In 1986, a woman called Nancy Daugherty was found murdered in her house by police authorities when they were conducting a welfare check. This incident from Chisholm, Minnesota was not solved by the police for more than three decades.
That seems to have changed now as new DNA tests, conducted by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) at the request of the Chisholm Police Department, have led to a definite accused being identified and arrested.
What Cracked the Case?
Michael Allan Carbo Jr is facing charges of second-degree murder and has been put in St Louis County Jail of Virginia. He was arrested thanks to the cooperation of Parabon, a company that keeps records of genealogies of various families and DNA signatures of their members. Chisholm police requested BCA to provide DNA samples to Parabon so that they can look for a match in their own database.
When the BCA handed over the DNA markers to this company, they found a strong possibility of Carbo being the suspect. After surveillance of the 52-year-old began last week, the police managed to get a DNA sample that they sent back to BCA for analysis. After the DNA matched the one found at the crime scene in 1986, the police finally apprehended him on Friday, as per a local news network.
Original Investigation
In 1986, the police discovered that not only was Daugherty murdered but also sexually assaulted and was badly beaten before being strangled. The police were able to retrieve bodily fluids from the crime scene and sent it for analysis. However, back in 1986, possibly owing to the nascent state of DNA testing or possibly due to a smaller database, the DNA identified didn't match anyone.
Daugherty was reported last seen on July 16 of that year. It was later that day, in the afternoon that police went to her house as part of a regular check when they saw the dead body of the unfortunate victim. On further investigation, the residents of the area told police that noises of screaming were heard from the house in the morning.
The analysis of the crime scene also suggested a physical struggle between the victim and the assailant. However, after the DNA evidence led to nowhere, despite the police collecting samples from around 100 people, the case seemed destined to remain unsolved. It was earlier this year that the police asked BCA to hand over the samples to Parabon.
