The murder of Julie Ann Hanson
Naperville, Will County, Illinois · 1972
Overview
Julie Ann Hanson, a 15-year-old girl, left home on a bicycle on July 7, 1972, in Naperville, Illinois; she was sexually assaulted and stabbed, and her body was found the next day in a field. The case went cold for nearly 50 years until forensic genetic genealogy identified Barry Lee Whelpley, a former Naperville resident living in Minnesota, who was arrested in 2021 and died in jail awaiting trial in 2024.
How it was solved
In November 2020 Naperville police contacted Identifinders International, whose founder Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick extracted a profile from a severely degraded crime-scene sample of only 360 picograms of DNA. Once uploaded to the genetic genealogy database GEDmatch, the case was solved in about two hours, the match pointing to Barry Lee Whelpley after a relative had uploaded commercial DNA results.
Sources
- Identifinders Solves 1972 Naperville, IL Homicide of 15-year-old Julie Hanson in 2 hours
“Once that data was uploaded to the genetic genealogy database GEDMatch, the case was solved in only two hours.”
- Charges filed in 1972 Julie Ann Hanson murder
“Body found: July 8, 1972, in a cornfield near 87th Street and Modaff Road ... sexual assault and 36 stab wounds.”
- New Technology Leads to Arrest in 1972 Homicide of 15-Year-Old Julie Ann Hanson
“Whelpley was 27 years old when Hanson was murdered ... he was a resident of Naperville and lived within a mile of her family's residence.”
- Man charged in 1972 stabbing death of teen pleads not guilty
“Man charged in 1972 stabbing death of teen pleads not guilty.”
- Man charged in 1972 murder found dead in suburban Chicago jail cell
“Whelpley was found dead in his Will County jail cell Friday morning ... Whelpley died of a heart attack behind bars.”
- Family of 1972 Naperville murder victim finally has "closure" with suspect dead
“This is a big letdown; very anticlimactic. After 50 years, you'd kind of hope for a 'guilty.'”