- 2 years ago
It took years, but these Cold Cases have finally been closed. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for cold cases that remained unsolved for years until DNA breakthroughs yielded unexpected revelations.
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00:00 If you try to write this as a fictional story, I don't I think people would say it's too unbelievable
00:05 Welcome to watch mojo and today we're counting down our picks for the cold cases that remained unsolved for years
00:13 Until DNA breakthroughs yielded unexpected revelations, and we were like, oh my god
00:19 Finding baby Holly after 42 years the daughter who disappeared when her parents were murdered in Houston has been found alive
00:29 and well in
00:31 2022 genetic genealogy help authorities locate the missing daughter of a couple murdered in the early
00:37 1980s Holly was 42 when she learned that her biological parents Dean and Tina Klaus were murdered when she was a toddler
00:44 He's had found the bodies but could not identify them
00:48 And finally last year a forensic genetics group had matched the couple's DNA
00:53 Retrieved many years later to relatives in a genealogy database the Klaus family moved to Texas in 1980 then
01:00 disappeared in
01:02 2021 two unidentified murder victims discovered in 1981 were identified as Dean and Tina through genetic genealogy
01:09 But what happened to Holly?
01:12 According to her adoptive father two women from a religious cult called Christ family came to the church
01:18 He pastored they had a baby girl. They wanted to give away one of these women was likely Tina
01:23 They say Holly was left in an Arizona Church by two women belonging to a nomadic religious group
01:28 Believed to travel around the southwest police believe the Klaus has joined Christ family and gave up Holly soon after their murders are
01:36 unsolved
01:38 murders of Jay cook and Tanya van Cuylenborg
01:41 Most people of course are saying we got an 18 and 20 year old here and there a few hours later
01:45 You kidding me, but my parents were no this is something's wrong in November
01:51 1987 Jay cook and his girlfriend Tanya van Cuylenborg got into his parents van and left British Columbia for Seattle
01:58 When the couple didn't return as planned their families reported them missing a few days later
02:03 Cuylenborg's body was discovered about 80 miles outside of Seattle cooks body was located a short time later
02:10 Police in the scadet County Sheriff's Office in Washington State received a 911 call
02:15 when the call first came in it came in from a
02:20 Gentleman who lived in the area of Parsons Creek Road?
02:23 Which is in the northern part of Skagit County along I-5
02:30 He had been out walking his dog, and he saw what he believed to be a person's body
02:38 along with other evidence
02:40 investigators collected a DNA sample from Cuylenborg's pants
02:43 Despite promising theories and leads the case went cold for nearly 30 years
02:48 The DNA sample wasn't linked to a suspect until 2018 when investigators turned to genetic genealogy
02:54 they were able to
02:57 use this information to even
02:59 make a shape of a face to make a composite of what the person could look similar to a
03:05 Familiar link to a woman named Chelsea rust ad led authorities to William Earl Talbot the second rust ads cousin
03:12 He was tried and convicted in
03:14 2019
03:16 Murder of Krista Martin the Wichita Police Department is announcing the successful resolution of a long-standing cold case homicide investigation
03:24 Advanced DNA testing wasn't available when Krista Martin was sexually assaulted and murdered in 1989 nonetheless
03:31 investigators collected DNA evidence hoping future developments in DNA technology would help them find her killer over the years
03:39 numerous attempts to find a match to the sample proved
03:43 Unsuccessful and the case went cold after 34 years a breakthrough seemed unlikely but in
03:49 2023 thanks to forensic genealogy
03:51 Officials determined that Martin's neighbor at the time of her murder Paul Hart was likely her killer
03:58 Authorities had enough evidence to charge Hart in the case
04:01 Still police presented their case to District Attorney Mark Bennett to review
04:05 It was clear to me that this was a case that I would have charged if
04:09 The suspect was alive to charge him. Unfortunately, he died in a car accident in
04:14 1999 over two decades before authorities were able to connect him to the killing
04:19 I am glad we can finally move forward and have peace knowing that Krista's murderer is not walking around free or amongst us lady of
04:25 the dunes in the summer of
04:27 1974 a girl came across the body of a woman in the dunes of Provincetown, Massachusetts
04:32 Police attempted to determine the murdered woman's identity, but despite their efforts the case went cold
