After 65 years, a murdered boy whose remains were found in a ditch in Mequon, Wisconsin, has been identified.
https://dnasolves.com/articles/chester-alfred-breiney-wisconsin
Decades earlier, the boy’s adoptive parents, William and Hilja Jutila, of Houghton, Michigan, were arrested and prosecuted for his murder in 1966. Charges were later dismissed because the prosecution was unable to connect the skeletal remains found in Mequon to the defendants. The adoptive mother had admitted to beating her son to death and that the couple left his body in the ditch. Both of these “parents” died in 1988.
In hopes of identifying the boy, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, in collaboration with the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office and the Madison State Crime Lab, met with an anthropologist from University of Wisconsin Oshkosh in October 2023, regarding these remains. Traditional DNA testing was completed so that an STR profile could be developed and uploaded to CODIS. No matches were found and the child’s identity remained unknown. Details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons Case (NamUs) as UP126034.
Following this CODIS search, a decision to conduct advanced DNA testing and forensic genetic genealogy was made. In 2024, forensic evidence belonging to the unknown child was submitted to Othram’s laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas. Othram’s scientists used Forensic Grade Genome Sequencing® to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the unidentified child. This profile was transferred to investigators with the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation so that a genealogical search could be performed in hopes that new leads could be developed in the case, and the child could be identified. Doing so would end a nearly seventy year mystery.
A follow-up investigation was launched leading to the identification of the child who is now known to be Chester Alfred Breiney, whose adopted name was Markku Jutila. Chester Alfred Breiney was born to Josephine Breiney of Houghton, Michigan on February 26, 1952. Adoption records showed Chester was admitted to the Good Will Farm orphanage, and was adopted by Russell and Hilja Jutila on March 24, 1955.
The Ozaukee County District Attorney’s Office reviewed the results of this investigation and the positive DNA identification of Breiney. The abuse of Chester by his adoptive parents, William and Hilja Jutila, went undetected and Chester died as a direct result of their torture and abuse. While William and Hilja Jutila were implicated in Chester’s death back in 1966, both individuals died in 1988. Therefore, there will be no future prosecution in this case.
DNA Solves link, above.
These agencies went to work on behalf of 7-year-old Chester Breiney 65 years after his murder. They made the decision to conduct advanced DNA testing after an initial STR (short tandem repeat) profile developed in late 2023 was uploaded to CODIS without any “hits.” Within a year Othram was brought in and performed additional DNA testing so forensic genetic genealogy could be used to help pinpoint the boy’s identity.
On August 30, 2022, third party lab Identifinders International (“Collaborative Investigative Partners for Law Enforcement, Genetic genealogy, Y-STR profiling, Degraded DNA, and Cold Case Training Solutions”) notified the Michigan State Forensic Science Division that their comparison of the Y-str profile developed in Kristine’s case indicated the unknown male was Caucasian European and they provided a possible surname. Identifinders further put the Michigan State Lab on notice that their results (25 “exact” matches) included “false positives” that could only be checked if the profile was upgraded.
The state was apparently unwilling to pay for the additional testing needed to upgrade the profile as was done in Chester Breiney’s case. And so, over two years later, this promising lead in Kristine’s case sits in some file folder. Apparently three “promising” hits were ruled out via DNA testing. Maybe they are waiting on the rest of the names until the 65 year mark.
I remind you what a Y-str DNA sample is.
The analysis of short tandem repeat (STR) markers located on the Y chromosome is an established method in forensic casework analysis. Usually this method is applied in cases of male-on-female sexual assault, in which the victim’s DNA is in great excess and masked the male contribution. Y-STR analysis is able to detect the presence of minuscule amounts of male DNA of one or multiple donors and resulting genetic profiles can be compared to known reference samples. The expert has to determine whether the Y-STR result of a trace is suitable for a biostatistical calculation in case of a match. The Discrete Laplace method which is implemented in the Y chromosome haplotype reference database (YHRD) can be used to estimate haplotype frequencies with a better approximation than other methods namely the counting method. Moreover, Y-SNPs in combination with Y-STRs can infer the biogeographical origin of an unknown male person with comparably high precision due to the availability of a robust phylogenetic tree and large reference data collections. Y-based ancestry prediction and familial searching can, therefore, provide important investigative leads in crime cases without suspect.
Here is what so-called medical examiner Dr. Robert Sillery had to say about Kristine’s autopsy:
There’s your roadmap, jokers, even if it is from a drunk. All the suspects in the OCCK case whose DNA is in the record have so far gotten lucky. They are not a match to any of the limited and degraded DNA in this case. This Unknown Y will continue to stay lucky if the state won’t arrange for and pay a lab like Othram to try to upgrade the profile and continue the search. If still alive, maybe somebody could convince him to explain how his DNA wound up inside a dead child’s body.
Doesn’t the State of Michigan owe 10-year-old Kristine the same level of attention as Wisconsin provided on behalf of 7-year-old Chester?