomorrow morning. pic.twitter.com/FBDMWyjnu4
— Nick Weig (@tbweig) December 20, 2018
«Didn’t expect that this day would come,» said this week’s KCRG reporter Dave Franzman who covered the case Michelle Martinko in 1979.
Thanks to the incredible pace of technology development, the police have increasingly shed light on the old dark stories. So, in November of this year was put an end in business about murder of the student Mary Pearls 45-year-old student at Harvard University Jane Sanders Britton a 50-year-old.
