Jerry Burns stands with his lawyer Leon Spies (right) during a recess in the continuation of a suppression hearing for evidence in the case of Burns of Manchester at the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020. At the time of her death, police had found Martinko stabbed to death in her car in a local mall parking lot. The man charged with killing Michelle Martinko 39 years ago is not a suspect in the death of his wife or disappearance of his cousin, according to investigators. But detectives had been stymied. On December 20, 2018, a district judge set his bond at $5 million. It wasn't until decades after the killing that investigators began to link the emotions of a motive with the science of DNA. The sketch looked like a man in his 20s, weighing 165-175 pounds, and standing at around 6 feet. timing. [2][23] On December 19, 2018, investigators went to Burns' business in Manchester, Iowa, to interview him. The results were entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), the national DNA database, but no matches were found. I don't exactly remember what happened, seen something about Jodi Huisentruit recently.". They then started to locate all the people that they had originally interviewed in the investigation and collected DNA samples from over 100 different people. Jerry Burns enters the courtroom in 2020 (Image via We Are Iowa) Burns was born in Manchester, Iowa in 1953 and graduated from West . Jerry Lynn Burns (defendant-appellant), which is before the Iowa Supreme Court. When the detectives first investigated this case, they thought of the homicide as being personal in nature - based on the 10 stab wounds . Unfortunately, this led the police nowhere at the time and the case gradually got cold. But the software he used allowed him to review history and activity only to January 2018. Burns also built himself a new home on his parents' land and opened a gas station and convenience store nearby. Want a job? DNA: ID. Thus began the quest to finally nab Martinko's killers. Denlinger then told him he had a search warrant for his DNA. The detective on the case, Matt Denlinger, gave me some interesting details. Mail, proper postage prepaid, addressed to Jerry L. Burns, No. [2] She did not have many close girlfriends or confidantes, which was speculated to be caused by jealousy from other students over her beauty and stylish clothes[11] or conflict over a boy she had dated. Denlinger had found the needle in the haystack. Burns is being held at the Linn County jail on a $5 million cash-only bond. The family of Jerry Burns would like to thank our friends and the Manchester community for the support we have received since Jerrys arrest, read the familys statement. Allison, who's being held on drug charges in Linn County, says the two played the card game pinochle often. Michelle Martinko, 18, was stabbed to death in a mall parking lot in Dec. 1979. [23] Out of more than 80 potential suspects that had been identified over the years, more than 60 people were tested and cleared of suspicion. During the trials, Burns was found to contradict his own statements. Exactly 39 years after her death, police took a Manchester man into custody after matching his DNA to blood found at the crime scene. Burns kept pointing to the swab, he testified, and saying, 'Test it. Police covertly obtained Burns' DNA from a drinking straw he left it on a table after eating lunch Oct. 29, 2018, at the Pizza Ranch in Manchester, testimony showed. ABC News' Matt Foster and Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report. After reading about the Golden State Killer case in 2018, in which serial killer Joseph James DeAngelo was finally caught through a long trail of DNA, Denlinger had an epiphany: perhaps he could use that same new technique to solve the Martinko case. In a brief interview with the Cedar Rapids Gazette in 1980, Janet said of her daughter, She loved music. His voice was always turned up to full volume. Jerry was born May 22, 1944, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Fred Richard Lynn and Mary Ellen Manning and passed away on July 10, 2022. GEDmatch returned one person who shared DNA markers with the suspect in Martinko's murder, and it determined her to be likely the killer's second cousin once removed. 