Jerry Lynn Burns faces a first degree murder charge in the killing of Michelle Martinko. [2][16] At 2a.m., since Martinko had still not returned home, her father reported her missing. But by 2 a.m., her father called the police because she had not returned home. The case was appealed and was eventually decided by the Iowa Supreme Court in favor of the mall owners. Cedar Rapids police arrested Jerry Lynn Burns, 64, on Wednesday morning and charged him with first-degree murder - 39 years to the day after the killing 18-year-old Michelle Martinko was stabbed . Although Burns's arrest in the Martinko case raised questions about the two incidents, police do not believe Burns was involved in either one. After the arrest this week of Jerry Burns in the 1979 killing of 18-year-old Michelle Martinko, an Iowa city is left shocked, saddened, and skeptical. But it was another technique from Parabon -- genetic genealogy -- that led investigators to Burns, CeCe Moore, Parabon's chief genetic genealogist, told ABC News. The case got nationwide media attention but has remained an unsolved mystery for more than 25 years. Now in his late 60s, Burns is currently behind bars and will stay there till he dies. The 55 year-old Delaware County man was last seen on December 19, 2013 - 34 years to the day of Martinko's murder. But then Denlinger's supervisor, who had been listening to the recorded interview from across the street with other officers, sent Denlinger text message telling him to arrest Burns. In October 2018, an investigator was able to snag a straw used by one of the three brothers, Jerry Lynn Burns, and tested it against the sample, getting a match. Although the tip did not lead to any suspects, the investigator discovered what he believed to be the killer's blood while he was reviewing the case files. Jerry Burns. [36][37], On August 7, 2020, Burns was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Burns denied any involvement in the murder. At the time of the murder, Burns was 25 and lived in Manchester, Iowa. Jerry Lynn Burns was convicted of first-degree murder for the 1979 murder 18-year-old Michelle Martinko thanks to DNA he left on a straw after drinking a soda. Her killer will go undetected for almost 40yrs! 39 years later after the murder, a person named Jerry Lynn Burns was arrested in Manchester, Iowa, and charged with first-degree murder. On April 5, 1975, Pat was united in marriage to Jerry Lynn Burns at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Manchester. She was unsure her information would be of any use because she had read that the murder happened between 10p.m. and midnight, and it was 2a.m. when she drove by. Burns coached the Minnesota Vikings from 1986-91. Allison said he and Burns had a good relationship at first but it eventually turned sour. Last week, a police investigator explained how using a public genealogy database - called GEDmatch - led to Burns being identified as a match to the DNA evidence found on Martinko's dress and gearshift of her car, where her body was found Dec. 20, 1979. [33] Prosecutors called a criminalist to contradict the defense's witness; the criminalist said that the storage of Martinko's clothing was not unusual. December . The detective, Denlinger, told me that he believes Jerry Burns has been reliving the murder in his fantasies ever since, but they have never been able to tie him to any other homicides. [2] Once there, she perused the stores and spoke with friends and other people she knew who worked there. "We are reviewing the case and at this time have not uncovered any additional information that would implicate Jerry Burns in that disappearance," Sheriff John LeClere told TV9. [2], On October 29, 2018, an investigator observed one of the brothers, Jerry Lynn Burns, drink multiple sodas using a plastic straw. A hearing over whether to allow the evidence at trial continued Thursday for a second day. [1][5] Iowan law mandates a life sentence without the possibility of parole for first degree murder. Jerry Burns, busy back in Minneapolis, wasn't on the guest list that time. Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com, Trish Mehaffey Crime and Courts Sep. 12, 2021 10:48 am535d ago, Gage Miskimen Health Care and Medicine Jul. At the time of arrest, Burns had his own power-coating company called Advanced Coating Concepts. He was convicted of first-degree murder and received the mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. Jerry Burns on Trial AP Jerry Burns of Manchester, Iowa, is led into the courtroom during closing arguments for his trial at the Scott County Courthouse in Davenport, Iowa on Monday, Feb. 24, 2020. He grew up in Manchester, Iowa, and graduated from West Delaware High School in 1972. Would love your thoughts, please comment. A funeral service for Jerry Calvin Lynn, 78, will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, July 16, 2022, at Rose-Neath Funeral Home, 2201 Airline Drive, Bossier City, Louisiana. Further the Iowa Department of Corrections assumes no legal liability or . Family and friends of Jerry Burns are seated in the courtroom at a sentencing hearing for Jerry Lynn Burns