04:39 She became known as the lady of the dunes
04:41 Since then she was known as the lady of the dunes because investigators were unable to identify her
04:47 Her body was exhumed thrice for examination including in 2000 to collect DNA
04:52 Unfortunately, there were no matches in
04:55 2018 after submitting his DNA to an online DNA database
05:00 Richard Hanschett discovered his biological mother was a missing person named Ruth Marie Terry
05:05 It was no easy task Houston based off room
05:08 Incorporated is a pioneer in the technology of extracting DNA from old remains
05:12 But this case was especially tough through additional DNA testing police
05:17 successfully identified the lady of the dunes as Ruth Marie Terry in
05:21 2022 her husband Guy Rockwell Moldaven is considered responsible for her death
05:27 The case is now officially closed as investigators
05:32 cases like this one haunt us and the agencies represented here today are constantly reevaluating and
05:39 Coming up with new investigative strategies to try and advance them murders of Lloyd Dwayne Bogle and Patricia
05:46 Kalitsky in
05:48 1956 Lloyd Dwayne Bogle and Patricia Kalitsky went on a date in Great Falls, Montana
05:53 And never came back the next morning Bogles lifeless body was found next to his car one day later a road worker
06:01 Discovered Kalitsky dead on the side of a county road north of town
06:05 Autopsies then were were very simple compared to today's standards
06:09 Because the technology wasn't there
06:13 things like DNA
06:15 You know weren't even thought about DNA testing wasn't around yet
06:19 But DNA from a swab collected during Kalitsky's autopsy would later provide investigators with the evidence
06:24 They needed to solve the case
06:26 Sergeant John Kaddner led the investigation to solve the murders after exhaustive work coming up with the suspect was a relief
06:32 Emotionally, I feel great about the outcome of this case
06:35 There's a lot of people who have suffered over the years with the loss of their loved ones and to be able to give them
06:41 some type of closure
06:43 Does make me happy
06:45 Initially the sample helped eliminate many suspects then in
06:49 2019 investigators uploaded the DNA to several voluntary
06:54 Biological databases and found a familial link based on subsequent testing they concluded Kenneth gold who died in
07:01 2007 likely killed the sweethearts his widow and one of her daughters still live in Alton still coming to grips with the startling revelation
07:08 After 65 years the case was closed
07:11 Murder of Sierra Bozagar the body of a woman was found in a secluded area north of Lake Charles, Louisiana
07:19 In 2009 a distinctive tattoo helped investigators identify the woman as Sierra Bozagar
07:25 DNA evidence from the scene provided no leads the case went cold until snapshot DNA
07:30 Phenotyping gave police the breakthrough they needed in
07:33 2017 the phenotyping indicated the perpetrator probably had fair skin and blue eyes
07:39 Police released a composite sketch based on the suspects predicted physical characteristics
07:44 We still need to match that DNA profile with a body with a human being Blake Russell
07:50 Landed on police radar when someone reported him after the image was released
07:54 Russell was a DNA match in
07:56 2018 he took his own life while in jail awaiting trial
08:01 bare-brook murders a hunter in New Hampshire's bare-brook State Park made a startling discovery when he came upon a metal drum
08:09 Containing two bodies a woman and young girl inside had been murdered 15 years later near the same location
08:15 A drum holding the remains of two girls was found said to myself
08:20 This is not good the four murders remained a mystery until genetic genealogy linked serial killer Terry Rasmussen to the case in
08:28 2017
08:34 Investigators also revealed Rasmussen had fathered one of the victims two years later
08:39 there was another break in the case when amateur sleuth Becky Heath identified three of the victims as
08:44 Merrill's honeychurch and her daughters Elizabeth Vaughn and Sarah McWaters in time
08:50 Thanks in part to this civilian sleuth authorities were able to identify three of the four victims found in those barrels
08:58 Genetic genealogy confirmed her findings the name of the remaining victim
09:02 Rasmussen's child is unknown the BTK killer between
09:07 1974 in
09:09 1991 a serial killer in Kansas claimed at least ten lives in my mind. There was two people in that body
09:15 One of them was a husband father
09:19 The Boy Scout leader the other one was an absolute animal the killer who went by the name BTK
09:26 Taunted authorities in the media by sending letters containing details about the murders that only the killer would know
09:31 BTK began today's letter with a question
09:34 How many do I have to kill before I get a name in the paper or some national attention?
