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Iowa police have solved the 50-year-old cold case murder of a 17-year-old girl through DNA evidence. [6] In September 2020, Burns filed a notice of appeal. Both parents have been gone for decades: Martinko'sfather died in 1995, and her mother died in 1998. The Week in Photos: Two 40-year-old cold-case murders are solved, and crews race to protect L.A.'s water lifeline . [2], In 2006, 27 years after Martinko's killing, a new cold case investigator working for the Cedar Rapids Police Department received a tip connected to the case. Cedar Rapids, IA It was a cold case until 2018, when familial DNA identified a suspect 39 years after the crime who was charged, tried and convicted of her murder. He stated that Burns' DNA could have been at the scene due to secondary transfer (such as skin cells transferring to an article of clothing when someone brushes up against another person), although he clarified that it was not his opinion that this was the case with Burns' DNA. Uncovered: Unsolved Iowa Murders [9] Martinko was found inside collapsed over the passenger seat and stabbed to death. 2216 27th Avenue, Rm #106 Holly Rae Durben, 29, was shot to death on Saturday, July 18, 2009, in the Shenandoah home she shared with her boyfriend, Brian Heath Davis. DNA evidence leads police to charge Iowa man with murder in 1979 killing of Michelle Martinko. [15], On the evening of December 19, 1979, Martinko attended a banquet for the Kennedy Concert Choir at the Sheraton Inn in Cedar Rapids. Courtland Clark sentenced Sept. 7, 2016, to 21 years in prison. Davis told authorities Holly had committed suicide. Mr. Syperda waived his right to a jury trial, and his bench trial began May 1, 2018, with closing arguments held May 7, 2018 and a ruling expected June 25, 2018. [2][4][27], In pretrial hearings, Burns' attorneys claimed that police needed a search warrant to gather his DNA from the discarded straw, but the judge determined that discarded property cannot reasonably be considered private. Shed been strangled. Clark and Hibbler also pleaded guilty to one count of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence causing death. Farleys mother, Mary Brubaker, long suspected Smith was responsible, having written to police six months after her daughters death. Des Moines, IA The Most Notorious Unsolved Crime, Cold Case in Every State - Insider Their findings were submitted to the Iowa Attorney Generals Office and the Tama County Attorneys Office. On Oct. 25, 2005, the body of a white male was found floating in the Des Moines River near the west bank in the vicinity of the 800 block of W. Riverside Drive in Des Moines. He said hed stayed home to care for Okonskis 2-year-old son, Austin, and that hed last seen his fiance walking west on 5th Street in Tama. Suspect Acquitted: July 14, 2014. Police solve 50-year-old Iowa cold case killing. [11] They described a white man in his late teens or early 20s, around six feet tall and weighing 165175 pounds, with brown eyes and curly brown hair. The Cascade County Sheriff's Office announced on Tuesday that it has closed the. [31] The defense argued that DNA evidence had been mishandled,[31] and that different articles of clothing from the scene should not have been stored together in one evidence bag. Arrest Date: May 9, 2012 His pickup was found parked about 70 yards away. Oakdale Campus [11][18] In the year after the killing, the number of people interviewed by police reached the hundreds, and up to 30 people were interviewed under hypnosis. According to a statement Des Moines police posted to Facebook Tuesday, William Billy Rulli, 35, who currently is serving time in a state penitentiary for first-degree burglary, has confessed to the murder. In November 2014, the woman checked out the story again on the iowacoldcases.org website, and was sure the body belonged to her ex-husband, Robert Bryan McMahon. 1912: Moore family and guests (Villisca) Josiah and Sarah Moore, their four children and two visiting girls were bludgeoned to death with an ax late June 12. A cold case crusader - Link MagazineLink Magazine Case Summaries The woman communicated her information to the daughter of the secretary of the Public Safety Commissioner and believed that it would be passed on to police if it was important. Crime Date: December 25, 2016 Last edited on 20 February 2023, at 04:20, "Michelle Martinko's murder 'haunted' the Cedar Rapids community for 40 years. Former John Doe 2005 On June 7, 2012, Judge Brad Harris sentenced Pursel to life in prison without the possibility of parole the mandatory punishment under state law. [10] Police considered the killing to be "personal in nature" based on the number and location of stab wounds. Hit-and-Run Homicide Arrest Made: Oct. 29, 2014 [24], In 2018, the DNA phenotyping company took the data they had collected the year before and entered it into GEDmatch, a public genealogy website that has been used by law enforcement to solve other cold cases, most famously that of the Golden State Killer. SE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 1781 Quarry Road, Apt. Mistrial Declared: March 12, 2019 The case