A man was arrested in the investigation for a murder dating back to 1985.
A suspect was apprehended thanks to a bottle found on a plane at the time, whose DNA was finally analyzed 36 years later.
DNA analysis and genetic genealogy have once again solved an old case. The Douglas County, Colorado Sheriff announced last week that a man had been arrested in the 1985 murder investigation.
Michael Jefferson, 64, is suspected of killing Roger Dean , 51. On November 21 of that year, an intruder entered the victim’s home in the early hours of the morning. Roger Dean had tried to escape but had been shot five times in the body. The police searched for years for the murderer.
Five years later, in 1990, the case took an even more disturbing turn when the victim’s widow received an anonymous threatening letter, in which someone claimed to be the murderer and asked for more than $100,000, that the victim apparently owed him. If he didn’t get this money, he threatened to kill his daughter Tammy. “On a snowy day in November 1985, I killed your husband Roger. You’re probably scared and you hope it’s a joke. But you should be scared because it’s not a joke. To prove to you who I am, I am going to tell you what happened that morning” was it written in this letter. “I took off my ski mask so Roger would know who killed him and why,” he added. The family received further letters and audio tapes.
Michael Jefferson was finally arrested in Los Angeles on Friday. He is to be extradited to Colorado where he will be prosecuted for murder and kidnapping. Investigators explained that they had managed to trace it back to him thanks to the murderer’s DNA, which at the time could not be properly analyzed for lack of sufficient technology.
This DNA had been recovered from a ski mask that the killer was wearing at the time of the facts. Despite a profile taken eight years later, his DNA still did not match anyone in the police database.
In 2018, investigators decided to relaunch the investigation by sending this DNA to a different laboratory and contacting a specialist in genetic genealogy. The latter ended up tracing back to members of the alleged killer’s family. Once in possession of the suspect’s name, investigators still had to compare his DNA to that discovered at the time. They then started to watch and follow him. It was on a flight between New Orleans – where he lived – and Los Angeles last month that police recovered a water bottle used by the suspect. “During the flight, officers saw Michael drinking from a plastic bottle. He then got rid of it by giving it to a hostess.
Investigators intercepted the bottle without Michael knowing, ”police said. Authorities then quickly analyzed this DNA and discovered that it did indeed match that found on the mask. Michael Jefferson should be brought to justice on April 14. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years.