[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. [10] Police considered the killing to be "personal in nature" based on the number and location of stab wounds. [28], After two days of jury selection, the murder trial began on February 12, 2020. Thank you!! Yet they had a DNA match linking the Manchester man to the Cedar Rapids teenager, slain in 1979 outside the Westdale Mall. Visitation with the family will be Monday April 10th from 4 to 8 PM and on. Accountability doled out to suspects. Denlinger then told him he had a search warrant for his DNA. "The family never gave up hope that this case would be solved," Jerman said in a statement Wednesday. Viewers also wondered if there was a connection to the disappearance of Burns' cousin, Brian Burns. [2], Martinko's father, Albert, died in 1995. physical distance - it was a 2 hour drive to and from mason city to cedar rapids. "I asked Jerry, 'Did you do the crime?' Jerry's hobbies included working on vehicles, hunting, fishing, racing cars, gardening, and working in the yard. [28] The defense also requested that evidence pertaining to Burns' cell phone browser history be suppressed. Yeah, it's really really good! On December 19, 2018, 39 years after Michelle Martinkp was murdered, Det. [11][18] In the year after the killing, the number of people interviewed by police reached the hundreds, and up to 30 people were interviewed under hypnosis. 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. This technology helped the FBI arrest notorious serial killer, serial rapist, and burglar Joseph James DeAngelo (nicknamed Golden State Killer) in 2018. In 2018, familial DNA identified a suspect named Jerry Lynn Burns, and the case was finally laid to rest with the accused getting sentenced to life in prison without parole. Detectives considered charging the Commissioner with failure to pass along the information to police, but no charges were pursued. Sonny arrives at his restaurant and gives Dex, who is there, the night off. You will begin to receive our Daily Courts & Public Safety updates. But detectives had been stymied. Jerry was born May 22, 1944, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Fred Richard Lynn and Mary Ellen Manning and passed away on July 10, 2022. An investigator with the Cedar Rapids police department contacted DNA-tested members of two of the branches of the family tree, and eliminated those branches as containing the killer. In 2006, a new cold case investigator working for the Cedar Rapids Police Department was tipped with an update. / CBS News. (Supreme Court No. He was born in 1953 and graduated from West Delaware High School in 1972. Jerry Lynn Burns granted independent journalist, Steve Ridge, an exclusive Christmas Eve interview, in which Burns also said he will seek a new trial in the Martinko murder. [2][23] On December 19, 2018, investigators went to Burns' business in Manchester, Iowa, to interview him. Allison, who's being held on drug charges in Linn County, says the two played the card game pinochle often. The organizations filing the brief contend that the collection of Mr. Burn's DNA without a warrant from a discarded straw he used at a restaurant violated the Fourth Amendment, and article I, section 8 of the Iowa Constitution. The video of that is on YouTube and is mentioned around the 25:28 mark. At the time of arrest, Burns had his own power-coating company called Advanced Coating Concepts. [26] He was not able to provide an explanation for why his DNA would have been present at the crime scene. 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. They . Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. 24. Rumors began to circulate about the crime. In recent years, authorities began taking a closer look at a man named Jerry Burns, who was arrested and convicted in the 1979 abduction and murder of 18-year-old Michelle Martinko. Currently, in his late 60s, he is going to spend the rest of his days behind bars. [38] Burns is currently imprisoned in the Anamosa State Penitentiary. Over 40 years ago, teenager Michelle Martinko was stabbed to death outside a mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. [9] Martinko was found inside collapsed over the passenger seat and stabbed to death. According to Reusse, Burns would generally be a bit more careful with his language during a press conference or whenever there were cameras . 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. The DNA was uploaded to the law enforcement database called Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, but investigators never found a match, police said. He was sentenced to life on August 7 without the possibility of parole. What began to turn the case around was the emergence of DNA as a forensic tool for crime fighting in the late 1990s. [9] The killer left no fingerprints, which led police to believe they had worn gloves. See Photos. The trial for Jerry Lynn Burns, who's been charged with first-degree murder in the 1979 killing of Michelle Martinko, will begin at 9 a.m. Oct. 14 at Linn County Courthouse, according to online court records and the Des Moines Register. [1][5] Iowan law mandates a life sentence without the possibility of parole for first degree murder. At the time of the murder, Burns was 25 and lived in Manchester, Iowa. Burns has hired a very high profile attorney and has said he plans to appeal his conviction, which was very largely based on the DNA evidence. This really is an excellent true crimes podcast that is different from the many others that are being produced. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Mail, proper postage prepaid, addressed to Jerry L. Burns, No. When Denlinger reminded Burns that Michelle had been killed in 1979, Burns responded, "It was a big deal. 28, 2021 7:50 am611d ago, Trish Mehaffey Crime and Courts Mar. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Around 4 a.m., Martinko was found inside her familys Buick Electra. Authorities arrested 64-year-old Jerry Lynn Burns of Manchester this morning. Homerline, a soft-spoken woman who enjoyed teaching Sunday School, did everything possible to avoid attention. He then contacted a member of a third branch, and a DNA test determined that they were first cousins with the killer. A DNA profile was developed from that evidence and entered into the national Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), but no matches were found. 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. Some thought that Martinko had received harassing phone calls before her death, but police stated that they did not think so. The Realm, a group of 34 people. 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. [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. On the way, Burns continued to talk. Jerry Lynn Burns (defendant-appellant), which is before the Iowa Supreme Court. Jerry Burns is still behind bars . Prosecutor Nick Maybanks/Cedar Rapids Police Department, "Murder at the Mall: The Michelle Martinko Case,". In 2017, Cedar Rapids police said they reached out to Parabon NanoLabs to help build a suspect profile based on the crime scene DNA. "I am happy Michelle finally gets justice.". 