09:39 abruptly letters stopped then in
09:42 2004 BTK resumed communication by sending a letter to a news outlet
09:47 Eventually metadata from a computer disk that BTK mailed to the police gave them a name Dennis Rader
09:54 We got into the metadata and it showed that it had been
09:57 Typed on by a computer at a church in Park City the name of the computer was registered to the name of Dennis
10:03 Investigators found the church president was Dennis Rader
10:07 Police collected Raiders daughter's DNA to compare to a sample left by BTK at a crime scene
10:13 It was a close match this familial link was the evidence needed to tie Rader to the BTK killings
10:19 He was convicted in 2005 and is serving life in prison
10:23 He remains in solitary confinement where he will stay for the rest of his life
10:28 Golden State Killer
10:30 He was like a Hannibal Lecter
10:32 highly intelligent highly sadistic
10:34 Master manipulator the Golden State Killer went on at least three separate crime sprees in California during the 1970s and
10:42 1980s authorities did not immediately make the connection between the sprees as a result
10:49 Several different monikers were assigned to the same perpetrator including the Visalia ransacker and night stalker
10:55 Eventually through advanced DNA testing it was determined that the same person had committed the crimes in
11:01 2017 investigators submitted crime scene DNA to an online genealogy database
11:07 Looking for familial links their efforts led them to Joseph James DeAngelo
11:12 Fueling an exploding scandal involving more than two dozen women accusing the legendary comedian of abuse
11:18 He flipped me over and sexually assaulted me his behavior
11:23 was like that of a
11:25 Predator in 2020 DeAngelo was convicted of 13 counts of murder and 13 counts of kidnapping while he was
11:32 Responsible for many other crimes. He could not be charged due to the statute of limitations
11:37 crazy
11:39 After four decades of searching for this guy
11:42 Came down to testing a piece of tissue from his trash can outside
11:46 It was a 100% match to the Golden State Killers DNA
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12:10 The boy in the box the body of a boy was found wrapped in a blanket inside a box on the side of the road
12:16 in Philadelphia in
12:18 1957 police circulated images of him hoping to determine who he was
12:22 But no viable leads ever surfaced as time passed he became known simply as the boy in the box
12:28 Officials exhumed him twice for DNA testing the case remained a mystery
12:33 confounding investigators and the public
12:36 Investigators started working with two genealogists to try to figure out the boys identity and history. It was no easy task
12:43 This was the most challenging case of my whole career then in
12:47 2022 genetic genealogy led to his name Joseph Augustus
12:52 Zarelli investigators also identified his parents as Augustus Zarelli and Mary Plunkett
12:58 Nay able without the hard work dedication and passion and the doggedness of the many
13:05 We would not be here today to give America's formerly unknown child
13:11 Joseph
13:13 Augustus Zarelli it's theorized that his mother gave him up for adoption shortly after his birth
13:19 But it's unknown who he lived with before he died or who ended his life
13:23 for weeks
13:25 surviving family members of Joseph Zarelli declined to comment until
13:30 Today, we've learned Joseph Zarelli's biological mother and father are deceased
13:35 Did we miss any cold cases with surprising DNA breakthroughs? Let us know in the comments
13:41 I felt very relieved. I grieved for him and it was very emotional, but it was such a rewarding moment, too
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