forensic investigative techniques and technologies have come a long way in recent years
thanks to the hard work of scientists researchers
and genealogists we are closer than ever to cracking open cold cases without these
advancements in science many cold cases would have remained just that cold number five
for over 47 years jody loomis's family waited for justice to be served they waited patiently
as hundreds of other families for granted the one thing they longed for closure then in 2020
the loomis family received the news that they had been waiting for the person responsible for
taking the life of jody was finally due to stand trial and justice was finally about to be served
on august 23rd 1972 twenty-year-old jody jumped on her bike and rode from her home in mill creek
washington to the nearby stables to see her horse a passerby found jody's body on penny creek road
and immediately called the police jody had been shot once before being left on the side of the
road she did not survive her injuries and the investigation was kick-started
straight away despite the best efforts of the snohomish county sheriff's office jody's case
quickly ran cold this was a time before dna and the police had very little to work with
the snohomish county sheriff's office and jody's family never gave up on their hunt for justice
jody's family campaigned fiercely to keep her name in the media and begged anyone
with information to come forward then in 2018 the snohomish county sheriff's office turned
to forensic genealogy experts in the hopes that the new techniques could defrost this cold case
on august 23 1972 jody had been wearing her sister's boots and when these were later analyzed
a dna profile of an unknown male was found on them the forensic genealogical experts took this dna
sample and uploaded it to the public genealogy site ged match months passed with little news
but then all of the sudden there was a match from here the genealogist began building a family tree
investigating every lead down to its end after months of hard work the forensic genealogists
named terence miller as their suspect all they had to do now was obtain a dna
sample from miller to confirm he was responsible an undercover task force
was set to the task of surveying miller and obtaining a dna sample through a technique called
a trash pull this technique allows officers to seize items from a suspect's trash that will yield
a dna profile the most common items collected are cigarette butts bottles and cups luckily for them
miller was staying at the tulip resort casino in seattle washington at the time of his surveillance
the undercover officers were able to collect coffee cups that he had thrown out which
were sent to the washington state crime lab the snohomish county sheriff's office waited patiently
until finally the washington state crime lab had finished their report they concluded that
terence miller's dna matched the dna found at the body of jody loomis in august of 1972.
miller was subsequently arrested and charged with first-degree murder he posted one million dollars
bail shortly after being arrested and was a free man during his trial sadly justice will
never fully be served as terence miller took his own life shortly after his conviction number four
on may 25th 2003 a hiker making their way through the shady rest campground
in mammoth lakes national forest california made a shocking discovery the hiker discovered human
skeletal remains scattered amongst a shallow grave a coroner and forensic anthropologist worked side
by side in order to establish a cause of death and to find out more information about the remains
they were able to discern that the remains belonged to a 20 to 40 year old woman between
4 foot 4 and 5 feet they also discovered that she was sapotec after mitochondrial dna analysis
showed that she was a perfect match to one of 200 samples taken from the valley of oaxaca in mexico
her case was the first in criminal history to use forensic isotope testing
which can determine where a person spent their time
this test revealed that the woman had likely been born and raised in southern california
or northern mexico and that in her adult life she's likely to have moved to southern mexico
with so much information about the victim the mammoth lakes police department believed that they
had an open and shut case little did they know that they would wait almost two decades to find
out the identity of jane doe in place of her real name she was called the mammoth lakes jane doe
a name she carried until august of 2021 the only other evidence investigators had to work with
were the clothes and belongings that were found with their jane doe she was found wearing size
1 cropped denim spandex pads with a lace-up front black socks size 5 blue leather brass brand shoes
and a cold air brand coat during the autopsy the coroner noted that jane doe had given birth at
least once in her life and that her teeth were in poor condition it was added that she likely had
little to no access to dental care and that she was also missing a tooth on her right front side
as years passed the case of the mammoth lakes jane doe grew colder and colder despite numerous
appeals no one came forward with information that helped to crack the case then in 2021 the mammoth
lakes police department utilized cutting-edge dna technology to help in the identification
of their jane doe finally in august of 2021 the county of mono office of the district attorney
released an official statement stating that year old isabel sanchez bernal from puebla mexico had
been identified as jane doe they also announced that 47 year old diego santiago hernandez antonia
had been arrested for the murder of bernal both law enforcement offices have declined to comment
on the circumstances of diego's arrest and all that we know is that he's currently being held
without bail at the mono county jail number three august 27 1981 was said to be the biggest day of
27 year old cynthia miller's life that was the day that she was set to marry her fiance gary o'neill
and afterwards the couple would begin their new life together on august 26th cynthia busied
herself with last minute preparations and tasks to help soothe her anxiety about the big day
cynthia worked as a school teacher in the raleigh county school system and her soon-to-be husband
gary worked as a police officer at the leicester police department one student told newspapers
quote she cared enough to spend lunch breaks after school whenever we needed her she would help it
didn't matter whether you had converse shoes or cross cutters all that stuff didn't matter to her