20-1150). Investigators matched DNA found in the car to Jerry Burns and arrested him in 2018. Jerry Burns on Trial AP Jerry Burns of Manchester, Iowa, is led into the courtroom during closing arguments for his trial at the Scott County Courthouse in Davenport, Iowa on Monday, Feb. 24, 2020. A juvenile found carrying a knife was interviewed and ruled out in her murder, as was a shopping center employee who had told police that he enjoyed following women and ogling store mannequins. The final nail in the coffin was when a witness gave his statement to the court. Burns' wife, Patricia . Jerry Lynn Burns granted independent journalist, Steve Ridge, an exclusive Christmas Eve interview, in which Burns also said he will seek a new trial in the Martinko murder. During the investigation, the police assumed that there were personal motives involved in the murder due to the nature of Martinko's stab wounds. It showed that she was a distant relative of the person whose DNA was found at the crime scene a second cousin once removed. Almost 40 years later, with the help of DNA Technology, the culprit was nabbed and justice was finally served to Martinko and her grieving family. [9] The killer left no fingerprints, which led police to believe they had worn gloves. ), Press J to jump to the feed. We would also like to extend our sympathy to the Martinko family.. At 4a.m., police found the Martinko family's tan and green 1972 Buick Electra in the northeast corner of the mall parking lot by a JCPenney. KCRG-TV9: 10PM Newscast, December 19, 2018 Arrest in Michelle Martinko Case, KCRG-TV9 Staff Anchors: Bruce Aune and Beth Malicki Meteorologist: Joe Winters Executive Producer: Aaron Hepker Producer: Ellen Kurt Director: Terri Walter Reporters: Dave Franzman, Forrest Saunders, Chantelle Navarro Photographers: Rebecca Varilek, Jay Greene, Michelle Martinko's Family Speaks to Law & Crime Network About the Jerry Burns Verdict, Michelle Martinko's Family Speaks to Law & Crime Network About the Jerry Burns Verdict #JerryBurns #JerryBurnsTrial #MichelleMartinko, Serial Killers Ex Thinks There Were More Victims. Things that make it difficult. Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com, Trish Mehaffey Crime and Courts Sep. 12, 2021 10:48 am535d ago, Gage Miskimen Health Care and Medicine Jul. He stated that Burns' DNA could have been at the scene due to secondary transfer (such as skin cells transferring to an article of clothing when someone brushes up against another person), although he clarified that it was not his opinion that this was the case with Burns' DNA. Spies, on cross examination, asked if Denlinger had permission from Burns' two brothers and a distant cousin to access their DNA in developing a suspect pool. "I cried a lot and I looked out windows all hours of the night," Martinko's mother, Janet Martinko, told Cedar Rapids' CBS station in 1987. He began working with Parabon NanoLabs, now a leading company helping police solve crimes through genetic tracing. The lab determined that the DNA collected from Burns was a match to DNA from the blood found on Michelle Martinko's clothing and was consistent with the DNA profile developed from blood found elsewhere in the car, Jerman said. Last week, a police investigator explained how using a public genealogy database - called GEDmatch - led to Burns being identified as a match to the DNA evidence found on Martinko's dress and gearshift of her car, where her body was found Dec. 20, 1979. People named Jerry Burns. "In a genetic genealogy database we can reverse engineer the [suspect's family] tree from their distant" relatives who have submitted DNA, Moore said. [26] When the DNA sample was tested, it matched the blood sample found at the crime scene. [10] Police considered the killing to be "personal in nature" based on the number and location of stab wounds. Find your friends on Facebook. The defense brought only one witness, a self-described forensic DNA consultant, who testified on the possibility that police could have mishandled the evidence. Rumors began to circulate about the crime. So Denlinger drew up an elaborate genealogy chart going back to Brandy's great-great grandparents to sleuth out a trail that could lead to the killer's DNA. [9][2], Police had few leads and appealed to the public for tips. The trial was then moved to February 2020. She never had any school problems. In fact, his father Harvey, now 85, had been one of the original officers on the case 40 years earlier. Jerry Lynn Burns will raise two . Visitation with the family will be Monday April 10th from 4 to 8 PM and on. Accountability doled out to suspects. But Denlinger did get consent from Janice Burns, Burns' first cousin, and collected her DNA for testing, he said. Now in his late 60s, Burns is currently behind bars and will stay there till he dies. The murder of Michelle Martinko in the parking lot of Cedar Rapids' Westdale Mall has some eerie