DNA from used napkin cracks 1993 cold case murder: docs

A businessman and well-known hockey dad in Minnesota was charged Thursday with killing a woman nearly 26 years ago after unwittingly giving his DNA to authorities in a napkin he tossed in the trash, according to a criminal complaint.

Jerry A. Westrom, a married 52-year-old father of two, was charged in Hennepin County District Court in the June 1993 death of Jeanne Ann Childs, 35, after Minneapolis detectives last month matched a sample of his DNA retrieved from a used napkin at a hockey game, the Star Tribune reports.

Westrom, of Isanti, was arrested Monday in Waite Park, some four years after advances in DNA testing led investigators to revive the cold case, which went unsolved despite DNA recovered from a washcloth, towel and comforter inside Childs’ apartment, where she reportedly worked as a prostitute.

New technologies within DNA testing in 2015 led investigators to take another look at the case and the samples of DNA recovered from Childs’ bloody and flooded apartment were shipped to a private genealogy firm and the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Three years later, the sample was submitted to an online genealogy website and two possible suspects were identified, including Westrom, who was 27 years old at the time. Police in Minneapolis then tracked Westrom in January to get a DNA sample and got their wish after he visited a concession stand at a local hockey game, according to the criminal complaint.

Westrom used the napkin to wipe his mouth prior to throwing it in the trash, where it was retrieved by police. The DNA on the napkin was then compared to the sample taken from the apartment where Childs was killed and they matched, giving investigators probable cause to make an arrest in the case, nearly 26 years after Childs’ death.

Police found Childs dead inside her apartment’s shower after another tenant reported water spewing out of the residence. Childs was found wearing only socks and had dozens of cuts on her body, some of which were inflicted post-mortem, according to the complaint.

“There is no known relationship between the individuals, and that’s what makes these sort of cases so hard to solve,” Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder told WCCO. “And through forensics and through updated technology, we’re able to come back and get people placed under arrest for crimes they committed long ago.”

DNA collected directly from Westrom also matched the samples from Childs’ apartment. He later denied ever being inside Childs’ apartment or having sex with any woman in 1993, according to the criminal complaint.

Westrom, whose criminal history includes several drunken driving convictions, saw his probation end last year after being convicted of trying to hire a prostitute in Stearns County. He remained held on $1 million bail before his first court appearance Friday.

An attorney representing him declined to comment, the Star Tribune reports.

Source: NYPOST