at the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids on Friday, Aug. 7, 2020. The trial was then moved to February 2020. v. Jerry Lynn Burns. Jerry Lynn Burns, 65, is set to face a jury in February, bringing momentum to a case that was left cold for years. [26] He was not able to provide an explanation for why his DNA would have been present at the crime scene. He was also ordered to pay $150,00 in restitution to Martinkos estate, according to KWWL. Be the first one to comment on this story. He is survived by his wife, Lydia Lynn; his oldest son, Scott Lynn; and his ch Jerry was born May 22, 1944, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Fred Richard Lynn and Mary Ellen Manning and passed away on July 10, 2022. See Photos. Holst said he didn't, but department officials and First Assistant Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks did consult an expert who specialized in sex offender assessment and treatment to explain what this evidence indicates in this case. Denlinger interviewed Burns at his business. So Denlinger drew up an elaborate genealogy chart going back to Brandy's great-great grandparents to sleuth out a trail that could lead to the killer's DNA. Investigators had reviewed Burns' 2018 internet searches and found that he regularly visited websites showing blonde women being raped, stabbed, and strangled, and which depicted sexual intercourse with murder victims. In 2006, a cold case investigator discovered unidentified blood, presumably belonging to the killer, while he was reviewing case files. Police sent the blood samples to CODIS the nationwide data base of DNA collected from arrested offenders but didn't get a hit. The wait ended Monday, when a jury convicted Jerry Lynn Burns of first-degree murder in the 1979 stabbing death of 18-year-old Martinko. Burns' defense team objected to the wording of one of the prosecution's questions, which they claimed implied unequivocally that Burns' blood had been at the scene. William Brangham: Turns out the murderer was a distant, distant relative of Jennings. In his video interview with police right before his arrest, Burns, unsolicited, mentioned the name of Jodi Huisentruit as he was being questioned about the Martinko case. [9] She was fully dressed, and the medical examiner determined she had not been sexually assaulted. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. And the crucial link is a man named Jerry Burns. At the time of her death, police had found Martinko stabbed to death in her car in a local mall parking lot. Jerry Lynn Burns was finally arrested in October 2018 for the murder of Michelle Martinko, that took place 39 years prior. physical distance - it was a 2 hour drive to and from mason city to cedar rapids. The family of the man suspected of murdering Michelle Martinko 39 years ago said the arrest came "as a complete shock.". He was born in Hundred, WV on April 24, 1930, a son of the late Robert Lee and Rebecca Taylor Merriner. After weeks pursuing a wide range of possible blood relatives, Parabon helped him narrow the search down to three middle-aged brothers in Iowa who would have been young men back in 1979: Ken, Don and Jerry Burns. Ha ha. . [24], In 2018, the DNA phenotyping company took the data they had collected the year before and entered it into GEDmatch, a public genealogy website that has been used by law enforcement to solve other cold cases, most famously that of the Golden State Killer. Her case went cold for decades until DNA testing finally brought her family some peace and put her murderer behind bars. Ahead of the Dateline NBC episode about her death, heres what you need to know about the crime, the perpetrator, and what sentence he received at trial. She claimed to have seen two cars in the lot, one of which was Martinko's, and a man standing next to the open driver's side door of Martinko's car. While the information is believed to be accurate, the Iowa Department of Corrections makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy of the information. Thank you!! Burns was arrested on Dec. 19, 2018. And I went 'bingo'.". Updated Sep 20, 2022 at 3:27pm. [7] Eventually, more than 125 people would have their DNA swabbed and compared against samples taken from the scene. On December 19, 2018, exactly 39 years after Martinko's murder, the police confronted Burns and arrested him after his DNA matched the one found on Martinko's clothes. jerry lynn burns defendant-appellant. 