connections to the Huisentruit case. The murder of Michelle Martinko in the parking lot of Cedar Rapids' Westdale Mall has some eerie connections to the Huisentruit case. Holst said that in reviewing Burns' computer, he found hundreds of searches and website visits - a pattern that happened several times a week. Ken and Don were not a match but Jerry Burns' DNA was a match, to an almost perfect scientific certainty. Burns made an initial court appearance via video Thursday morning and said he would fill out an application for a court-appointed counsel. The defense also requested the trial be moved out of Linn County based on the amount of attention the case had received over the past four decades, as well as "pervasive and prejudicial pretrial publicity". Martinko was 18, a senior in high school in 1979, when she was accosted as she was getting into her car on a chilly night in December following a trip to the mall. FILE - In a Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020 file photo, Jerry Burns enters the courtroom during the continuation of a suppression hearing for evidence in the case of Burns of Manchester at the Linn County . He was never charged with the Martinko murder, he denied the accusations, and DNA evidence, found later, did not match his DNA. Jerry Lynn Burns, 64, was charged with first-degree murder and is scheduled to appear Thursday in Linn County Court. 1, 2021 3:52 pm608d ago, Caleb McCullough Health Care and Medicine Jun. Burns' attorney, Leon Spies, also argued in his suppression motion that the computer evidence is irrelevant because it's from 2018 - 38 years after Martinko's death. Jerry Lynn Burns will be in prison for the rest of his days. [2] Police determined from the lack of blood outside the car that Martinko had been killed while in the car, and the medical examiner later estimated she had died between 8 and 10p.m.[17] The murder weapon was "sharp-pointed" but not definitively a knife, and the medical examiner could not determine its size. [10] A police spokesman estimated that in the week after Martinko's murder, more than 200 people responded to the detectives' appeals in the news for information concerning the case. On December 19, 2018, 39 years after Michelle Martinkp was murdered, Det. appeal from the iowa district court for linn county honorable fae hoover grinde, district court judge brief of amici curiae: american civil liberties union american civil liberties union of iowa electronic frontier foundation in support of defendant-appellant *pro hac vice application pending jennifer lynch* The 55 year-old Delaware County man was last seen on December 19, 2013 - 34 years to the day of Martinko's murder. This evidence was inadmissible at trial but was the subject of a public suppression hearing. This revealed everything, and Burns was ultimately declared guilty of first-degree murder. Hi all - I discuss the case of Michelle Martinko, who was murdered in 1979 in Iowa, this week on DNA: ID podcast. He testified last week he took the straw after it was discarded. [2], Martinko had been stabbed 29 times in her face, neck, and chest. December . On the eve of December 19, 1979, an 18-year-old high school student named Michelle Martinko was discovered dead in her family's car outside a mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Jerry Burns mentioned Jodi by name while speaking to an investigator shortly before his arrest. Place of rest will be in the Dickson County Memorial Gardens. Lives in Brentwood, Arkansas. [7] Eventually, more than 125 people would have their DNA swabbed and compared against samples taken from the scene. Offender records are public information pursuant to Section 904.601 (1)Iowa Code (1999). People around him considered him to be a professional but everything fizzled out shortly after. On cross examination, Spies asked Holst if he had expertise in psychology or forensic psychology. Grab your popcorn & get comfy as we dive into some dusty old cases revitalized thanks to genetic genealogy (& a bit of good ol' fashioned detective work! They wanted to try to get an explanation for why Burns' DNA was found at the crime scene and to get a DNA sample from Burns to confirm the DNA obtained from the drinking straw. Denlinger said they were uploaded to GEDmatch by Parabon NanoLabs, a private company the department worked with. Exactly 39 years after Michelle Martinko's body was found, DNA evidence led to the arrest of a Manchester man who was charged with her 1979 murder. I hope you enjoy it!! The prosecution emphasized the unlikelihood of the DNA evidence matching someone other than the person