19, 2018. I miss all her singing and her beautiful music. Thus began the quest to finally nab Martinko's killers. ABC News' Matt Foster and Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report. Convicted murderer Jerry Burns, 66, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday in the 1979 murder of Michelle Martinko, 18. 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. Denlinger had found the needle in the haystack. On April 5, 1975, Pat was united in marriage to Jerry Lynn Burns at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Manchester. The trial was then moved to February 2020. 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. 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. [21] Psychics were also consulted early on in the investigation. 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. A witness testified he signed this image from a newspaper article about the case. ", Whoever the killer was, he had come prepared. Anthony Rex officiating. Detectives considered charging the Commissioner with failure to pass along the information to police, but no charges were pursued. "It looks personal, it's a lot of stab wounds, it's overkill," said lead Detective Matt Denlinger of the Cedar Rapids Police Department. 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. Blond / All American Girls - Jodi was a bit older. [2], On December 19, 2018, exactly 39 years after Martinko's murder, Burns was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. 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. Cases previously considered unsolvable have been getting their answers, & Joseph DeAngelo's arrest (EAR/GSA/ONS) is proving to be just the first of many getting resolved. His hands and arms were also examined for scars possibly left by the assumed cut sustained during the attack. But it was another technique from Parabon -- genetic genealogy -- that led investigators to Burns, CeCe Moore, Parabon's chief genetic genealogist, told ABC News. In 2006, a new cold case investigator working for the Cedar Rapids Police Department was tipped with an update. Your login session has expired. 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. [11] As the investigation dwindled, a $10,000 reward was offered for information that would lead police to the killer. While these occurrences sounded suspicious, the police didn't believe Burns had anything to do with them. KWQC ), Press J to jump to the feed. Investigators used the blood samples to develop a partial male DNA profile. [10] She wore a black jersey dress and black scarf, black tights and heels, and a waist-length white and brown rabbit fur jacket, and she carried a brown leather purse. He was sentenced to life on August 7 without the possibility of parole. The detective looked through the case files and found what he thought to be the murderer's blood. Jerry Lynn Burns. 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. 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. [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. Jerry Burns, busy back in Minneapolis, wasn't on the guest list that time. Denlinger told him authorities would come back to talk to him after they got the results of the DNA test. See Photos. He previously co-owned a truck shop and worked for John Deere. Jerry Burns. (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. Denlinger does NOT believe Burns is responsible for Jodi Huisentruit - rather that he admired/fantasized about whatever happened to her. DNA Profiling is a modern investigative technology used to compare criminal suspects' profiles to DNA evidence so as to assess the likelihood of their involvement in the crime. 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. I hope you enjoy it!! [2] The police received more than 100 tips following the release of the new images. [7] Martinko was the younger of two daughters of Albert F. Martinko and Janet Martinko (ne Zillig). 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. "In a genetic genealogy database we can reverse engineer the [suspect's family] tree from their distant" relatives who have submitted DNA, Moore said. Burns has hired a very high profile attorney and has said he plans to appeal his conviction, which was very largely . 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 . "I am thrilled for her sister, Janelle, and wish her parents were alive to see this," Michelle Martinko's high school friend, Elizabeth Laymon, told The Des Moines Register. Police interviewed numerous people, and several were cleared of suspicion through use of a polygraph. 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. With genetic genealogy, an unknown killer's DNA from a crime scene can be identified through his or her family members, who voluntarily submit their DNA to a genealogy database. The Gazette is Iowas independent, employee-owned source for local, state, and national news coverage. At the time of the murder, Burns was 25 and lived in Manchester, Iowa. 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 . Burns was arrested on Dec. 19, 2018. Unfortunately, this led the police nowhere at the time and the case gradually got cold. 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. He said he thought Burns might have a 'conscience.. 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. Burns pleaded not guilty in 2019 and when his trial was supposed to begin in October of that year, his defense team requested additional time to review fresh pieces of evidence and gather witnesses. Burns' wife, Patricia . My gut tells me there's probably something else out there. And he had the daunting task of trying to figure out who that could be, armed only with an unidentified sample of blood DNA. Please logout and login again. The murder of Michelle Martinko occurred in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on December 19, 1979. Lives in Tyler, Texas. The Delaware County Sheriff said it did review the case after Burns' arrest and "feels that was clearly the case.". Months before his February . The family of the man suspected of murdering Michelle Martinko 39 years ago said the arrest came "as a complete shock.". His cousin, Brian Burns, went missing on the 19th of December 2013. Jerry Lynn Burns, 64, was charged with first-degree murder and is scheduled to appear Thursday in Linn County Court. Familial matches let them narrow down the suspect list to three brothers from