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35-year-old murder and rape of teenager solved after police link DNA profile to second cousin of the suspect

The cold case involved the death of Traci Hammerberg, 18, who was found raped and murdered on December 15, 1984 in Saukville, north of Milwaukee
UPDATED FEB 27, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN: Police claim to have have solved a 35-year-old rape and murder of a Wisconsin young girl by comparing DNA evidence to a genealogy database. Traci Hammerberg, 18, was discovered on a snow-covered driveway in Saukville, north of Milwaukee on December 15, 1984, after she left a party after midnight to walk almost four miles home. An autopsy determined that she had been raped, strangled and had her head bludgeoned with a metallic object.

Her death remained unsolved for more than three decades up until recently when the Ozaukee County Sheriff's Office revealed that DNA databases had helped them solve the cold case.

Hammerberg was out drinking with her friends on the night that she was murdered (Ozaukee County Sheriff's Office)

The police revealed that Hammerberg was killed by Philip Cross, who was 21 at the time of the incident. Cross passed away due to an overdose in 2012. Even though the cops had created a DNA profile from semen found at the time of Hammerberg's murder, they were not able to find or identify a suspect. 

In March, earlier this year, the authorities had started to go through genealogy databases in order to see whether the original DNA profile matched any of the killer's relatives. According to the investigators, the DNA profile was a match to a second cousin.

They then began to create a family tree that was based on the second cousin's relatives and locked in on the suspect. 

By August, Cross had been identified as a possible suspect. The Sheriff's Office also shared that Cross would have been working night shifts in the same area at around the time that the victim was killed. The original DNA was matched to DNA taken from Cross's autopsy. 

The police believe that Hammerberg had accepted a ride from Cross when he was on his way home from work. Forensic genealogy is the same procedure that led to the capture of the Golden State Killer. 

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