An arrest has been made in a 50-year-old Wisconsin murder case thanks to genealogy researchers at a college in New Jersey.
Jon K. Miller, 84, of Owatonna, Minnesota, was arrested on Thursday and charged in the killing of the 25-year-old hitchhiker, which happened on February 15, 1974, the Dunn County Sheriffs Office of Wisconsin said.
Research conducted by the Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center at Rampo College of New Jersey in Mahwah helped investigators identify Miller. This is the first time that work by the college’s genetic genealogy team has led to an arrest.
The victim, Mary K. Schlais, was hitchhiking from her home in Minneapolis to an art show in Chicago. Her body was found near the intersection of 408th Avenue and 990th Street in Spring Brook, Wisconsin, officials said.
Before last week, no suspects had been identified.
A stocking cap was found near her body and hairs from the cap were preserved for evidence, . Years later, those hairs were used to develop a DNA profile, which researchers at the college then used to track the suspect down through potential relatives using forensic genealogy, according to the network.
Miller is in custody in Minnesota and is awaiting extradition to Dunn County, Wisconsin.