DNA on hot dog napkin incriminates killer after 25 years

This story began in 1993, with the mysterious murder of prostitute Jeanne Ann Childs, 35, stabbed to death in her Minneapolis apartment. The woman was found wearing only socks in the still-flowing bathtub. According to the autopsy, some of the perforations in the body were made after death.

Suspects? None. Apart from some small evidence, there was nothing that could incriminate anyone. Unfortunately, DNA analysis was not yet effective in the early 1990s, and that brings us to 2005. That year, a Cold Case and FBI task force analyzed the murder of Jeanne Ann Childs as advances in decoding genetics could find out who killed her.

The evidence remained in place and after 26 years helped solve the case: a washcloth and a bloodstain on the bathroom sink. It took over 1 decade for 2018 samples to be cross-referenced with an online DNA bank and new clues to be introduced to the case. These sites are often used by people who want to build their family tree or know their ancestry - they are therefore a private and private service.

Jeanne Ann Childs was 35 when she was killed in her apartment (Playback / KSTP TV)

The DNA was compatible with that of the Westrom family, whose only member who signed up on the site may have led everyone into the suspect category. Police accompanied 52-year-old Jerry Westrom to a hockey game and collected a tissue used by the man while eating hot dogs. Westrom didn't even notice the pool work; and the result could not be worse for him, since after two and a half decades he was finally identified as the murderer of Jeanne Ann Childs.

About 2 weeks ago, Westrom was arrested and charged with murder. He denies the charges and says he didn't even know Jeanne Ann Childs; at the time, however, he was 27 years old and lived nearby. He is currently married and a father of three, but has been convicted several times for drunk driving, and is on probation for seeking sexual services with a teenager.

The police tactic of collecting the napkin used by Westrom in a hockey game, employing cross-dice with a private company to incriminate him, has sparked discussion about ethics in investigations.

Do you, dear reader, believe that authorities can use allegedly private data to identify criminals?

Jerry Westrom was identified more than 25 years after the murder (Press Release / Hennepin County Sheriff Office)