WebJerry Lynn Burns, 64, was arrested Wednesday morning and is facing a first-degree murder charge in the case. I uploaded it. On December 19, 2018, exactly 39 years after Martinko's murder, the police confronted Burns and arrested him after his DNA matched the one found on Martinko's clothes. But Usry knew he hadn't done anything wrong. If found guilty of his first-degree murder charges, Jerry Lynn Burns murdered Michelle Martinko in 1979 (Images via Google) On the eve of December 19, 1979, an 18-year-old high school student named Michelle Spies argued that if the defense had this evidence at trial, jurors might have come back with a different verdict. Court documents said blood on clothing worn by Martinko and a blood stain on the gear shift of the car, where the teens body was discovered, were analyzed and found to belong to someone else. A man named Brian Dripps, who was her neighbor, was charged with rape and murder and will go on trial in 2021. "When they commit to helping a family, as in this case, looking into the eyes of parents who lost an 18-year-old girl and said, 'Were going to find the answer to what happened to her,' that the public can trust that theyre going to do that, even if it takes generations to do it. But by 2 a.m., her father called the police because she had not returned home. He was arrested A covert DNA sample was matched to blood found at the crime scene. The brothers were eliminated as suspects during the investigation. And then it takes a few days for it to upload and analyze, and I just kind of forgot about it. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham. A woman in Washington was linked to the suspect, and authorities eventually zeroed in on Burns. The Gazette has been informing Iowans with in-depth local news coverage and insightful analysis for 140 years. Burns is Burns sentencing is likely to be scheduled for early April, though a date has notbeen set, District Judge Fae Hoover said. Jerry Lynn Burns, 64, was arrested Wednesday and accused of fatally stabbing the 18-year-old, whose body was found in her parents' 1972 Buick Electra in the Subscribe to Heres the Deal, our politics Hundreds of people were interviewed and countless leads were followed, police said a year after the slaying. Cutting-edge DNA technology was used to solve the cold case. William Brangham shares a "cautionary tale" of how one person's DNA testing can have a wide impact. The Cedar Rapids Police Department said in a statement on December 19 that Burns, 64, of Manchester, Iowa, was arrested at his place of work in the town. Jerry Lynn Burns of Manchester has been arrested and charged with 1st degree murder in the cold case murder of 18 yr old Michelle Martinko. Burns denied killing Martinko at the time of his initial questioning. Usry's dad seemed too old to be the killer, but Michael was not. Police arrested Jerry Lynn Burns, 64, in the decades-old fatal stabbing. New York University's Erin Murphy, who studies genetics and the law, sees Usry's ordeal as a cautionary tale. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette), Sixth Judicial District Judge Fae Hoover reads aloud a motion for a new trial filed by Burns at a sentencing hearing for Jerry Lynn Burns at the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids on Friday, Aug. 7, 2020. The couple was married in April 1975 in Manchester, Iowa, four years before Martinkos murder. The victim was the younger of two daughters of Albert and Janet Martinko. At the time of her death, police had found Martinko stabbed to death in her car in a local mall parking lot. Burns, who was convicted in February of killing Michelle Martinko in 1979, was sentenced to life in prison. WebMichelle fought back and was able to injure Jerry, who bled on the gear handle and Michelles dress. pic.twitter.com/COPUDpaDMP, Cedar Rapids Police (@CR_Police) December 20, 2018. It lies in a 'deeply selfish, lifelong personal need. He was ensnared because his father had. But Burns will 'forfeit his freedom forever and die alone. He played in college for the Michigan Wolverines before (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette), Jerry Lynn Burns makes a statement before his sentencing by Sixth Judicial District Judge Fae Hoover at the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids on Friday, Aug. 7, 2020. Subscribe to Here's the Deal, our politics newsletter. Martinko's body was found in her parents' Buick, which was parked near J.C. Penney at Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids. Speaking to KCRG, a classmate of Martinkos, Elizabeth Laymon, spoke about the day after her friend was killed saying, We went to school that day and it wasnt announced. By William Brangham, Rhana Natour, Nsikan Akpan. "She finally got justice. Jerman, Cedar Rapids' police chief, credited police and investigators who "showed tenacity and dedication" over the four decades it took to take the case to trial, and the Linn County Attorney's Office for its role in Burns' arrest and prosecution. She had gone to the mall that night to get a coat her mother had put on layaway. On the night of December 19th, 1979 someone killed 18-year-old Michelle Martinko inside her car in the parking lot at the new Westdale, The