RECENTLY SOLVED COLD CASES

1615691107651.png
1998 sexual assault cold case solved with blood sample from suspect’s autopsy
The suspect died in 2014, but his fingerprint and blood sample matched DNA collected in 1998

West Falls Church VA
Aug. 17, 1998 the suspect appeared as an exterminator and forced entry into a 32-year-old woman's home. The man threatened the victim with a gun and sexually assaulted her before she jumped two stories from a balcony to escape.

DNA and fingerprints were taken as evidence from the scene, but the suspect's identity was not found. In early 2019, detectives resubmitted suspect's DNA and fingerprints and received a fingerprint hit for Juan Johnson of Maryland. Johnson died in 2014 at age 48, but a blood sample from an autopsy allowed the Virginia Department of Forensic Science to match it to the DNA collected at the crime scene.

Detectives also believe that Johnson may be the suspect for an Arlington County case a week before the assault in West Falls Church. DNA from the case matched Johnson's profile.
Police are seeking information about other cases involving Johnson. To report information, contact the Major Crimes Bureau at 703-246-7800,


 
Last edited by a moderator:
Jury convicts Iowa man of first-degree murder in 1979 slaying of Cedar Rapids teen
DAVENPORT, Ia. — For nearly 40 years, the family of slain high schooler Michelle Martinko waited for an arrest. Then for proof. Then for a verdict.

The wait ended Monday, when a jury convicted Jerry Lynn Burns of first-degree murder in the 1979 stabbing death of 18-year-old Martinko. It was a case, Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman said, "that has haunted our community for decades."

"We don't exactly know the whys and some of the details, but we definitely know who did it, and that was terribly important to us," Janelle Stonebraker, Michelle Martinko's older sister, said after the verdict was read. "I wish my parents could be here to see this." <snip>
 
Jury convicts Iowa man of first-degree murder in 1979 slaying of Cedar Rapids teen
DAVENPORT, Ia. — For nearly 40 years, the family of slain high schooler Michelle Martinko waited for an arrest. Then for proof. Then for a verdict.

The wait ended Monday, when a jury convicted Jerry Lynn Burns of first-degree murder in the 1979 stabbing death of 18-year-old Martinko. It was a case, Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman said, "that has haunted our community for decades."

"We don't exactly know the whys and some of the details, but we definitely know who did it, and that was terribly important to us," Janelle Stonebraker, Michelle Martinko's older sister, said after the verdict was read. "I wish my parents could be here to see this." <snip>

Wow, 40 years almost. That poor family and her mom and dad never knowing what happened. Another case solved by genetic records.

I wondered why if it happened in Cedar Rapids it was tried in Scott County but then saw they moved the trial because of publicity. LE staying on this case is impressive as well. Too bad he was free for 40 years but he won't be any longer.
 
Nearly 50 years after Karen Lee Spencer was killed in Huntington, the Fairfax County Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney determined there would have been enough evidence to arrest James Edwards in the case, the Fairfax County Police Department said in a statement this week. Detectives from the department's Cold Case Squad were credited with solving the case.
 
Raul Mata, 44, has been charged in the 2004 death of Dilcia Mejia, 16

DNA has led to the arrest of a man in the murder of his stepdaughter in Miami 16 years ago, police said.

While Dilcia’s life was tragically ended, for the next 16 years Mr. Mata went on to live his life thinking that he got away with this despicable crime,” police director Alfredo Ramirez III said. “Unfortunately for Mr. Mata the Miami-Dade Police Department never forgets its victims and through tenacious and resilient police work by our Homicide Cold Case detectives, our forensic lab personnel, and our State Attorney’s Office, we were able to bring him to justice in the name of Dilcia and her family.”

Mata, a nurse, was arrested this week in Watsonville, Calif., where he had started a new life with a new spouse and a child. He split with Dilcia’s mother in Florida after the murder, CBS 4 reported.

It was Mata who reported to police finding Dilcia’s body, the station reported.


“We need someone to come here,” he told 911, according to the station. “My daughter. My daughter. Somebody killed my daughter.”

In 2015, the station quoted a detective who said Mata was a suspect and that while he was questioned extensively, he denied any involvement in Dilcia’s death.

“I do believe that there is one individual out there who can shed some light on this case and take it in a new direction,” the detective, Robert Miller, said at the time.

The arrest affidavit says Dilcia and Mata had a strained relationship, and that he made inappropriate sexual advances. A school counselor knew about them and was about to tell her mother, according to the station.
 