eventually went cold and remained unsolved for 40 years. An investigator with the Cedar Rapids police department contacted DNA-tested members of two of the branches of the family tree, and eliminated those branches as containing the killer. Wienekes fiance, Jody Hotz, also of West Liberty, last saw him alive around 8:15 a.m. that morning and discovered his beaten body in his bedroom at 6 p.m. Tuesday evening. Pottawattamie County Investigating Agency: Fayette County Sheriffs Office CNN . He grew up in Manchester, Iowa, and graduated from West Delaware High School in 1972. Nearly 30 years to the date, Cedar Rapids police announced they were closing the case. During the initial investigation, the affidavit indicates Ridnour gave inconsistent accounts about his location at the time Callahan went missing, and about his relationship with her granddaughter. At approximately 6:33 a.m. on March 5, 2006, a neighbor observed smoke and flames coming from the residence of 11612 140th Street. 17 YOA Weve really put our best effort into reaching a conclusion and helping the family get some answers, and this is as close as we are able to come.. Thomas O. Freeman Identified as Killer of Lee Rotatori - Law & Crime Date of Conviction: July 1, 2014. -- After 50 years of wondering if her daughter's. John Bloomfield dies while awaiting trial: Nov. 6, 2014. Mrs. Bloomfields body was found three days later, bound with pantyhose and wrapped in plastic bound with duct tape, in a ditch along a highway about a half-mile south of Rockford, Illinois. He is currently being housed in the Jackson County Jail. In 2012, while serving a life sentence for an unrelated attack, the man died in prison from colon cancer. Five-year-old Evelyn Miller was reported missing on July 1, 2005, from the Floyd, Iowa apartment her mother, Noel Miller, shared with her fianc, Casey Frederiksen. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) After 50 years, the Cedar Rapids Police Department solved the murder of a 17-year-old girl. John Bloomfield was arrested in November 2013 and charged with first-degree murder in his wifes death. Legal Statement. pic.twitter.com/COPUDpaDMP, Within days ofMartinko's killing, police received more than 200 phone calls and letters from people who wanted to help, according to Des Moines Register archives. On August 7, 2020, Burns was sentenced to life in prison without parole. [30] The doctor who performed Martinko's autopsy and investigators in the original case, all now retired, took the stand to testify to how the investigation was conducted, and to Martinko's cause of death. Neither will have the possibility of parole or the right to appeal his conviction. Elizabeth Syperda was last seen by her roommate at their East Madison Street apartment in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, about 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 16, 2000, when the roommate left to go to work. Smith was an acquaintance of Farleys at the diner where she worked. Police interviewed Smith in 1971 but did not have enough evidence to charge him or any other suspect. 1613 S. 13th St., Apt. Police suspected Rulli was the killer early in the investigation but didnt have enough to move forward with an arrest. Sentencing: August 7, 2020, sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The perp has been seeking clemency. 311 W. 10th St. SOLVED; NEWS. The cremains were presented to McMahons ex-wife Nancy and family Nov. 12, 2014, and Dr. Schmunck credited both WHO-TV and Iowa Cold Cases for helping to solve the case. His case remains unsolved. There were no signs of forced entry or a struggle. Zachary Dye, 28, accepted a deal with prosecutors and was convicted of aiding and abetting first-degree arson. On July 14, 2014 just six days before the cases 20th anniversary Cerro Gordo County jurors acquitted Cisneros, despite the DNA evidence, after public defender Letitia Turney based her entire defense not on her clients innocence but by defaming the boys father to make him appear responsible for the crime. The three robbers fled the scene, and evaded capture for five years as the Sioux City Police Department, Woodbury County Attorneys Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation worked together to build a solid case against all three men. Various authors have claimed to have solved the case with books such as "Slaughter on North LaSalle" by . GEDmatch returned one person who shared DNA markers with the suspect in Martinko's murder, and it determined her to be likely the killer's second cousin once removed. Richard, I am so sorry about your father. Thank so much for your help. Golyar went on trial before Douglas County (NE) District Judge Timothy Burns on May 10, 2017. Pottawattamie County More coverage from the Des Moines Register. According to the investigator, "Burns showed almost no emotion during the interview, even when he was eventually told he was being arrested. He could not offer a plausible explanation for why his DNA was found at the crime scene, authorities said. Westdale Mall Black Hawk County Alford Plea Entered: June 23, 2016 for Voluntary Manslaughter. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.