Pennsylvania cold case murder solved with DNA testing, genealogy tools

WOLF CREEK, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania state police say they’ve solved the slaying of a Chicago man whose burning physique was discovered 42 years in the past close to Interstate 80 in a northwestern city.

Edwin Rodriguez was recognized by means of the usage of DNA testing and family tree instruments, authorities introduced Wednesday.

Rodriguez was 18 when he and a household pal, Nestor Quintanal, left Chicago for Florida within the fall of 1980, and Rodriguez’s household by no means heard from him once more. His burning physique was discovered Nov. 6, 1980, close to Interstate 80 in Wolf Creek.

Authorities stated Quintanal — who died in Florida in 2002 on the age of 71 — is believed to have killed Rodriguez, who had third-degree burns on 70% of his physique. A doable motive for the killing was not disclosed.

The Mercer County District Lawyer’s workplace paid for state police to have a sophisticated DNA evaluation carried out, and in 2007 the workplace secured a DNA profile of the sufferer by means of proof collected on the post-mortem. In January 2019, the profile was despatched to a lab for DNA phenotype testing and a genetic family tree screening.

The testing linked the physique to a primary cousin of Rodriguez, authorities stated. Police reached out to the person, who was in a position to verify the sufferer was Rodriguez. His stays have since been returned to his household in Chicago.