DNA Solves 34-Year-Old Marysville WA Murder Case

A newer WA State DNA testing program has helped officials solve another cold case/

  34-year-old murder is solved

According to WA State Attorney General Bob Ferguson's office, a 52-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with the murder.

Ferguson's office released information Monday that included:

"Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced today that his office’s DNA forensic genetic genealogy program has now helped solve a 24-year-old cold case from Marysville.
 
In 1988, 19-year-old Jennifer Brinkman was found dead inside her family’s Marysville home. Despite the murder weapon – an axe – being left behind, the case went cold. On Monday, the Marysville Police Department announced the arrest of a 52-year-old Renton man. The man faces first-degree murder charges in Brinkman’s case."

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This new DNA testing is used if a case is cold, and no other links or hits have been reported in other databases such as CODIS, according to the AG's office:

"In recent years, law enforcement and prosecutors have had success solving cold cases using forensic genetic genealogy. This involves a genealogist taking DNA evidence, uploading it to a public DNA database that allows access to its data then using that information to construct a family tree to identify potential suspects who may not themselves have a DNA profile available."

Three other cold cases have been solved using this program, including a 1995 murder in Kitsap, WA; a pair of violent home invasion sexual assaults in 2003 and 2004 in Pullman, and a violent rape of a 17-year-old in McCleary, WA.