The murder of Michelle Martinko
Cedar Rapids, Linn County, Iowa · 1979
Overview
Michelle Marie Martinko, an 18-year-old high-school senior, was found stabbed to death in the front seat of her family car in the parking lot of the newly opened Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the early hours of December 20, 1979, after attending a school choir banquet the night before. She had been stabbed 29 times. The killer left his own blood on her dress and on the car gearshift, but the case went cold for decades. In 2018, investigative genetic genealogy through Parabon NanoLabs traced that crime-scene DNA to Jerry Lynn Burns of Manchester, Iowa. Police covertly recovered his DNA from a drinking straw he discarded at a Pizza Ranch restaurant, confirmed the match, and arrested him almost exactly 39 years to the day after the murder. A jury convicted Burns of first-degree murder in February 2020, and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
How it was solved
Cedar Rapids police preserved DNA evidence the killer left at the scene: a spot of blood on Martinko's black dress and blood on the car's gearshift, both yielding a full male DNA profile. In 2006 a cold-case investigator reviewing the file recognized that blood as likely the offender's; a profile was developed and entered into CODIS, the FBI's national database, but it matched no one. In 2017 the department engaged Parabon NanoLabs of Reston, Virginia, which first produced a DNA-phenotyping Snapshot composite predicting a white male with blond hair and blue eyes, then applied investigative genetic genealogy. Parabon's chief genetic genealogist CeCe Moore uploaded the suspect profile to genealogy databases and built a family tree outward from distant relatives, narrowing the field to three brothers from the Manchester, Iowa, area: Donald, Kenneth, and Jerry Burns. On October 29, 2018, an investigator watching Jerry Burns at a Pizza Ranch in Manchester recovered the plastic straw and cup he used; the DNA on the straw matched the crime-scene profile. Burns was arrested on December 19, 2018, denied involvement but could offer no explanation for his DNA at the scene, was convicted at trial in Davenport in February 2020, and lost his appeal when the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the conviction in 2023.
Sources
- Murder of Michelle Martinko
“The murder of Michelle Martinko occurred in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States, on December 19, 1979. The blonde teenager had been stabbed 29 times.”
- Young murder victim helps solve her own cold case nearly 40 years later
“Michelle Martinko, 18, was found stabbed and cut 29 times in her family's car in the Westdale Mall parking lot in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; a spot of blood on her dress carried a full male DNA profile that matched blood on the gearshift.”
- What we know: Key moments in the Michelle Martinko cold case murder investigation
“In 2006 a cold case investigator discovered what he believed to be the killer's blood while reviewing case files; on August 7, 2020, Burns was sentenced to life in prison without parole.”
- Groundbreaking DNA technology helped find Martinko murder suspect
“Cedar Rapids police reached out to Parabon NanoLabs of Reston, Va., which made predictions for ancestry, eye color, hair color, skin color, freckling and face shape and released composite images to the public.”
- DNA leads to arrest exactly 39 years after teen girl stabbed to death, police say
“CeCe Moore, Parabon's chief genetic genealogist, said in a genetic genealogy database we can reverse engineer the suspect's family tree from their distant relatives; police covertly collected his DNA and sent it to a lab for analysis.”
- Man arrested for 1979 murder of teenage girl in Cedar Rapids
“Jerry Lynn Burns of Manchester was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after investigators covertly collected DNA from a straw he used and matched it to crime-scene evidence.”
- Jerry Burns found guilty of first-degree murder in killing of Michelle Martinko
“Jerry Burns was found guilty by the jury of first-degree murder. The verdict was announced just after 4:00 p.m. on Monday, February 24, 2020, after deliberations lasting around three hours, at the trial held in Davenport.”
- State v. Burns (2023)
“Burns argued that the warrantless search of his DNA from the Pizza Ranch straw violated the Fourth Amendment; the court concluded the Fourth Amendment did not require police to obtain a warrant before collecting the straw or analyzing the DNA on it.”
- Jerry Burns has murder appeal denied
“The court ruled in a 5-2 decision, that police followed the law in obtaining Burns' DNA and that his rights were not violated; the appeal was denied on March 31, 2023.”