Find Your Daily Voice
Hitchhiker's 50-Year-Cold Case Cracked By Ramapo College's Genealogy Center
After nearly five decades without answers, the 1974 murder of Mary Schlais has been solved, thanks to groundbreaking work by the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) Center in Mahwah, NJ.
On Nov. 7, 2024, the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department announced the arrest of Jon Miller, 84, of Owatonna, MN, in connection with Schlais’s death.
Schlais, then 25, was hitchhiking from Minneapolis to Chicago when she was killed. Her body was found with multiple stab wounds along a road in Dunn County, WI, on Feb. 15, 1974.
At the scene, investigators collected a stocking cap t…
Cold Case Confession: NY Man Admits Stabbing Woman To Death 29 Years Later, Police Say
Nearly 30 years after a woman was found stabbed to death inside her home, a New York man has confessed to her murder following a DNA breakthrough.
Schenectady County resident Stephen Smerk, age 51, of Niskayuna, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the November 1994 killing of Robin Lawrence in Springfield, Virginia, police announced Monday, Sept. 11.
The 37-year-old mother was found dead from multiple stab wounds three days after the killing, on Nov. 20, 1994, according to police. Her 2-year-old daughter was also found in the home days later, unharmed.
Investigators devel…
Cold Case: Capital Region Man Confesses To Grisly 1994 Murder, Police Say
A 51-year-old man from the region has been arrested in a Virginia homicide, cracking a 29-year cold case, authorities announced.
Schenectady County resident Stephen Smerk, of Niskayuna, is facing second-degree manslaughter in the Nov. 20, 1994 death of 37-year-old Robin Lawrence, who was found dead in a Springfield, Virginia home, Fairfax County police said.
Smerk is believed to have stabbed Lawrence inside of her home, when he was 22 years old, authorities said.
In 1994, a DNA profile was developed; however, at the time there was no match in any system for the recovered DNA.
In the …
PA Wife Not Bitten By Goose, Charged With Murder In 35-Year-Old Cold Case Of Shot Husband
In 1987 Carl Jarvis was shot in the back of his head, 35 years later, his wife Judith Ann Jarvis, was arrested on a murder charge, authorities announced on Tuesday, Dec. 13., 2022.
Judith had called the police during a supposed domestic dispute on Aug. 19, 1987, around midnight, according to Pennsylvania state police.
Carl was later found naked with two gunshot wounds to the head in a bedroom in their home, police explain.
A .22 caliber revolver with a six-inch barrel and a two-inch trigger guard was found on the bed, according to police. During the autopsy, it was de…
DNA Technology Leads To Arraignment Of Serial Killer For 1968 Murder Of Woman At NY Mall
A 75-year-old convicted serial killer has been charged with the 1968 murder of a woman on Long Island in the parking lot of a popular mall thanks to DNA technology.
Richard Cottingham, of the South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton, New Jersey, was arraigned virtually on Wednesday, June 22, on a grand jury indictment, charging him with one count of murder, said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.
According to the investigation, Diane Cusick, age 23, then a resident of New Hyde Park, was an instructor at a dancing school in Oceanside.
Diane CusickNassau County District Attorne…