1976 Cold Case solved by DNA after suspect was recently arrested for domestic violence

 
Jury convicts Iowa man of first-degree murder in 1979 slaying of Cedar Rapids teen
DAVENPORT, Ia. — For nearly 40 years, the family of slain high schooler Michelle Martinko waited for an arrest. Then for proof. Then for a verdict.

The wait ended Monday, when a jury convicted Jerry Lynn Burns of first-degree murder in the 1979 stabbing death of 18-year-old Martinko. It was a case, Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman said, "that has haunted our community for decades."

"We don't exactly know the whys and some of the details, but we definitely know who did it, and that was terribly important to us," Janelle Stonebraker, Michelle Martinko's older sister, said after the verdict was read. "I wish my parents could be here to see this." <snip>
I remember her picture.
 
PEMBROKE, Mass. —
Investigators and Plymouth County's chief prosecutor are expected to announce Thursday that they have identified a suspect in a brutal murder case that went unsolved for 37 years, a source tells 5 Investigates.

Virginia Hannon was found dead in February 1984 inside her home in Pembroke. She was found under the covers in her bedroom and first responders initially thought she died of natural causes, but her horrific injuries were noticed when the body was taken to a funeral home.




In a 2018 interview with 5 Investigates, police called it "one of the most brutal murders they think we've had in the history of Pembroke."

District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz, members of Massachusetts State Police and Pembroke Police are scheduled to make an announcement in the case at 1 p.m. Members of Hannon's family are also expected to be in attendance.

According to a source, officials identified a suspect who recently made a deathbed confession. The source said that confession was corroborated by DNA evidence.
 

Arrest made 33 years after Roswell boy was beaten, strangled, found dead in woods​

An arrest has been made in a case that has gone unsolved for more than three decades, sources tell 11Alive.

Sources close to the investigation confirmed with 11Alive Thursday night that a man was arrested and charged with the murder of Harmon. The suspect was in prison for about 20 years on an unrelated charge in Roswell and was recently released. Police arrested the suspect Wednesday for Harmon's murder, sources said.
 

New Hampshire police, wardens find sunken car of woman who went missing in 1978​

Police said the car may belong to Alberta Leeman of Gorham, N.H., who they say went missing in 1978. They said her disappearance is not considered suspicious.

New Hampshire State Police said in a news release that the vehicle "has apparently been in the Connecticut River for decades" and was recently found by N.H. Fish and Game using specialized technology. A Department of Safety spokesperson would not say how Fish and Game became aware of the car, or why Vermont State Police are involved.
 

Retired minister charged with murder in 1975 slaying of Pennsylvania girl, 8​


David Zandstra, 83, of the Atlanta suburb of Marietta is charged with criminal homicide, first--, second- and third-degree murder, kidnapping of a minor and a related count in the 1975 death of Gretchen Harrington in Delaware County.

District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer told reporters “This is a man who is a remorseless child predator who acted as if he was a friend, a neighbor and a man of God, and he killed this poor little girl,” Having killed a child who knew and trusted him, he then “acted as if he was their family friend, not only during her burial and the period after that but for years,”

Harrington, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister and his wife, disappeared in mid-August 1975 while walking from her Marple Township home to Bible camp at Trinity Church Chapel, where Zandstra was pastor. Her body was found two months later by a jogger in Ridley Creek State Park in Media.

She was offered a ride by Zandstra, who was also the father of one of her best friends. “So when he offered her a ride in his car, of course she got in the car,”

Zandstra took her to a wooded location and eventually struck her in the head, and believing her to be dead tried to cover her body, authorities said. Returning to his church, he “tried to act like nothing had happened,” and when her father, pastor of the nearby Reformed Presbyterian Church, called seeking to find her, Zandstra was the one to call police

Stollsteimer said new information from an unnamed friend of the victim led state police to travel to Georgia and interview Zandstra, who authorities allege then confessed to the crime.

Trooper Eugene Tray said the defendant's demeanor was “relieved" as if it was “a weight off his shoulders.” Stollsteimer said Zandstra, however, was fighting extradition from Georgia though the prosecutor vowed that he would be returned to face justice in Pennsylvania.

DNA from the defendant will be compared to material from open cases in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, authorities said. Zandstra lived in Texas and Georgia, New Jersey, California and Texas before retiring in 2005.


