Genetic family tree helps police discover Pennsylvania girl’s killer 34 years after her demise

A 43-year-old girl, whose mom was discovered useless in Reading, Pennsylvania round three a long time in the past, has lastly acquired some closure because the police have lastly been in a position to hint the assassin—a person who died of pure causes 4 years in the past.

Tamika Reyes was 9 when her 26-year-old mom Anna Kane’s physique was present in a wooded space with a baling twine round her neck on October 23, 1988. During investigation, police had discovered that the girl was strangulated elsewhere and her physique was later dumped within the woods.

Soon after Kane’s demise, an area newspaper ran a front-page story looking for details about her demise. In February 1990, nearly 15 months after Kane’s demise, the paper obtained an nameless letter from a “concerned citizen,” who occurred to know such particulars that solely the killer would know, mentioned police.

But years glided by and police nonetheless couldn’t discover who Kane’s killer was, leaving Reyes and her two brothers and grandmother at nighttime for near 34 years.

Finally, reduction got here for Reyes just lately within the type of a name from a detective final week who knowledgeable that the Pennsylvania State Police used genetic family tree to determine the killer.

It discovered that the DNA pattern from the saliva of the particular person, who licked the envelope containing the letter addressed to the newspaper, matched with what was discovered on Kane’s clothes, mentioned legislation enforcement officers at a information convention final week.

However, Reyes’s reduction quickly gave method to disappointment after she learnt that her mom’s killer is one Scott Grim, who died on the age of 58 on account of pure causes in 2018. What saddens her extra is the truth that her grandmother died earlier than studying the case has been solved.

How did investigators remedy the case after 34 years?

Investigators analyzed Kane’s clothes and located traces of an unknown man’s DNA. They later decided that it matched the DNA on the envelope from 1990, confirming investigators’ perception that the particular person behind the letter was the killer.

But whereas investigators had Grim’s DNA profile, there was nothing to determine him as a result of he had by no means been arrested for something that required his DNA to be put into the system, mentioned authorities.

Here’s the place genetic family tree got here to the rescue of the authorities.

Genetic family tree’s effectiveness in chilly instances is dependent upon the standard of DNA collected from the crime scene and whether or not it has degraded, mentioned state police trooper Daniel Womer at a information convention final week.

The detectives’ cautious preservation of DNA proof in 1988 offered a stable basis for investigators to look at with new expertise, mentioned Pennsylvania state police Sgt. Nathan Trate at a information convention final week.

“All of that stuff was … preserved the way it should be, because they knew probably somewhere down the line whatever they collected could be that little piece of evidence (to solve the case),” Trate mentioned.

What’s subsequent?

Investigators do not know a lot about Grim apart from he lived within the close by Hamburg, Pennsylvania.

They are attempting to find out whether or not he knew Kane and have urged anybody who is aware of the character of their relationship to succeed in out. So far, they’ve discovered no connections.

Kane was reportedly working as a prostitute on the time she was killed and will have been assembly a buyer, mentioned Womer including that police are attempting to find out whether or not it was Grim.

The Pennsylvania State Police have declined to launch the 1990 letter to the newspaper or to elaborate on precisely what it mentioned.

“There was just intimate details about where she was disposed of, how her clothes were displayed, stuff like that,” Womer mentioned. “This led investigators to believe that whoever wrote the letter had committed the homicide.”

Now that investigators have recognized Grim’s DNA, police will evaluate different open chilly instances to see if he was concerned, Womer mentioned.

Old wounds but to heal

Talking about how Kane was, Reyes, who now lives in Lenhartsville, Pennsylvania, mentioned, “She was a firecracker — very outgoing, not afraid of something, very sincere, blunt and caring.”

Reyes said she’s still bothered by the image the media painted of her mother, who was unemployed at the time of her death.

“She was portrayed as this slain prostitute, like she deserved what occurred to her,” said Reyes “It was hurtful. She was greater than that, she was a sufferer… No one deserves what occurred to her.”

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