who left it at the scene. Tests eliminated the other two brothers as suspects, but the DNA from Burns' straw matched the blood found on Martinko's clothing. Just before his arrest, Burns, unsolicited, mentioned the name of missing Iowa anchor Jodi Huisentruit as he was being questioned about the Martinko case. "It looks personal, it's a lot of stab wounds, it's overkill," said lead Detective Matt Denlinger of the Cedar Rapids Police Department. Her death was ruled a suicide. The murder was closely followed within her community, and the police received more than 200 tips in the weeks following her killing. Although the tip did not lead to any suspects, the investigator discovered what he believed to be the killer's blood while he was reviewing the case files. [36][37], On August 7, 2020, Burns was sentenced to life in prison without parole. To learn the entire story of Michelle Martinko's murder, watch Dateline: Unforgettable at 10 pm on Oxygen 79. Her friend declined. Denlinger followed each of the brothers around clandestinely, waiting for them to discard an item containing their DNA, and then sent the collected samples to the crime lab. Burns stated that DNA evidence had been mishandled in 1979 in one instance, but denied ever being present on the night of the murder in another. Jerry Burns is still behind bars . . Police looked at numerous suspects during the initial investigation, including a man who raped a woman at knifepoint and later died while in prison for that crime, but DNA testing ruled him out. He grew up in Manchester, Iowa, and graduated from West Delaware High School in 1972. [7] Martinko was the younger of two daughters of Albert F. Martinko and Janet Martinko (ne Zillig). Gerald Edward "Jake" Merriner, 92, of Jane Lew passed away on Monday, February 27, 2023 in the Stonewall Jackson Hospital. The sample was put into a national computer database and was used to clear more than 70 of Martinkos acquaintances, according to NBC News. "Murder at . He would have been around 25-years-old when he killed Michelle Martinko in December of 1979. Martinko then went to the mall alone, carrying $180 and intending to finalize the purchase of a new winter coat that was on layaway. Attorneys for Jerry Burns, convicted of the 1979 murder of Michelle Martinko, are continuing to fight DNA evidence they say the trial court erred in not supressing. Teen Michelle Martinko was stabbed to death in 1979. [11], In the mid-1980s, Martinko's father filed a lawsuit against the owners of the Westdale Mall and claimed negligence in not providing "reasonable security" on the night of the murder. However, in 2006, a tip came into the Cedar Rapids police department. Court documents said blood on clothing worn by Martinko and a blood stain on the gear shift of the car, where the teens body was discovered, were analyzed and found to belong to someone else. In 2017, Cedar Rapids police said they reached out to Parabon NanoLabs to help build a suspect profile based on the crime scene DNA. Familial matches let them narrow down the suspect list to three brothers from Manchester, Iowa. Sign Up. Jerry Burns Wife: Who Is He Married To? The images looked considerably different from the 1980 composite sketch and showed a man with blond hair and blue eyes. A funeral service for Jerry Calvin Lynn, 78, will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, July 16, 2022, at Rose-Neath Funeral Home, 2201 Airline Drive, Bossier City, Louisiana. The case was solved, but there were lingering questions about Jerry Burns. An obituary for Burns' wife, Patricia, says that she died in June 2008 at the age of 55 . While these occurrences sounded suspicious, the police didn't believe Burns had anything to do with them. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette), Jeff Holst, an investigator with the Cedar Rapids Police Department, looks at a report he made which was entered into evidence as he testifies during the continuation of a suppression hearing for evidence in the case of Jerry Burns of Manchester at the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020. Vikings Ring of Honor Coach Jerry Burns passed away Wednesday at the age of 94. Works at Target Distribution Center. Burns argues the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress where the warrantless extraction of his DNA profile violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article I . Ahead of the Dateline NBC episode about her death, heres what you need to know about the crime, the perpetrator, and what sentence he received at trial. 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