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White Springs, Florida resident Garry Artman, 64, has been charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and second-degree assault for allegedly killing Dusty Myriah Shuck, 24, of Silver City, New Mexico in May 2006.
On May 4, 2006, Shuck’s body was discovered near a Frederick County rest stop by a passing motorist, according to police. She had last been seen at a New Mexico hotel on April 24, 2006.
Days later she was found wearing a tank top, a hooded sweatshirt, and sweat pants without shoes or ID lying on the shoulder of the eastbound lanes of I-70 east of New Market in Maryland.
The only clues to identify her were two dragon tattoos located on her back with the words “Gypsy Rose” written beneath them, investigators said. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled her death as a homicide caused by stabbing and blunt force trauma in 2006.
Investigators noted that there was “limited evidence left at the scene," and they went through extreme measures in an attempt to identify Shuck’s body.
Message board signs were used on Maryland highways seeking information, and given the location of the body and where Shuck was originally from, police believed the person responsible could be a truck driver, leading them to scour truck stops in the area for potential leads.
“Missing person databases were checked along with tattoo parlors throughout the region,” according to a state police spokesperson. “Countless interviews, sifting through case files, and following up on hopeful leads yielded unsuccessful results at locating a suspect in the case.
“Investigators left no stone unturned.”
Two years after their initial investigation, police said that a search of the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) resulted in an unknown DNA match between an unsolved 1996 Michigan State Police case and a 2006 Maryland State Police case.
“This hit on Aug. 18, 2008, demonstrated how the DNA database plays a crucial role in solving crimes from unsolved cases,” police said. “Without a known DNA profile match at the time, the investigation remained open.”
On Wednesday, Aug. 17, an investigator with the Maryland State Police Homicide Unit received a phone call from a detective with the Kent County Sheriff’s Office in Michigan who identified Artman as a suspect in their cold case.
Artman was arrested in Mississippi by detectives from the Kent County Sheriff’s Office in Michigan. He was later extradited to Michigan, and when police obtained a search warrant, his DNA was collected and brought to the Michigan State Police Crime Lab for comparison.
On Thursday, Aug. 18, Michigan State Police Crime Lab confirmed that Artman’s DNA profile was a match to their unknown 1996 DNA profile and the Maryland State Police 2006 homicide.
Days later, on Wednesday, Aug. 31, investigators from the Kent County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant on a storage unit in Florida believed to belong to Artman.
Investigators said that several pieces of women’s underwear were seized as evidence to determine whether there are other victims. Forensic analysts from the Maryland State Police Crime Lab are assisting with biological evidence examinations.
Members of the Maryland State Police Homicide Unit then traveled to Michigan to conduct interviews and gather additional information linking Artman back to the I-70 homicide.
Police said that Artman is being held at the Kent County Correctional Facility in Grand Rapids, Michigan after being arrested and charged in connection with the 1996 cold case involving the death of a Michigan woman.
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