The murder of Jeanne Ann "Jeanie" Childs
Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota · 1993
Overview
Jeanne Ann "Jeanie" Childs, a 35-year-old woman, was found stabbed roughly 65 times in her south Minneapolis apartment on June 13, 1993. The case went cold for more than two decades until investigative genetic genealogy traced unknown crime-scene DNA to Jerry Arnold Westrom, who was arrested in 2019 and convicted of first-degree murder in 2022.
How it was solved
Cold-case investigators reopened the case and the BCA developed an unknown DNA profile that repeated across the crime scene. A SNP profile created by DNA Solutions, Inc. was uploaded to commercial genealogy databases including GEDmatch, Ancestry, and MyHeritage, where a first-cousin match let genealogists build a family tree pointing to Westrom. Police covertly collected a napkin he discarded at a Wisconsin hockey game, and the BCA generated an STR profile from it that matched the crime-scene sample.
Sources
- Bloody, bare footprints at Minneapolis murder scene lead to decadeslong search for answers
“At around 5:30 p.m. on June 13, 1993, a tenant reported water seeping into their apartment.”
- State v. Westrom (Minnesota Supreme Court 2024)
“A potential match was located on MyHeritage that appeared to be a first cousin to the source of the crime scene DNA.”
- How DNA technology broke open the cold case in Minneapolis woman's 1993 murder
“In April of 2018, we heard and read and followed the Golden State Killer case in which investigative genealogy was used.”
- Two men charged in two separate murder cases
“When police arrested Westrom Monday at his Waite Park business office”
- Trial starts for Jerry Westrom, accused of Jeanie Ann Childs' 1993 murder
“After several delays, opening statements began Tuesday in the trial for a man charged in a decades-old murder.”
- Hennepin jury convicts Jerry Westrom in cold case killing
“Jerry Westrom who was found guilty Thursday of the 1993 murder of Jeanne Ann Childs.”
- Court reverses single conviction in Minneapolis cold case murder
“the court removed the lesser charge of second-degree murder ... but he will remain behind bars.”