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DNA analysis

Pennsylvania Jane Doe ID’d In Maryland’s Oldest Cold Case Homicide Pennsylvania Jane Doe ID’d In Maryland’s Oldest Cold Case Homicide
Pennsylvania Jane Doe ID’d In Maryland’s Oldest Cold Case Homicide For more than half a century, she was known only as “Jane Doe.” Her beaten body was found in a Howard County field in 1971, She died days later, was never identified, and her name was lost to time.  For 54 years, the case gathered dust — the police department's oldest cold case homicide. Now police say they finally know who she was. Authorities announced Wednesday, Sept. 4, that DNA profiling has revealed the victim as Sadie Belle Murray, born in 1924 in Pennsylvania, who at the time of her death went by Sarah Belle Sharkey. And in a stunning twist, detectives also tracked down her …
PA Woman ID'd As Cold Case Texas Murder Victim After 40 Years PA Woman ID'd As Cold Case Texas Murder Victim After 40 Years
PA Woman ID'd As Cold Case Texas Murder Victim After 40 Years A Pennsylvania woman has been identified as the victim of a decades-old Texas homicide, authorities announced on Monday, Aug. 18. Roberta “Berta” Mumma, a former Lancaster County resident and graduate of Ephrata High School, was identified as the victim of a 1984 homicide in Jack County, Texas, according to the Jack County Sheriff’s Office and Texas Rangers. Her skeletal remains were discovered in a remote area near Wizard Wells more than 40 years ago. Despite extensive efforts, her identity remained unknown until 2024 when investigators used advanced forensic testing and DNA analysis to co…
Man Indicted For 1991 NJ Murder After His DNA Found On Victim's Underwear: Prosecutor Man Indicted For 1991 NJ Murder After His DNA Found On Victim's Underwear: Prosecutor
Man Indicted For 1991 NJ Murder After His DNA Found On Victim's Underwear: Prosecutor A 55-year-old Mullica Township man was indicted by a grand jury for a 1991 murder and sexual assault of a 23-year-old woman, authorities said. Eddie Sykes was indicted on charges of murder in the first degree, felony murder and aggravated murder in the death of Evelyn Caez, a Mullica Township woman, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said. On Oct. 12, 1991 at 7:30 a.m., Mullica Township police responded to 1 W Lakeview Dr. and found Caez dead in her kitchen from stab wounds, authorities said. In September 2023, the New Jersey State Police. Office of Forensic Sciences reexamined forens…
14-Year-Old Girl Picked Up At Pennsylvania Playground, Raped, Then Sent Home In Uber: Affidavit 14-Year-Old Girl Picked Up At Pennsylvania Playground, Raped, Then Sent Home In Uber: Affidavit
14-Year-Old Girl Picked Up At Pennsylvania Playground, Raped, Then Sent Home In Uber: Affidavit A Lancaster city man accused of raping a 14-year-old girl after picking her up from a playground has waived his preliminary hearing, sending the case to county court, the Lancaster County Distrist attorney announced on Wednesday, July 9. Nicklos Dennis McRae, 25, is facing seven felony charges after the girl identified him as the man who sexually assaulted her in August 2021, Lancaster City Bureau of Police wrote in the affidavit of probable cause obtained by Daily Voice on Wednesday, April 30. **WARNING THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS DISTURBING** Victim’s Account: 'No' And 'Stop' Ignored Th…
DNA On Victim’s Underwear Leads To Arrest In 1991 NJ Murder, Prosecutor Says DNA On Victim’s Underwear Leads To Arrest In 1991 NJ Murder, Prosecutor Says
DNA On Victim’s Underwear Leads To Arrest In 1991 NJ Murder, Prosecutor Says After more than 30 years, a 55-year-old Mullica Township man was arrested and charged on Wednesday, July 2 for a 1991 murder and sexual assault of a 23-year-old woman, authorities said. Eddie Sykes is charged with murder, felony murder and aggravated murder in the death of Evelyn Caez, a Mullica Township woman, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said. On Oct. 12, 1991 at 7:30 a.m., Mullica Township police responded to 1 W Lakeview Dr. and found Caez dead in her kitchen from stab wounds, authorities said. In September 2023, the N.J.S.P. Office of Forensic Sciences reexamined foren…
NJ Pastor Not Guilty Of 8-Year-Old Gretchen Harrington's Homicide In PA NJ Pastor Not Guilty Of 8-Year-Old Gretchen Harrington's Homicide In PA
NJ Pastor Not Guilty Of 8-Year-Old Gretchen Harrington's Homicide In PA Nearly 50 years after 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington was abducted and killed in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, David Zandstra, a former pastor accused of her murder, has been found not guilty. Court records updated on Saturday, Jan. 18, show Zandstra was acquitted of all charges following a trial on Friday, Jan. 17. The charges included Criminal Homicide, First-Degree Murder, Second-Degree Murder, and Third-Degree Murder. Additional charges, including Possession of an Instrument of Crime, were dismissed or withdrawn. David Zandstra, 83, originally from New Jersey and most recently of M…