by all accounts the two were a wonderful couple and they were ready to start their lives with each
other on the evening of august 26th 1981 gary went to visit his dad in princeton ahead of the big day
gary placed multiple calls to cynthia but each time the phone rang out and went unanswered this
concerned gary and he left his father's house and went to the home they shared on miller street when
gary stepped into the house at around midnight he found his wife deceased from four gunshot wounds
the police were called to the scene and initially gary was considered a suspect
however after speaking to gary's father and collecting evidence he was cleared of any
involvement gary worked tirelessly with police to help capture the person responsible for taking
the life of his wife little did gary know that he was about to embark on a 39-year hunt for justice
for decades the police chased down any lead to its end with raleigh county prosecutor kristen keller
telling metro news quote i always call them simmering cases they're never really cold those
original detectives are still around and i've worked with them for many years they never forget
what happened to cynthia miller and it's haunted them then in 2020 the raleigh county prosecutor's
office made a stunning announcement newspapers and stations across west virginia lit up with
reports that a suspect in the case of cynthia miller had finally been apprehended 64 year old
earl james robbins was indicted on charges of first degree murder along with four other felony
counts at the time he was indicted for cynthia's murder robbins was incarcerated at the chowchilla
california valley state prison for another violent crime according to news reports robin admitted
that on the day of the crime he had spoken to gary robbins claims that gary came over to his house to
talk to him about an unpaid parking ticket and then afterward he saw gary speaking to a woman
in a statement robin said quote i never asked who she was there was no reason to do so i said i'll
take care of the ticket no animosity no bad words between me and him he also told investigators that
he heard what had happened to cynthia by word of mouth and that he had nothing to do with
it robbins appeared in court in early 2020 and pleaded not guilty to the five felony charges
against him as he's currently incarcerated in california west virginia are seeking
extradition so that he can stand trial the case against robbins is ongoing and the extradition
is expected to occur at some point this year cynthia's sister diana jones told wsaz quote
he needs to get his soul right and get forgiveness for what he has done because my family has
number two november 30th 2010 started like any other for 64 year old sherry black of salt lake
city utah sherry went about her normal routine and opened up the b w billiards and books shop
that she owned in salt lake city according to friends and family sherry had a keen interest in
books from being a child and used this passion to start up her own bookstore
sherry was well known for her collection of rare and unusual books and her ability to source even
the most obscure titles when shari's family went to check on her at the bookstore they discovered
her laying on the floor with the man's armani exchange 36 to 38 inch size belt beside her
dna from an unknown person was also collected from the crime scene but police were unable to
make a match sherry's family was devastated by the news and appealed to anyone with information
to come forward and even offered a 250 000 reward for information that led to an arrest
years passed and sherry's family never gave up hope that the person responsible
would soon be facing justice in 2020 29 year old adam deborah was arrested at his home in
auram utah by the unified police department investigators revealed that in 2017 they
partnered with parabon nano labs to create a snapshot of what the suspect may look like
after evaluating leads and tips a dna sample was taken from deboro in early 2020
which came up as a match to the dna found at the sherry black crime scene following his arrest
derburo admitted to the crime and was subsequently charged with murder and is being held without bail
number one in december of 1977 hunters walking along highway 613 and interstate 10
in jackson county mississippi discovered the skeletal remains of an african-american woman
investigators noted that the woman was small and had a distinctive gold tooth and hoped that
these features would make her easily identifiable sadly it would be almost 43 years before the woman
known as eskatapa jane doe got her real name back police scoured records and missing persons reports
hoping to find someone that matched the description of their jane doe
but they came up empty-handed numerous media appeals were launched to help find the identity
of jane doe and her killer but few leads trickled in over the years it wasn't until 2018 that the
jackson county sheriff's office got their first big break infamous serial killer samuel little
confessed to killing the escotapa jane doe but told investigators he didn't know her name
after receiving this break in the case the jackson county sheriff's office along with the
mississippi state crime lab worked with othrum inc to use new emerging forensic technologies
according to the otherum's website they used quote forensic grade genome sequencing
to build a comprehensive genealogical profile from the skeletal remains from here genealogists
tracked down a 93 year old from the floor county mississippi after further analysis the 93 year
old woman was found to be the cousin of clara birdlong who disappeared sometime in the 1970s
kin smp rapid familial testing was performed and it was concluded that the eskatapa jane doe
was missing clara birdlong finally after decades of laying in an unmarked grave
clara birdlong was finally given her identity back and her family was given some semblance of closure
while we know who eskatapa gene doe is we're still on the hunt for the person responsible
samuel little is the prime suspect in her case however though he's passed away without
ever giving investigators more information to definitively connect him to the crime if you have
any information you're asked to contact the jackson county sheriff's office at 228-769-3063
or the mississippi crime stoppers at 877-787-5898
thank you guys so much for watching if you liked this video be sure to hit that
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with all of our future uploads but i've been ty knotts and i'll catch you guys in the next video