Discarded napkin helps US police crack 32-year-old murder mystery

[inanna]

AFP•June 23, 2018

Washington (AFP) - The mystery of the sexual assault and murder of a US teenager in Washington state has been resolved 32 years after the crime thanks to a discarded napkin, DNA tests and genetic genealogy.

Gary Hartman, 66, has been arrested and is scheduled to appear in court Monday on rape and murder charges in the case, which has long shocked the city of Tacoma, in the northwestern US state.

It began on March 26, 1986, when 12-year-old Michella Welch disappeared while playing with her two young sisters at a park.

A police dog found her remains that evening in a ravine, but the investigation bogged down and was eventually filed as an unresolved "cold case."

Fast forward to the 21st century, when advances in the research field of DNA -- the human genetic code -- helped reinvigorate the probe.

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/discarded-napkin-helps-us-police-crack-32-old-185325307.html

[murielm99]

1. I am wary of this.

It could be abused. Relatives could be misidentified as suspects. I think I will keep my DNA to myself.