Police use DNA, genealogy to arrest suspect in 1980 NorCal killing
Associated Press
April 26, 2020
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A Northern California man has been arrested on suspicion of raping and killing a woman four decades ago after investigators used an advanced search technique to identify the suspect through DNA of possible family members.
Phillip Lee Wilson, 71, was being held in Sacramento County jail without bail on suspicion of killing Robin Gisela Brooks, who was 20 years old when she was stabbed to death in her Rosemont apartment on April 24, 1980. He was arrested at his home on Thursday, sheriff's officials said.
The Sacramento Bee reports Brooks was last seen walking home alone after ending her night shift at a doughnut shop.
There were no immediate suspects and the case went cold until 2004 when investigators developed a DNA profile from the person who apparently cut himself during the assault.
Sgt. Micki Links, who continued to investigate the case after he retired, said detectives used genetic genealogy to link Wilson to the crime.
The same DNA search technique was used to capture the suspected Golden State Killer who committed a series of California rapes and killings from the 1970s and 1980s.
“I have been involved in this investigation for 16 years,” Links said Friday at a news conference announcing Wilson's arrest. “I’ve dreamed of this day to actually stand up here and say we’ve arrested the man responsible for this crime.”
Brooks' sister, Maria, joined the conference by video and said she hoped Wilson's arrest will give hope to other victims of unsolved crimes.
“I know Robin is smiling and saying job well done,” she said.
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World's oldest cold case is solved: Rape and murder case of 16-year-old girl scout Margaret 'Peggy' Beck which was reopened 57 years after her death leads detectives to suspect aged 80 traced through a DNA database
Daily Mail
April 27, 2020
Margaret 'Peggy' Beck was raped and killed at the age of 16 while at a Girl Scout Camp in Jefferson County, Colorado in 1963.
Police are seeking James Raymond Taylor, now 80 years old if surviving, on suspicion of rape and murder at Flying G Ranch all those years ago.
Using genetic material preserved from the scene of the crime scientists were able to profile the suspect's DNA in 2007 and again in 2019.
These DNA profiles then led detectives to members of the suspect's family, whose DNA appeared as a match in online consumer databases - which contain genetic information gathered from home ancestry and DNA testing kits among other sources.
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