NJ Escort IDd As 7th Victim Of Giglio Beach Serial Killer, Police Say NJ Escort IDd As 7th Victim Of Giglio Beach Serial Killer, Police Say
NJ Escort IDd As 7th Victim Of Giglio Beach Serial Killer, Police Say Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann was formally charged with murdering a seventh victim. Heuermann, 60, of Massapequa Park, was indicted for second-degree murder in the killing of Valerie Mack in Suffolk County Court on Tuesday morning, Dec. 17. Mack, a 24-year-old Wildwood, NJ woman was working as an escort when she disappeared in 2000. A group of hunters discovered her skeletal remains wrapped in a plastic bag in a wooded area of Manorville in November 2000. She had been decapitated, and both of her hands had been severed from her body, prosecutors said. Her right leg had a…
COLD CASE: Investigation Continues In Wilkes-Barre Girl's 1969 Disappearance COLD CASE: Investigation Continues In Wilkes-Barre Girl's 1969 Disappearance
Cold CASE: Investigation Continues In Wilkes-Barre Girl's 1969 Disappearance Authorities are continuing to investigate the 1969 disappearance of Joan Marie Dymond.  Dymond was 14 years old when she disappeared from Andover Street Park on June 25, 1969, authorities have said.  Her remains were discovered more than 40 years later on Nov. 17, 2012, by individuals digging for relics on the grounds of a former coal-mining operation in Newport Township.  Another decade passed before DNA from family members confirmed they were Dymond's in October 2022.  Investigators still say they suspect "foul play." Anyone with information is asked to ca…
Cigarette Butt Leads To NJ Suspect's Arrest In 2012 PA Diner Killing: DA Cigarette Butt Leads To NJ Suspect's Arrest In 2012 PA Diner Killing: DA
Vallis Slaughter Charged In 2012 Julio Torres Murder: DA The alleged gunman in a deadly 2012 Reading shooting is in police custody in New Jersey, according to Berks County prosecutors.  Vallis L. Slaughter, of Jersey City, is being held in Hudson County pending his extradition to Pennsylvania, said the District Attorney's Office on Monday, March 25.  Investigators believe he killed 34-year-old Julio A. Torres on March 24, 2012. Torres was shot while sitting in his car in the parking lot of the West Reading Diner after a confrontation with suspects, the DA's Office said.  Jomaine Case was eventually convicted in connectio…
Missing Reading Man's Remains Discovered After 8-Year Search Missing Reading Man's Remains Discovered After 8-Year Search
Missing Reading Man's Remains Discovered After 8-Year Search The partial remains of a Reading man who was reported missing in 2015 were located in Exeter Township, authorities announced at a press conference Monday, April 10.  Anthony Rodriguez, a 21-year-old who lived on Perkiomen Avenue, was reported missing to Exeter police in May 2015, Detective Joseph Malone told reporters. Rodriguez had last been seen in the Five Points section of the township near the border with Alsace, the investigator said.  "Police worked many leads in this case but were eventually led to a wooded area" in Exeter, Malone said.  In the first two "extensive searches" of the…
Philly's 'Boy In The Box' Identified After 65 Years: Police Philly's 'Boy In The Box' Identified After 65 Years: Police
Philly's 'Boy In The Box' Identified After 65 Years: Police A boy found dead in a box 65 years ago in Philadelphia has been identified as Joseph Augustus Zarelli, city police announced at a press conference on Thursday, Dec. 8.   Dubbed "The Boy in the Box" or "America's Unknown Child" after his body was found stuffed in a bassinet box along Susquehanna Road in February 1957, the boy's case was one of the oldest unsolved murders in Philadelphia history, according to the department.  Zarelli was born in 1953, and police say they have identified his parents. Officials said they were able to identify the boy by compar…
Decorated PA Solider Identified Over 70 Years Later Decorated PA Solider Identified Over 70 Years Later
Decorated PA Solider Identified Over 70 Years Later A soldier who was killed inaction over 70 years ago has been identified, according to a release on Thursday by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Army Sgt. James N. Stryker, 20, of West Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, who was killed during the Korean War, was identified by DPAA on Aug. 5, 2020. DNA analysis was used to identify Sgt. Stryker’s remains were buried as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii, the release says. The remains were originally labelled Unknown X-1373 Tanggok but now his name will be recorded on the …