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 is accused of murdering Michelle Martinko in 1979. Derek Chauvin's ex-wife . Powered by. 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. "I cried a lot and I looked out windows all hours of the night," Martinko's mother, Janet Martinko, told Cedar Rapids' CBS station in 1987. 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 . He grew up in Manchester, Iowa, and graduated from West Delaware High School in 1972. 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. A composite sketch of the suspect was released in June 1980 with the help of two witnesses. On August 7, 2020, Burns was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Sign Up. On December 20, 2018, a district judge set his bond at $5 million. Burns also built himself a new home on his parents' land and opened a gas station and convenience store nearby. [11] They described a white man in his late teens or early 20s, around six feet tall and weighing 165175 pounds, with brown eyes and curly brown hair. Court is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.. [32] Prosecutors also played a video of a police interview of Burns, in which he denied being at the crime scene on the night of Martinko's murder, and could not explain how his DNA had been found at the scene. A witness testified he signed this image from a newspaper article about the case. And he had the daunting task of trying to figure out who that could be, armed only with an unidentified sample of blood DNA. Jerry Lynn Burns will raise two . "It's always the boyfriend, the girlfriend, the husband someone really close to the person. See Photos. Last . But the software he used allowed him to review history and activity only to January 2018. or. "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. On the eve of December 19, 1979, an 18-year-old high school student named Michelle Martinko was discovered dead in her family's car outside a mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. [3] The brothers were placed under surveillance, and investigators began to attempt to collect their DNA secretly. Oral Argument Schedule. Investigators used the blood samples to develop a partial male DNA profile. To learn more about the murder of Michelle Martinko, watch Dateline: Unforgettable on December 22, at 10:00 pm on Oxygen 79. 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. In her ruling, Judge Fae Hoover said the . 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. The sketch looked like a man in his 20s, weighing 165-175 pounds, and standing at around 6 feet. According to the investigator, "Burns showed almost no emotion during the interview, even when he was eventually told he was being arrested. The final nail in the coffin was when a witness gave his statement to the court. In 2006, a cold case investigator discovered unidentified blood, presumably belonging to the killer, while he was reviewing case files. After Burns arrest, several viewers questioned whether Burns could be a suspect in the death of his wife, Patricia, in 2008. Pat was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church, and enjoyed quilting, collecting teddy bears, gardening and farming with her husband. Be the first one to comment on this story. In earlier testimony, Matthew Denlinger, a Cedar Rapids police investigator who testified last week, was recalled to testify about Burns' interview with police Dec. 19, 2018. [7] Eventually, more than 125 people would have their DNA swabbed and compared against samples taken from the scene. Jerry Burns appeals his conviction for murder in the first degree. Jerry Lynn Burns, 64, of Manchester, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder on Wednesday, nearly 40 years after the brutal murder of 18-year-old Michelle Martinko in the parking lot of Westdale Mall on December 19, 1979. Burns told the investigator about 25 times to test him, Denlinger said. Denlinger began contacting genealogy companies for help in trying to find a family tree that could lead to the person whose DNA matched that found at the crime scene. 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. I hope you enjoy it!! Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Born in 1953, Jerry Lynn Burns grew up in Manchester, Iowa, and graduated from West Delaware High School in 1972. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette). Denlinger told him authorities would come back to talk to him after they got the results of the DNA test. On February 24, 2020, after three hours of deliberation, the jury found Jerry Lynn Burns guilty of first-degree murder. He was born in Hundred, WV on April 24, 1930, a son of the late Robert Lee and Rebecca Taylor Merriner. While these occurrences sounded suspicious, the police didn't believe Burns had anything to do with them. Burns has hired a very high profile attorney and has said he plans to appeal his conviction, which was very largely . Allison, who's being . The defense team for . 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. Investigators struggled over the years to connect DNA collected at the scene to a suspect. In October 2018, DNA was covertly collected from an Iowa man, Jerry Lynn Burns, and was found to match the sample discovered on Martinko's clothing. Authorities said Burns was last seen at his 1381 180th St. residence in Delaware County on Thursday, December 19 . 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. 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. 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. wife was deter mined to be a distant cousi n to many of the Subject's more . [2] Once there, she perused the stores and spoke with friends and other people she knew who worked there. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. timing. [2] The police received more than 100 tips following the release of the new images. Jerry Lynn Burns. The medical examiner later determined that she died between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. She had not been robbed or sexually assaulted, and defensive wounds were found on her hands, indicating she fought back. This evidence was inadmissible at trial but was the subject of a public suppression hearing. The case had remained a mystery for 39 years until police say new DNA genealogy technology identified Burns' DNA at the scene. The charge against Jerry comes as a complete shock to us and we are doing our best to carry on with our lives, the family said in the statement on Saturday. 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. Lighthouse: The Dark Being, a group of 43 people. Allison also recounted a time when Burns tried to tear down a cellmate's bunk bed because he was snoring too loudly. Doug Larison to reexamine the file and find what he believed to be the killers DNA in blood found on Martinkos dress that was not her blood. 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. Did not think so blood samples to develop a partial male DNA profile more than people. He grew up in Manchester, Iowa allowed him to review history and activity to. Degree murder his conviction for murder in the late Robert Lee and Rebecca Taylor Merriner 2... 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