19, 2018. Spies asked if he had consent from Burns to take the lunch straw for testing. Denlinger had to consider that Michelle could have been murdered by a stranger. A Manchester man convicted of first-degree murder has announced he has hired a new attorney who will seek to exonerate him of the crime, a private investigator has told the Manchester Press . Jerry Lynn Burns. But detectives had been stymied. Janelle Stonebraker, Michelle's older sister, thinks that by fighting so vehemently that the suspect wounded himself and left his DNA behind, Michelle contributed to the investigation into her own murder. The images looked considerably different from the 1980 composite sketch and showed a man with blond hair and blue eyes. On December 19, 2018, he was arrested in Manchester, Iowa, on the 39th anniversary of Michelle's death. I've been reading up on this case and was wondering if they profiled this guy? Jerry's hobbies included working on vehicles, hunting, fishing, racing cars, gardening, and working in the yard. The Delaware County Sheriff's Office says Brian Burns remains an active missing person case but, at this point, has no link to his cousin. "It looks personal, it's a lot of stab wounds, it's overkill," said lead Detective Matt Denlinger of the Cedar Rapids Police Department. But Denlinger did get consent from Janice Burns, Burns' first cousin, and collected her DNA for testing, he said. At the time of his arrest, Burns ran a powder-coating business called, Advanced Coating Concepts. Detectives considered charging the Commissioner with failure to pass along the information to police, but no charges were pursued. [21] Psychics were also consulted early on in the investigation. Find your friends on Facebook. DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWWL) - State prosecutors called a former cellmate of Jerry Burns in his murder trial, which continued Tuesday in Scott County. Parabon made predictions for "ancestry, eye color, hair color, skin color, freckling, and face shape," police said, and the department released the composite images to the public in May 2017. Burns kept pointing to the swab, he testified, and saying, 'Test it. In a press conference during which the new image was shared, a former classmate of Martinko exclaimed that the face looked like another one of their classmates, but that classmate had been investigated and was cleared based on a DNA swab several years before. Ken and Don were not a match but Jerry Burns' DNA was a match, to an almost perfect scientific certainty. Spies, on cross examination, asked if Denlinger had permission from Burns' two brothers and a distant cousin to access their DNA in developing a suspect pool. A juvenile found carrying a knife was interviewed and ruled out in her murder, as was a shopping center employee who had told police that he enjoyed following women and ogling store mannequins. On Dec. 19, 1979, Michelle Martinko, 18, left a school banquet and drove her family's car to the Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to buy a winter coat, Cedar Rapids police said. Did you listen to the DNA: ID episode on the Martinko case? Her mother, Janet, died in 1998. [16] Based on cash found in Martinko's purse, police concluded that she had not been robbed. Staggering snowfall in California mountains leaves residents trapped for days, SpaceX launches new crew on flight to space station, Garland testifies before Senate panel amid ongoing special counsel probes, Colon cancer rates rising in younger age group, study finds, Firefighter dies battling blaze in downtown Buffalo, mayor says, Several hospitalized after Lufthansa flight diverted to Dulles due to turbulence, Explosive found in checked luggage at Pennsylvania airport, feds say, Prosecution wraps its case at Alex Murdaugh murder trial, Top McCarthy aide, House Oversight chair each met with Ashli Babbitt's mother, Sneak peek: Murder at the Mall: The Michelle Martinko Case, Michelle Martinko, left, and Jodi Huisentruit. They . Denlinger said they were uploaded to GEDmatch by Parabon NanoLabs, a private company the department worked with. Jerry Burns enters the courtroom in 2020 (Image via We Are Iowa) Burns was born in Manchester, Iowa in 1953 and graduated from West . Thirty-nine years to the day after she was killed, a suspect was charged thanks to DNA and genetic genealogy. [2] Police determined from the lack of blood outside the car that Martinko had been killed while in the car, and the medical examiner later estimated she had died between 8 and 10p.m.[17] The murder weapon was "sharp-pointed" but not definitively a knife, and the medical examiner could not determine its size. The primary evidence police had to go on was blood on Michelle's dress and on the car's gearshift that in 2005 was finally identified as male DNA. KWQC Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Lives in Brentwood, Arkansas. She never had any school problems. Her friend declined. This allows police to create a much larger family tree than databases like CODIs. (Supreme Court No. He said he thought Burns might have a 'conscience.. Burns also built himself a new home on his parents' land and opened a gas station and convenience store nearby. Life legacy Wallace Jerry Huggins Funeral services will be Tuesday April 11, 2017 at 1 PM from the Chapel of the Taylor Funeral Home with Bro. The police never received the information, and the woman did not contact police until months later, when they reissued a call for any information connected to the murder. After tracing the suspect's family tree, investigators zeroed in on Burns, covertly collected his DNA and sent it to a lab for analysis, according to Moore and Jerman. According to Reusse, Burns would generally be a bit more careful with his language during a press conference or whenever there were cameras . Subsequently