Mystery of Michelle Martinko: The Story Behind the Facebook Page. Jerry Lynn Burns (64) was arrested 12/19/2018 and faces first-degree murder charges. Burns is being held at Linn County Jail. Police suspected he'd been involved in the brutal 1996 rape and murder of an Idaho woman named Angie Dodge. This is the moment of reckoning for him and the moment, long awaited, of resting peace for Michelle.. Then in 2018, DNA phenotyping company GEDmatch, a public genealogy website that famously helped catch the Golden State Killer, started creating a family tree based on the killers DNA. Jerry Lynn Burns, 65, is set to face a jury in February, bringing momentum to a case that was left cold for years. Jerry Lynn Burns: Offender Number: 6931989: Sex: M: Birth Date: 12/23/1953: Location: Anamosa State Penitentiary: Offense: MURDER 1ST DEGREE: TDD/SDD * LIFE: Commitment Date: 08/14/2020: Recall Date: Mandatory Minimum (if applicable) * TDD = Tentative Discharge Date * SDD = Supervision Discharge Date 2023 The Gazette | All Rights Reserved. His trial is set for June 2021. "The community is in shock, his friends are in shock, his family is in shock. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. Maybanks said it's likely nobody will ever know why Burns committed the crime. Police questioned Burns at work in Manchester, Iowa where he denied killing Martinko. Correction: In an earlier version of this story we said Brian Dripps was charged and convicted for the murder of Angie Dodge. John Stonebraker said the three hours it took the jury to reach a verdict was indicative of the strength of the case. After listening to almost two weeks of testimony, a jury of seven women and five men returned the guilty verdict after deliberating just shy of three hours. Maybanks, in asking Hoover to sentence Burns to life, said this verdict and sentence would not only give peace to the family and many friends of Martinko who have waited four decades for justice, but provide 'enormous relief to the community. Martinko's father Albert and mother Janet died in 1995 and 1998 respectively. She was 18 years old. Burns' arrest prompted a round of whispering about two of his family members. In September 1986, the Iowa Supreme Court rejected claims made byMartinko's father that the shopping center was negligent because it did not provide "reasonable security" for his daughter, the Register reported at the time. Her obit says that she enjoyed farming and gardening with her husband. His mark on the world, and the sum of his life, will be a short notice, saying: Convicted Martinko murderer dies in prison,' Stonebraker bluntly said. DAVENPORT, Ia. Jerry Lynn Burns is accused of the 1979 cold case murder of Michelle Martinko in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Burns, who was convicted in February of killing Michelle Martinko in 1979, was sentenced to life in prison. He was also ordered to pay $150,00 in restitution to Martinkos estate, according to KWWL. The police chief at the time, Ray Baker, said the fatal stabbing "outraged the whole community.". Predictions were made for ancestry and facial features, police said. Burns left the drinking straw behind. Previous coverage:Decades after fatal stabbing, Michelle Martinko's family comes face-to-face with her alleged killer. The music books either were dropped somewhere police didn't searched or the killer disposed of them, he said. Burns, who would have been 25 at the time of Martinko's death, said he could not offer a "plausible explanation" forwhy his DNA was found at the crime scene, authorities said at the time of his arrest. It was scary. Hiscousin, Brian Burns,vanished Dec. 19, 2013 exactly 34 years after Martinko was killed. As the investigation slowed, a $10,000 reward was offered. In October 2018, DNA was covertly collected from an Iowa man, Jerry Lynn Burns, and was found to match the sample discovered on Martinko's clothing. Burns was arrested and, on February 24, 2020, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Martinko. On August 7, 2020, Burns was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Powered by. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/a-father-took-an-at-home-dna-test-his-son-was-falsely-accused-of-murder. In one of those profiles, authorities said there were fewer than one in 100 billion unrelated individuals who would have had the same profile. "The people in law enforcement take on their duty and their task seriously," Maybanks told the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network,afterthe verdict. Todays announcement makes it clear that this Police Department and our investigators never gave up on this case either. Investigators later sought the services of a company that specializes in DNA phenotyping, which Cedar Rapids police described as the process of predicting physical appearance and ancestry from unidentified DNA evidence. We need those people to come forward and give us that information so we can bring closure to this case and to Michelles family., In announcing Burns arrest, Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman said, Last year, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Michelle Martinkos sister, Janelle, along with her husband, John