 

Retired minister charged with murder in 1975 slaying of Pennsylvania girl, 8​


David Zandstra, 83, of the Atlanta suburb of Marietta is charged with criminal homicide, first--, second- and third-degree murder, kidnapping of a minor and a related count in the 1975 death of Gretchen Harrington in Delaware County.

District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer told reporters “This is a man who is a remorseless child predator who acted as if he was a friend, a neighbor and a man of God, and he killed this poor little girl,” Having killed a child who knew and trusted him, he then “acted as if he was their family friend, not only during her burial and the period after that but for years,”

Harrington, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister and his wife, disappeared in mid-August 1975 while walking from her Marple Township home to Bible camp at Trinity Church Chapel, where Zandstra was pastor. Her body was found two months later by a jogger in Ridley Creek State Park in Media.

She was offered a ride by Zandstra, who was also the father of one of her best friends. “So when he offered her a ride in his car, of course she got in the car,”

Zandstra took her to a wooded location and eventually struck her in the head, and believing her to be dead tried to cover her body, authorities said. Returning to his church, he “tried to act like nothing had happened,” and when her father, pastor of the nearby Reformed Presbyterian Church, called seeking to find her, Zandstra was the one to call police

Stollsteimer said new information from an unnamed friend of the victim led state police to travel to Georgia and interview Zandstra, who authorities allege then confessed to the crime.

Trooper Eugene Tray said the defendant's demeanor was “relieved" as if it was “a weight off his shoulders.” Stollsteimer said Zandstra, however, was fighting extradition from Georgia though the prosecutor vowed that he would be returned to face justice in Pennsylvania.

DNA from the defendant will be compared to material from open cases in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, authorities said. Zandstra lived in Texas and Georgia, New Jersey, California and Texas before retiring in 2005.


I'm glad the case is solved and all but HE is the reason for my MAD face. Mad about what he did to her back when and made about now and oh, a weight off his shoulders and then he fights extradition. He doesn't have a conscience or had any weight or he wouldn't be doing the other. His weight of his shoulders was probably he could simply stop worrying when they'd come knocking. Well now they did and so now he knows and he goes to deal with it from the start by fighting extradition.

This is an older case where he's alive and it is a shame it can't be front and center on social media etc. condemning him and telling the world about him. I doubt most will hear of it.
 

Retired minister charged with murder in 1975 slaying of Pennsylvania girl, 8​


David Zandstra, 83, of the Atlanta suburb of Marietta is charged with criminal homicide, first--, second- and third-degree murder, kidnapping of a minor and a related count in the 1975 death of Gretchen Harrington in Delaware County.

District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer told reporters “This is a man who is a remorseless child predator who acted as if he was a friend, a neighbor and a man of God, and he killed this poor little girl,” Having killed a child who knew and trusted him, he then “acted as if he was their family friend, not only during her burial and the period after that but for years,”

Harrington, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister and his wife, disappeared in mid-August 1975 while walking from her Marple Township home to Bible camp at Trinity Church Chapel, where Zandstra was pastor. Her body was found two months later by a jogger in Ridley Creek State Park in Media.

She was offered a ride by Zandstra, who was also the father of one of her best friends. “So when he offered her a ride in his car, of course she got in the car,”

Zandstra took her to a wooded location and eventually struck her in the head, and believing her to be dead tried to cover her body, authorities said. Returning to his church, he “tried to act like nothing had happened,” and when her father, pastor of the nearby Reformed Presbyterian Church, called seeking to find her, Zandstra was the one to call police

Stollsteimer said new information from an unnamed friend of the victim led state police to travel to Georgia and interview Zandstra, who authorities allege then confessed to the crime.

Trooper Eugene Tray said the defendant's demeanor was “relieved" as if it was “a weight off his shoulders.” Stollsteimer said Zandstra, however, was fighting extradition from Georgia though the prosecutor vowed that he would be returned to face justice in Pennsylvania.

DNA from the defendant will be compared to material from open cases in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, authorities said. Zandstra lived in Texas and Georgia, New Jersey, California and Texas before retiring in 2005.


Another MONSTER! I wonder if he's killed other little girls?
 
Another MONSTER! I wonder if he's killed other little girls?
It is possible other cases may be solved.
Read Gretchen's friends diary entries :

It was not until January of this year that new evidence came to light: the diary entry of a 10-year-old girl.