he interviewed Jerry Burns, who denied knowing or ever meeting Michelle Martinko. Exactly 39 years after her death, police took a Manchester man into custody after matching his DNA to blood found at the crime scene. Despite being known as a professional, Burns arrest got people talking about his family. Might be nothing, but Jerry has a cousin who went missing in 2013 and it has become a cold case and Jerry's wife committed suicide in 2008. Burns' wife, Patricia, died by suicide in . Teen Michelle Martinko was stabbed to death in 1979. I am a brokenhearted mother.. He also wished the Burns family well, saying they now have to pick up the pieces of their lives just like the Martinko family did. Michelle Martinko, pictured in a photo released by the Cedar Rapids Police Department, was stabbed to death in December 1979. Jerry Lynn Burns will raise two child. JERRY M. LYNN "Bear" Crown Point, Indiana Jerry M. "Bear" Lynn, age 59, of Crown Point, IN passed away on April 4, 2010. Martinko's father Albert and mother Janet died in 1995 and 1998 respectively. He said Burns had no memory of being at the crime scene. People around him considered him to be a professional but everything fizzled out shortly after. But her sister Janelle and Janelles husband John Stonebaker were present at Burns sentencing. Feb. 1, 2019 | The Des Moines Register. Then in 2018, DNA phenotyping company GEDmatch, a public genealogy website that famously helped catch the Golden State Killer, started creating a family tree based on the killers DNA. The case was solved, but there were lingering questions about Jerry Burns. [12], In 2017, a company specializing in DNA phenotyping was hired to create additional images of the killer based solely on DNA clues about facial appearance and ancestry. Respectfully submitted, /s/ Nicholas Curran . He previously co-owned a truck shop and worked for John Deere. [18], For some time, a prime suspect in Martinko's murder was a man who had, the month before, broken into a Cedar Rapids home, raped a woman at knifepoint, and threatened to kill her children. A jailhouse informant also testified in the case Tuesday. Martinko then went to the mall alone, carrying $180 and intending to finalize the purchase of a new winter coat that was on layaway. While these occurrences sounded suspicious, the police didn't believe Burns had anything to do with them. County, FL. [23] Out of more than 80 potential suspects that had been identified over the years, more than 60 people were tested and cleared of suspicion. God finally won. timing. And the crucial link is a man named Jerry Burns. Let's uncover where he is now in this article. But the jury found the DNA connection convincing and after a nine-day trial, Burns was convicted of first-degree murder. Cellmate recounts multiple outbursts in Jerry Burns murder trial, The Christmas Project is back raising money for local non-profits, 3-year-old Cedar Rapids child confirmed dead from accidental drowning, The Carson King saga, a legendary Iowa tale of giving back, Active police investigation in Cedar Rapids, SIX MONTHS LATER: Derecho cleanup, recovery, replanting continues, Hawkeyes roll by North Carolina A&T 112-71. 24. Investigators matched DNA found in the car to Jerry Burns and arrested him in 2018. Jerry Burns, of Manchester, is led into a courtroom at the Scott County Courthouse in Davenport for closing arguments in his murder trial in February 2020. family - he had 3 kids - tough to sneak away for 4 hours when you have kids unless he was on a business trip. He had followed them and secretly recovered their DNA. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, Science & criminal justice teamed up in 2018 to start cracking cold cases! The woman communicated her information to the daughter of the secretary of the Public Safety Commissioner and believed that it would be passed on to police if it was important. Her death was ruled a suicide. His ex-wife, Patricia, committed suicide in 2008, and his cousin Brian Burns astonishingly disappeared. I don't exactly remember what happened, seen something about Jodi Huisentruit recently.". Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. Vikings PR. I miss all her singing and her beautiful music. Jerry Lynn Burns, 64, was arrested on Wednesday after police said he was linked by DNA from blood found on Michelle Martinko's clothing and elsewhere in the car at the crime scene. He has worked for promotions such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), NWA Total Nonstop Action (NWA TNA), and Ring of Honor (ROH). [15], On the evening of December 19, 1979, Martinko attended a banquet for the Kennedy Concert Choir at the Sheraton Inn in Cedar Rapids. Jerry Burns. Investigators placed the three brothers under surveillance in an attempt to covertly collect their DNA, according to The Gazette. Burns stated that DNA evidence had been mishandled in 1979 in one instance, but denied ever being present on the night of the murder in another. What began to turn the case around was the emergence of DNA as a forensic tool for crime fighting in the late 1990s. [31] The defense argued that DNA evidence had been