Stonebraker. Stonebrakersat in the front row of the courtroom, flanked by her husband, John, and oldest son, Robert. At the time of his arrest, Burns had beenliving in Manchester, a town of about 5,000 people 45 minutes north of Cedar Rapids, for longer than Martinko's case had been cold. An investigation provided the answer after all those years of who and why someone killed Martinko. Based on the number of stab wounds particularly to the young womans face police considered the homicide personal in nature. Of course I want those people, serial killers and murderers and terrible rapists, to be caught. All rights reserved. Iowa community tries to reconcile a cold case arrest and its long history with a neighbor, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. First Assistant Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said the information wouldn't have changed the verdict. Burns pleaded not guiltyin January. Burns, who was convicted in February of killing Michelle Martinko in 1979, was sentenced to life in prison. pic.twitter.com/0rGdwIk89N. Spies wrote that the jury's verdict was "contrary" to the weight of evidence, and his client'sconstitutional rights were violated by the admission of his statements to investigators the day of his arrest and the use of hisand his family's DNA. Her father died in 1995 and her mother died in 1998. Jerry Lynn Burns and defense attorney Leon Spies (right) listen as First Assistant Linn County Attorney Nicholas Maybanks (not pictured) makes arguments on behalf of the state at the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids on Friday, Aug. 7, 2020. The law cannot punish Burns for the damage he had done to Martinko's family or the 'terrible shock, shame, pain and devastation inflicted on the innocent lives of his own family. It was really scary, those three or four weeks, just because I knew that I had not been involved in any crime. He and his wife, who now residein Florida,said they were gratefulfor the Cedar Rapids community's commitment to the case over the past 40 years. ", "This is Michelles day," he added. Burns' attorneys claimed the case has been surroundedby "pervasive and prejudicial pretrial publicity" and has been in the public eye for the past four decades,court filings show. The mandatory penalty for first-degree murder in Iowa is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The police used the information to create a partial DNA profile. It's becoming such a powerful crime-fighting tool. Burns argues the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress where the warrantless extraction of his DNA profile violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article I, section 8 of the Iowa Constitution. Burns, who was convicted in February of killing Michelle Martinko in 1979, was sentenced to life in prison. Heretrievedit after Burns left it behind, according to search warrants. In 2006, a new cold case investigator working for the Cedar Rapids Police Department was tipped with an update. Reporter covering state and federal courts. Learn more about Friends of the NewsHour. Jerry Lynn Burns granted independent journalist, Steve Ridge, an exclusive Christmas Eve interview, in which Burns also said he will seek a new trial in the Martinko More:DNA leads federal investigators to suspected serial killer in Iowa; Clark Perry Baldwin charged with killing 3 women in 1990s. Testimony showed Burns was the major contributor of the profile - less than one in 100 billion of unrelated individuals would have the same profile, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation criminalists said. Tyler Davis can be contacted at tjdavis@dmreg.com or on Twitter @TDavisDMR. Jerry Lynn Burns' mugshot. 1996 - 2023 NewsHour Productions LLC. Burns was drinking soda through a clear plastic straw. The deadline for responses from the state or a date for a hearing before a judgehas not been set yet. Although Burns' conviction and sentencing is clear and he is now in prison, his legal team has continued to assert his innocence and overturn the verdict. He was convicted of first-degree murder and received the mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. It took around a month for police to process Usry's DNA to see if it matched the DNA from the crime scene. The case itself had initially led investigators to assume the crime had been one of passion, with the amount of stab wounds to Martinko's face, but even now, there have been no answers as to why it happened. He was born in 1953 and graduated from West Delaware High School in 1972. Tonight, William Brangham is back to explore the growing privacy debate around this new technique and why some people are urging that we slow down. An obituary for Burns wife, Patricia, says that she died in June 2008 at the age of 55. The family never gave up hope that this case would be solved. At this time, however, Burns remains behind bars. According to KWWL, at the sentencing, Stonebaker said that Burns stole those 39 years and many more from a sweet smart, talented girl who never got her chance at college, a career, marriage, children and by now, even grandchildren.. Follow reporter Anna Spoerreon Twitter at@annaspoerre.
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