New DNA Technology Solves 31-Year-Old Murder Case.” New DNA Technology Solves 31-Year-Old Murder Case

 

Lily Jebejian

11/8/21

Forensics

Current Event #7

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“New DNA Technology Solves 31-Year-Old Murder Case.” New DNA Technology Solves 31-Year-Old Murder Case, Kansas City Missouri Police Department, 11 Nov. 2021, https://www.kcpd.org/media/news-releases/new-dna-technology-solves-31-year-old-murder-case/.

Fawn Cox was just sixteen-years-old when she was murdered in her own bedroom. She was killed on July 26, 1989. It wasn’t until just this summer that her killer was identified. Initially two teenagers were the prime suspects, but after a witness’ statement was proved false the charges were dropped. Investigators collected DNA from the suspect, but at the time there was no way to match the killer to the DNA. There was no match in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) so the case went cold. It wasn’t until this summer that the killer was identifed as Fawn’s cousin using new genalogy technology. The cousin died in 2006 but Fawn’s parents were able to recieve closure.

The new genalogy technology is revolutionary and can provide the necessary information to solve many cold cases. One of the main issues with the technology is the funding to use it. The Kansas City Police received federal funding to use the tech in order to solve the case. Without the necessary funding and manpower it would not be possible to to discover the suspect. The technology is ground-breaking but it is very difficult to gain access to. It can provide closure and key facts in a multitude of cases. 

The article was very interesting. Even though it was a sad story the fact that the parents were able to get closure was a positive aspect. One improvement to the article should be more details on the genealogy technology. It was only mentioned briefly as the aspect responsible for solving the case but it would be intriguing to hear how the technology actually works. Overall the article was straightforward and an interesting case to read about.