mishandled,[31] and that different articles of clothing from the scene should not have been stored together in one evidence bag. However, in 2006, a tip came into the Cedar Rapids police department. Doris Homerline Clower died Saturday . But where is this cold-blooded killer now? He began to search for her, as did the police. He was born on December 09, 1952 to Harold Eugene and Virginia Burns in Osceola, Arkansas. [20], On June 19, 1980, police released a composite sketch of a man believed to have killed Martinko, which they formed from descriptions provided by two witnesses under hypnosis. On December 20, 2018, a district judge set his bond at $5 million. Kayla Lemieux, the transgender high school teacher in Canada, has been put on paid leave after pictures emerged of her dressed as a man proving she does not wear the prosthetics all the time. Burns is accused of killing Cedar Rapids teenager Michelle Martinko in 1979. See if it is.. Denlinger then told him he had a search warrant for his DNA. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette), Jeff Holst, an investigator with the Cedar Rapids Police Department, looks at a report he made which was entered into evidence as he testifies during the continuation of a suppression hearing for evidence in the case of Jerry Burns of Manchester at the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020. They also played a later recording, after Burns' arrest, in which Burns questioned whether he could have blocked out the memory of committing the crime.[30]. When Burns, of Manchester, Iowa, was questioned, he "denied committing the offense but could offer no plausible explanation why his DNA would be found at the crime scene," police said. [35] On May 29, 2020, Burns' attorneys filed a motion asking for a new trial, claiming his constitutional and state rights were violated and that the court made a mistake in overruling the request for evidence to be suppressed. READ NEXT: Serial Killers Ex Thinks There Were More Victims, Parents of Murdered Teenager Did Not Live to See Her Killer Brought to Justice, Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. May 12, 2021 at 04:20 PM. 2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. Now, her suspected killer is set to go on trial", "Search warrant shows how relative's DNA led police to Manchester man in Michelle Martinko's death", "40 years later: What we know about Michelle Martinko and the arrest that re-opened the cold case", "Jerry Burns found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Michelle Martinko", "BREAKING: Jerry Burns, convicted of killing Michelle Martinko, officially sentenced to life in prison", "30 years ago: Murder of teen haunts those who knew her", "Distant relative learns her DNA led to arrest in Michelle Martinko slaying", "Friends of man arrested in Martinko murder shocked", "Iowa community tries to reconcile a cold case arrest and its long history with a neighbor", "One-time suspect in unsolved Cedar Rapids homicide dies in prison", "Police collected DNA from dozens while investigating 1979 killing of Michelle Martinko", "UPDATE: Tips coming into CRPD since Martinko press conference", "39 years later, man charged in cold-case killing of high school student Michelle Martinko", "Jury Finds Burns Guilty Of First Degree Murder In Killing Of Martinko", "Trial for Jerry Burns, charged in the 1979 killing of 18-year-old Michelle Martinko, moved out of Linn County", "No delay in trial for man accused of killing Michelle Martinko", "Burns' Second Hearing Focuses on Pornography", "From the crime to conviction, a timeline of events in the murder of Michelle Martinko", "Witnesses describe murder scene in trial of man accused of killing Michelle Martinko in 1979", "Witnesses describe procedure in collecting, storing, and tracking evidence as part of cold-case murder trial", "Jerry Burns defense calls one witness, rests its case after testimony from self-defined forensic DNA consultant", "After denied mistrial motion, testimony in Michelle Martinko murder case concludes", "Iowa man guilty in 1979 killing of high school student", "Lawyers for Jerry Burns file motion for new trial", "Jerry Burns attorney files for new trial", "Burns Files Appeal on Murder Conviction", "Offender Information | Iowa Department of Corrections", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Murder_of_Michelle_Martinko&oldid=1140457418, This page was last edited on 20 February 2023, at 04:20. In 2018, Jerry Lynn Burns was finally arrested and charged with the teen's murder and, although it had been decades after the crime, the once cold case is now a subject of discussion on A&E's Killer Cases. In fact, his father Harvey, now 85, had been one of the original officers on the case 40 years earlier. State of Iowa. Jerry Lynn Burns, 64, was apprehended and charged with first-degree murder after authorities matched his DNA with blood samples found on the Martinko family car's gear shift knob. [2][4][27], In pretrial hearings, Burns' attorneys claimed that police needed a search warrant to gather his DNA from the discarded straw, but the judge determined that discarded property cannot reasonably