Washington : DNA evidence from a discarded restaurant napkin was used to identify a suspect in the slaying of a 12-year-old girl in 1986 in Seattle, Washington, police said.
Gary Hartman, 66, was arrested and has been charged with murder in the first degree and rape in the first degree, Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell said about the cold case. Hartman will be arraigned on Monday, CNN reported. According to police records, Michella Welch and her two younger sisters went to the city’s Puget Park on March 26, 1986. About 11 am Michella rode a bicycle home to get lunch. While she was gone, the sisters went to a business to use the restroom, Ramsdell said.
In August 1986, another girl Jennifer Bastian, 13, was killed. Two brothers were identified as possible suspects and surveillance began leading to a detective follow Hartman into a restaurant when he met a co-worker for coffee. “I observed him using the napkin multiple times,” the detective said. “He crumpled it up, put it into a bag.” The napkin matched DNA found at the crime scene.