The murder of Tanya Van Cuylenborg and Jay Cook
Snohomish County, Washington · 1987
Overview
Tanya Van Cuylenborg, 18, and her boyfriend Jay Cook, 20, a couple from Saanich, British Columbia, were murdered in November 1987 during an overnight trip to the Seattle area; Tanya was found shot in Skagit County and Jay was found beaten and strangled in Snohomish County. The case went cold for three decades until investigative genetic genealogy identified William Earl Talbott II in 2018. He was convicted in 2019 in what is widely described as the first U.S. criminal trial to use the technique.
How it was solved
Working with Parabon NanoLabs, genetic genealogist CeCe Moore uploaded crime-scene DNA from semen on Van Cuylenborg's pants to the public GEDmatch database and built a family tree that pointed to Talbott. Detectives then tailed Talbott and recovered a paper coffee cup that fell from his truck; its DNA matched the crime-scene profile, leading to his arrest in May 2018.
Sources
- Murders of Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg
“Tanya Van Cuylenborg's half-naked body was found in a ditch by a rural road near Alger. She had been raped and shot in the head.”
- How a childhood Halloween photo helped a woman uncover a killer in her family tree
“A team tailed Talbott, eventually retrieving a paper coffee cup that fell from his truck.”
- Man caught through genetic genealogy gets life in prison for 1987 double murder
“First person arrested through genetic genealogy to be found guilty at trial in the U.S.”
- Man guilty of 1987 murders solved with genetic genealogy
“two counts of aggravated murder ... Jay Cook: Under High Bridge over the Snoqualmie River south of Monroe.”
- High court reinstates guilty verdicts in 1987 murders of Canadian pair
“the state Supreme Court reinstated two aggravated murder convictions for William Talbott II”