Demonstrating that in cases other than the OCCK case, the Michigan State Police Lab is capable of collaboration with more cutting edge DNA and genetic genealogy labs and companies, the MSP was able to identify and arrest a suspect in a 35-year-old murder case.
The MSP collaborated with Identifinders International LLC, and had genealogists use genome sequencing and uploaded it to public databases to construct a family tree and then hone in on the suspect in this case. The 67-year-old suspect pleaded no contest to the 1987 murder of Roxanne Leigh Wood and faces a minimum 23-year sentence.
The MSP needs to step up to the plate in the OCCK case, for once. Because your evidence retention methods were indefensibly lame in this case (for reasons I could write about at length) and the evidence may have even been used in your training of recruits over the decades (we’ll never need it! The killer is long dead, forgetaboutit), you will have to consult with Othram Labs (https://othram.com/) or a similar laboratory to try to obtain DNA evidence. Then it’s the next steps–genome sequencing, establishing a family tree, and solid detective work to put those pieces together with your incredibly large, but apparently virtually unusable, database. You did it in Mrs. Wood’s case and you can do it in the OCCK case.
You did it for victim Roxanne Leigh Wood, but you won’t do it for four pre-teen victims of a serial killer, Mark Stebbins, Jill Robinson, Kristine Mihelich and Tim King.
You need to make this right or you may need to stop sending out press releases about your big “scores” in other very old cold cases where you are using the technologies law enforcement agencies around the world are using every day to solve crimes, and continue to fail the OCCK victims.
How much more obvious can this get?!