The murder of Michelle Martinko occurred in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on December 19, 1979. It was a cold case until 2018, when familial DNA identified her killer 39 years after the crime. In October 2019, DNA was covertly collected from an Iowa man, Jerry Lynn Burns, and was found to match the sample discovered on Martinkso’s clothing. On February 24, 2020, Burns was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Martinkos. Burns was sentenced to life in prison without parole on August 7, 2020.
About Murder of Michelle Martinko in brief
The murder of Michelle Martinko occurred in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on December 19, 1979. It was a cold case until 2018, when familial DNA identified her killer 39 years after the crime. In October 2019, DNA was covertly collected from an Iowa man, Jerry Lynn Burns, and was found to match the sample discovered on Martinkso’s clothing. On February 24, 2020, Burns was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Martinkos. Burns was sentenced to life in prison without parole on August 7, 2020. The murder was closely followed within her community, and the police received more than 200 tips in the weeks following her killing. The case gradually grew cold as the investigation stretched on. The killer left no fingerprints, which led police to believe it had worn gloves, which they believe they had worn. The weapon was a sharp-pointed knife, but the medical examiner could not determine its size, and police do not believe it was a knife but not definitively, but not a knife and the size of the size was not definitively determined, but police said that everyone’s instinct is to say that it is a knife, which police believe it is. The victim was found stabbed to death in her family’s car in the parking lot of a local mall, where she had gone to buy a new coat. She was last seen at 8 or 9 p.m. outside of a jewelry store in the mall, and her father reported her missing at 2:30 a. m. At 4 a.m., police found the car in a parking lot by a JCPenney store.
Police determined from the lack of blood outside the car that the killer had been killed while the car was in the car, and later estimated she had died between 8 and 10 p. m., but police did not believe the killer was involved in either one of those incidents. The suspect was 25 years old at the time of his arrest in 2020 and lived in Manchester, Iowa. He had previously been married to Patricia Burns, who died in 2008 from suicide, and had a cousin who went missing in December 2013 and has not been found. He was also a talented performer, and joined the twirling squad as a sophomore, and performed in choirs and theater productions. Martinksos was an above average student and well regarded by school officials. She had plans to attend Iowa State University to study interior design. 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 or conflict over a boy she had dated. 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. She went alone carrying USD 180 and intending to purchase a new winter coat. Her friend declined to join her, and so MartINKo went alone with her. She was found inside the car and collapsed over the corner of the passenger seat.
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This page is based on the article Murder of Michelle Martinko published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 28, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