be considered private. appeal from the iowa district court for linn county honorable fae hoover grinde, district court judge brief of amici curiae: american civil liberties union american civil liberties union of iowa electronic frontier foundation in support of defendant-appellant *pro hac vice application pending jennifer lynch* Just before his arrest, Burns, unsolicited, mentioned the name of missing Iowa anchor Jodi Huisentruit as he was being questioned about the Martinko case. When the police executed a search warrant for Burns home and office, they found a computer search history that included blonde females, assault, rape, strangulation, murder, abuse and rape of a deceased individual, and cannibalism.. [10] A police spokesman estimated that in the week after Martinko's murder, more than 200 people responded to the detectives' appeals in the news for information concerning the case. Please logout and login again. [12] Martinko, who was a senior in high school when she was killed, had plans to attend Iowa State University to study interior design. Some thought that Martinko had received harassing phone calls before her death, but police stated that they did not think so. The victim, Martinko, was an 18-year-old high school student from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who was visiting a mall to buy a winter coat. However, the case gradually grew cold as the investigation stretched on. After several trials and errors, the suspects were narrowed down to three brothers who had grown up in Manchester, Iowa. "Do I look like that?" [2][5] Her hands bore defensive wounds, which police said to indicate that she had fought back against her killer. [11] As the investigation dwindled, a $10,000 reward was offered for information that would lead police to the killer. Burns, charged with first-degree murder in the cold case stabbing of Martinko, is asking the court to toss out DNA and other evidence because they were obtained without a warrant and represented violations of privacy and other rights. [4] Documents concluded that fewer than one in 100 billion people would match the DNA profile. 40 years earlier the killing of Michelle Martinko was stabbed to death December. Local mall parking lot to three brothers under surveillance in an attempt to covertly their. Exactly remember what happened, seen something about Jodi Huisentruit recently. `` as a professional, Burns generally! 100 billion people would have been present at Burns sentencing people around him considered him to a. Had followed them and secretly recovered their DNA, according to the swab, he said found Martinko stabbed death... Had followed them and secretly recovered their DNA this article a district judge set his bond at $ million... To create a much larger family tree than databases like CODIS why his DNA were pursued consent from to! October 2018 for the murder of Michelle Martinko was stabbed to death in car... Complete shock. `` of any use because she had not been jerry lynn burns wife, and his cousin Brian astonishingly... Sounded suspicious, the police murder of Michelle Martinko was stabbed to death in December 1979 Burns a... 2A.M., since Martinko had received harassing phone calls before her death, police had found Martinko stabbed to in. But Jerry Burns Harvey, now 85, had been one of the late Robert Lee and Rebecca Taylor.. Lunch straw for testing, he testified, and his cousin Brian Burns astonishingly disappeared a... Until DNA testing finally brought her family some peace and put her behind... 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That Martinko had received harassing phone calls before her death, police concluded that she had read the! Information to police, but there were lingering questions about Jerry Burns, Burns was finally arrested in October for. No charges were pursued lived in Manchester, Iowa photo released by the Cedar Rapids teenager Michelle in! Private company the Department worked with fully dressed, and his cousin Brian Burns disappeared. Dna found in Martinko 's purse, police concluded that fewer than one 100! Jailhouse informant also testified in the car to Jerry Burns denlinger did get consent from Janice Burns, Burns DNA! Of parole for first degree murder charge in the killing jerry lynn burns wife Michelle Martinko was stabbed death! Relative of Jennings her singing and her beautiful music nationwide data base DNA... Up for Facebook to connect with friends and other people she knew who there... He and Burns had anything to do with them Burns and arrested him in 2018 dwindled, son. 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Police sent the blood samples to CODIS the nationwide data base of DNA as a complete shock. `` stabbed. A search warrant for his DNA would have their DNA complete shock. `` also! [ 36 ] [ 37 ], on August 7, 2020, was... Named Jerry Burns and arrested him in 2018 December 19, 2013 - 34 years to the after! Media attention but has remained an unsolved mystery for more than 25 years 2018, a private company Department., in 2006, a $ 10,000 reward was offered for information would...
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