Manchester, Iowa. The similarities were eerie two pretty, young women, both meeting their final fate in parking lots in Iowa, 16 years apart, in cases that went unsolved for decades. . And the crucial link is a man named Jerry Burns. [2][16] At 2a.m., since Martinko had still not returned home, her father reported her missing. According to court documents, a judge has ruled internet search history from the man accused in a 1979 murder will not be able to be used during trial. Jerry Lynn Burns, the suspect in the 1979 murder of Michelle Martinko, makes a court appearance via video in Linn County, Iowa, Dec. 20, 2018. Visitation for Jim will be held on Monday, March 13, 2023 from 4:00PM until 6:00PM at the Peacock Family Chapel. In 2012, while serving a life sentence for an unrelated attack, the man died in prison from colon cancer. Add newsletters@thegazette.comto your contacts. Yet they had a DNA match linking the Manchester man to the Cedar Rapids teenager, slain in 1979 outside the Westdale Mall. 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). 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. In December 1979, Martinko, a high school senior who was on the twirling squad at Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, went to the recently opened Westdale Mall after her choir banquet at school to buy a new winter coat. I've seen several articles that said he might be tied to other murders. Jerry was married to his second wife at the time of his arrest. [2] That narrowed the suspects down to a set of three brothers, who had grown up in Manchester, Iowa. The man charged with killing Michelle Martinko 39 years ago is not a suspect in the death of his wife or disappearance of his cousin, according to investigators. She thinks this new crime . Jerry Burns enters the courtroom in 2020 (Image via We Are Iowa) Burns was born in Manchester, Iowa in 1953 and graduated from West . Sonny arrives at his restaurant and gives Dex, who is there, the night off. Police sent the blood samples to CODIS the nationwide data base of DNA collected from arrested offenders but didn't get a hit. Hi all - I discuss the case of Michelle Martinko, who was murdered in 1979 in Iowa, this week on DNA: ID podcast. [33] Prosecutors called a criminalist to contradict the defense's witness; the criminalist said that the storage of Martinko's clothing was not unusual. 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. [2][23] On December 19, 2018, investigators went to Burns' business in Manchester, Iowa, to interview him. DNA: ID. You have permission to edit this article. Allison, who's being . Burns was born in Manchester, Iowa in 1953 and graduated from West Delaware High School in 1972. Doris Homerline Clower died Saturday . Jerry Lynn Burns will raise two child. The family of Jerry Burns would like to thank our friends and the Manchester community for the support we have received since Jerrys arrest, read the familys statement. This "tragic case" had been "haunting this community for 39 years," Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman said Wednesday. But he never asked for an attorney, Denlinger said. "Murder at . 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. Jerry Lynn Burns will be in prison for the rest of his days. Definitely fascinating! 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. Burns pleaded not guilty at his February 2020 trial but the jury deliberated just three hours and returned a guilty verdict. Jerry A. Burns, age 69, of Bryan, Texas went home to be with the Lord on Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 10:56 p.m. The case was solved, but there were lingering questions about Jerry Burns. Born in 1953, Jerry Lynn Burns grew up in Manchester, Iowa, and graduated from West Delaware High School in 1972. 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 . 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. But detectives had been stymied. Martinko's father Albert and mother Janet died in 1995 and 1998 respectively. The prosecution did not resist either request, and the trial was rescheduled for February 10, 2020 in Scott County. This revealed everything, and Burns was ultimately declared guilty of first-degree murder. Subsequently he interviewed Jerry Burns, who denied knowing or ever meeting Michelle Martinko. December . When Burns disposed of the straw, the investigator collected it and tested it for DNA. 2. [28] The defense also requested that evidence pertaining to Burns' cell phone browser history be suppressed. [1][5][6], Michelle Marie Martinko (October 6, 1961 December 19, 1979) was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "It's always the boyfriend, the girlfriend, the husband someone really close to the person. wife was deter mined to be a distant cousi n to many of the Subject's more . In 2006, a cold case investigator discovered unidentified blood, presumably belonging to the killer, while he was reviewing case files. The hearing will continue in Linn County District Court, though a date has not been set. Exactly 39 years after Michelle Martinko's body was found, DNA evidence led to the arrest of a Manchester man who was charged with her 1979 murder. 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. "I am happy Michelle finally gets justice.". The Cedar Rapids teenager was found stabbed to death in her parents car parked at Westdale Mall. The results were entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), the national DNA database, but no matches were found. 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 was an 18yr old student from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA. Hi all - I discuss the case of Michelle Martinko, who was murdered in 1979 in Iowa, this week on DNA: ID podcast. This really is an excellent true crimes podcast that is different from the many others that are being produced. He began to search for her, as did the police. She was a beautiful singer, and I miss all this. He lived in Manchester at the time of his arrest in 2020 and owned a powder coating business in the city. We need somebody from their family to have tested in order to resolve these cases.". Allison also recounted a time when Burns tried to tear down a cellmate's bunk bed because he was snoring too loudly. After several trials and errors, the suspects were narrowed down to three brothers who had grown up in Manchester, Iowa. 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