The girl, now a woman identified by police only as an informant, recalled a disturbing sleepover at Zandstra’s house. She said she was best friends with one of Zandstra’s daughters and detailed an incident in which he allegedly groped her, according to the criminal complaint. When she told her friend about it, the friend said, “He does that sometimes,” detectives noted.

About a week after the sleepover, Gretchen was abducted. The following month, the informant wrote an entry in her diary, intimating that one of her friends was nearly kidnapped.

“Guess what?” the Sept. 15, 1975, entry read. “A man tried to kidnap (friend) twice! It’s a secret I can’t tell anyone, but I think he might be the one who kidnapped Gretchen. I think it was Mr. Z.”


 
It is possible other cases may be solved.
Read Gretchen's friends diary entries :

It was not until January of this year that new evidence came to light: the diary entry of a 10-year-old girl.

The girl, now a woman identified by police only as an informant, recalled a disturbing sleepover at Zandstra’s house. She said she was best friends with one of Zandstra’s daughters and detailed an incident in which he allegedly groped her, according to the criminal complaint. When she told her friend about it, the friend said, “He does that sometimes,” detectives noted.

About a week after the sleepover, Gretchen was abducted. The following month, the informant wrote an entry in her diary, intimating that one of her friends was nearly kidnapped.

“Guess what?” the Sept. 15, 1975, entry read. “A man tried to kidnap (friend) twice! It’s a secret I can’t tell anyone, but I think he might be the one who kidnapped Gretchen. I think it was Mr. Z.”


This was definitely the way things were handled in the 1970s! I remember I was dating a guy and his dad was really old and I went over there to see my BF one day and he wasn’t there and for some reason he stood up (because he couldn’t walk very well), and he slid his hand up the front of my blouse so fast you can’t believe it. When I said something to the guy I was dating, he said basically the same thing “he does that sometimes. Sorry. “

We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go
 

Arrest in cold case revives the case of Amanda Campbell, kidnapped in 1991​


Officials there are taking a fresh look at the 1991 disappearance of 4-year-old Amanda Campbell after discovering Zandstra lived within 3 miles of her home at the time she went missing, records show. His church — the Fairfield Christian Reformed Church, where he ended his career in ministry in 2005 — was just over 3 miles away.


Campbell was last seen two days after Christmas while riding her bike to a friend’s house around the corner from where she lived, The Daily Republic newspaper reported. Her bicycle was found a few blocks away, and police K-9s tracked her scent to a nearby McDonald’s restaurant before losing track of it on an interstate ramp.


 

Arrest in cold case revives the case of Amanda Campbell, kidnapped in 1991​


Officials there are taking a fresh look at the 1991 disappearance of 4-year-old Amanda Campbell after discovering Zandstra lived within 3 miles of her home at the time she went missing, records show. His church — the Fairfield Christian Reformed Church, where he ended his career in ministry in 2005 — was just over 3 miles away.


Campbell was last seen two days after Christmas while riding her bike to a friend’s house around the corner from where she lived, The Daily Republic newspaper reported. Her bicycle was found a few blocks away, and police K-9s tracked her scent to a nearby McDonald’s restaurant before losing track of it on an interstate ramp.


Sounds pretty darned likely. The proximity, the trust they'd give such a figure.

He can have such relief and remorse but then fight extradition, yeah right. Chances are they'll have him on a slew of cases of other missing children in time.
 
Arrest in 30 year old case:
I find this read very `interesting as it talks of DNA and how if they don't have someone to compare it to, it doesn't do much, etc. AND it talks of genealogical matching.

However, the part I am going to point out is this:

The sheriff says Crum had been arrested in the early 1980s for armed robbery in Hillsborough County. In 1985 he was charged with kidnapping, sexual assault and false imprisonment in Hillsborough County. He was arrested by Tampa police in 1987 for carrying a concealed weapon. In 1988 he was caught again carrying a concealed weapon and was charged with aggravated assault. In 1998 he was arrested for domestic battery in Hernando County three times. In 2001 he was arrested for violation of probation in Hillsborough County. He was arrested a few years later for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Hernando County. In 2015, he was arrested in Pasco County for aggravated sexual assault on a child under the age of 12 in Pasco County.


"He’s a bad individual," Sheriff Neihuis stated.


Such a record and yet he was free to walk amongst the public for years on end.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
3,083
Messages
257,609
Members
1,020
Latest member
Lucia
Back
Top Bottom