The lab determined that the DNA collected from Burns was a match to DNA from the blood found on Michelle Martinko's clothing and was consistent with the DNA profile developed from blood found elsewhere in the car, Jerman said. 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. 'If I was there, I don't know, Burns told Denlinger. Holst said that in reviewing Burns' computer, he found hundreds of searches and website visits - a pattern that happened several times a week. At long last, in 2018, Jerry Lynn was caught and blamed for the teen's manslaughter and, in spite of the fact that it had been a very long time after the wrongdoing, the once cool case is right now a subject of discussion on A&E's executioner cases. 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. A spot of blood on the dress had a full male DNA profile and was consistent with the male DNA profile found on the gear shift. What began to turn the case around was the emergence of DNA as a forensic tool for crime fighting in the late 1990s. Visitation will be held from 5 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.. 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. [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. The Gazette is Iowas independent, employee-owned source for local, state, and national news coverage. During the investigation, the police assumed that there were personal motives involved in the murder due to the nature of Martinko's stab wounds. You will begin to receive our Daily Courts & Public Safety updates. [29] The judge determined the search history was not usable in the trial due to the decades of time separating the murder and the searches. 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. On February 24, 2020, after three hours of deliberation, the jury found Jerry Lynn Burns guilty of first-degree murder. Burns told the investigator about 25 times to test him, Denlinger said. Questions have been raised as to whether Jerry was involved in any other murders or missing person cases. Despite being known as a professional, Burns arrest got people talking about his family. After reading about the Golden State Killer case in 2018, in which serial killer Joseph James DeAngelo was finally caught through a long trail of DNA, Denlinger had an epiphany: perhaps he could use that same new technique to solve the Martinko case. DNA: ID. (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. Investigators used the blood samples to develop a partial male DNA profile. / CBS News. The defense requested the case be declared a mistrial as a result, but the judge denied the request and asked the prosecutor to rephrase the question. The police then began procuring evidence secretly. 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. FILE - In a Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020 file photo, Jerry Burns enters the courtroom during the continuation of a suppression hearing for evidence in the case of Burns of Manchester at the Linn County . Jerry Lynn Burns is accused of the 1979 cold case murder of Michelle Martinko in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. May 12, 2021 at 04:20 PM. He was preceded in death by his wife of 50 years, Joan C. Plum Merriner, who passed away on January 4, 2019. The murder of Michelle Martinko in the parking lot of Cedar Rapids' Westdale Mall has some eerie connections to the Huisentruit case. During the trials, Burns was found to contradict his own statements. State prosecutors also showed a video interview they secretly recorded in 2018, after matching Burns' DNA to the crime scene and getting a search warrant to obtain further DNA. 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. "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. Jerry retired from the Army National Guard and retired as a Master Plumber. Lives in Tyler, Texas. Jerry Lynn Burns, 64, was arrested Wednesday and . Further the Iowa Department of Corrections assumes no legal liability or . The new technique, started this year with the "Golden State Killer," has identified over two dozen suspects. It goes beyond the simple news reporting of case solved using genetic genealogy. The podcast explores who these perpetrators are, possible motives and features interviews with investigators who are willing to talk because the cases have already been resolved in court. 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. People who have worked on this game have also collaborated on the creation of the following games: Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire, a group of 68 people. LEON SPIES: The state's scenario here is that Jerry Burns, a married man with two young children at home, leaves, drives to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the night, leaving his wife and children behind . 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. Burns said when presented with the rendering. JERRY LYNN BURNS, Defendant-Appellant. Investigators matched DNA found in the car to Jerry Burns and arrested him in 2018. 28, 2021 7:50 am611d ago, Trish Mehaffey Crime and Courts Mar. Ken and Don were not a match but Jerry Burns' DNA was a match, to an almost perfect scientific certainty. [15], On the evening of December 19, 1979, Martinko attended a banquet for the Kennedy Concert Choir at the Sheraton Inn in Cedar Rapids. He lived in Manchester at the time of his arrest in 2020 and owned a powder coating business in the city. Wednesday, March 1, 2023: Today on General Hospital, Obrecht is furious with both Liz and Scott, Finn offers to stand by Liz, and Sonny and Dex bond over a meal. Log In. Be the first one to comment on this story. "So it doesn't matter that they haven't had their DNA tested through another arrest or crime scene, we don't need their DNA. Jerry Lynn Burns will raise two . Unfortunately, this led the police nowhere at the time and the case gradually got cold. Court documents said blood on clothing worn by Martinko and a blood stain on the gear shift of the car, where the teens body was discovered, were analyzed and found to belong to someone else. Yeah, it's really really good! v. Jerry Lynn Burns. Denlinger does NOT believe Burns is responsible for Jodi Huisentruit - rather that he admired/fantasized about whatever happened to her. 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. 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. At the time of arrest, Burns had his own power-coating company called Advanced Coating Concepts. Police interviewed numerous people, and several were cleared of suspicion through use of a polygraph. 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. ", First published on November 6, 2020 / 8:47 AM. Thank you!! Subscribe to the Public Safety newsletter. Teen Michelle Martinko was stabbed to death in 1979. [18][19], Controversy arose five months after the murder, after a woman who was driving by the mall parking lot in the early hours of December 20 came forward with information. In 2017, Cedar Rapids police said they reached out to Parabon NanoLabs to help build a suspect profile based on the crime scene DNA. On December 19, 2018, he was arrested in Manchester, Iowa, on the 39th anniversary of Michelle's death. Familial matches let them narrow down the suspect list to three brothers from Manchester, Iowa. [2] She did not have many close girlfriends or confidantes, which was speculated to be caused by jealousy from other students over her beauty and stylish clothes[11] or conflict over a boy she had dated. 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 2012, while serving a life sentence for an unrelated attack, the man died in prison from colon cancer. In 2006, a new cold case investigator working for the Cedar Rapids Police Department was tipped with an update. Burns originally refuted every charge of involvement in this crime during interrogation by claiming he was unable to provide the authorities with a "plausible explanation" for why his DNA was found at the crime site. Burns' attorney, Leon Spies, also argued in his suppression motion that the computer evidence is irrelevant because it's from 2018 - 38 years after Martinko's death. [9] She was last seen almost 9p.m. outside of a jewelry store in the mall. Jerry Lynn Burns will raise two child. He was convicted of first-degree murder and received the mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. See Photos. Martinko then went to the mall alone, carrying $180 and intending to finalize the purchase of a new winter coat that was on layaway. 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 . 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. Jerry Burns is still behind bars . Bryan. She had looked into the parking lot as she drove by to check for her daughter's car because her daughter worked at the mall and had had car trouble before. 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