30-Year-Old Cold Case Solved Through Genetic Genealogy Resources

            The over 30-year-old cold case of Michelle Koski’s assault and murder has been solved using genetic genealogy resources by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. The 1990 case was left alone for 15 years before a cold case team started to work on it according to ABC News, but despite solving the case justice is unable to be served.

            On August 25, just recently turned 17-year-old Michelle Koski’s body was found in woods outside of Seattle, Washington. Koski was raped and beaten before being strangled and bludgeoned to death. For the first 15 years after the case, detectives avoided working on it, for a stint of ten years the team worked on identifying DNA left at the crime scene through CODIS.

            Later, the team changed tactics to instead look through voluntary DNA databases to find familial matches, allowing them to create a larger and more exact family tree. According to Law & Crime, after a year of work, they found two brothers, narrowing further their culprit.

            Robert Brooks (22 at the time of the murder) was released from prison four months before Koski’s murder for a juvenile offense. He was staying with family nearby Koski’s home, and it was his DNA that matched. Despite finding the culprit, Brooks died in 2016 from natural causes at 48. Even though justice could not be brought against Koski’s killer, the knowledge and answers for her family are healing as well.