WA WA - Susan Galvin, 20, Seattle, 9 July 1967

[Tulessa]

KIRO 7 Reporter Amy Clancy has been digging into this case and will air her full report, including an interview with the lead case detective, on KIRO 7 News from 5-6:30 p.m. Watch with us on TV or use this link for the KIRO 7 livestream.

Seattle Center was where 20-year-old Susan Galvin spent much of her free time in the mid-60s.

According to Seattle Police documents, Galvin, who worked as a police records employee, often walked from her apartment on lower Queen Anne to what was then called the Food Circus at Seattle Center.



http://www.kiro7.com/news/local/sea...7-seattle-center-cold-case-homicide/488605769

 

[Tulessa]

Mods, if there is a thread for this young lady, please combine. I couldn't find one.

 

[slsetter]

This case is suppose to be solved and a press conference given may 6.

 

[sasha17]

This case is suppose to be solved and a press conference given may 6.

Do you have a link with information about this? Thanks!

 

[slsetter]

I do not at this time. I am waiting for an update. Susan was my aunt. Unfortunately, this happened before I was born

 

[slsetter]

DNA, family tree help solve 52-year-old Seattle murder case

 

[sasha17]

DNA, family tree help solve 52-year-old Seattle murder case

Thank you for the link! Here is also a tweet today from a reporter at KIRO 7 News: AMY CLANCY on Twitter

I'm glad your family finally has closure after all these years.

 

[slsetter]

thank You

 

[Betty P]

DNA, family tree help solve 52-year-old Seattle murder case

I'm so glad for your family that police found Susan's killer. May you all have peace moving forward, with great memories of Susan. It's almost a miracle that modern DNA and databases are finally bringing justice in these cases.

Here's another link:

52-year-old murder solved in Seattle

ETA: From this news article, Wypych was one of those creeps who impersonated a police officer in order to pull women over on public roads..

The department said it no longer had records of that offense, but relatives told investigators he had been impersonating a police officer and making traffic stops in uniform, armed with a gun. Wypych's children cooperated with the investigation, though they were stunned to learn about the killing, Norton said.

DNA, family tree help solve 52-year-old Seattle murder case

 

[Seattle1]

• Susan Galvin was found dead in an elevator in the Seattle Center on July 13, 1967
• Missing for three days the 20-year-old had been raped and strangled to death
• For over 50 years her death continued to baffle investigators until last month
• DNA evidence taken from the scene was matched by Parabon NanoLabs to former soldier Frank Wypych, who died in 1987 and lived near the murder scene
• The use of the public genealogy databases to solve cold cases has taken off in the past year, since the Golden State Killer breakthrough in CA
• Larry Galvin, Susan's brother, thanked the Seattle Police Department for their tenacious investigation that has provided his family with a ‘sense of closure’

Officers provided the Virginia-based Parabon NanoLabs with the killer’s five decade-old DNA, where scientists worked to create a family tree for the killer, using a public genealogy website database.

Ultimately, the lab identified potential suspect as Frank Wypych, a married Seattle man and former soldier who died of complications from diabetes in 1987.

Seattle police exhumed his remains from a cemetery earlier this year to collect DNA and confirmed it matched that collected from Galvin's clothing.

They're now looking into whether he may have killed anyone else while stationed in New York, Alaska and Germany while in the Army.

‘It's the oldest case where genetic genealogy has helped to identify the suspect,’ CeCe Moore from Parabon said Tuesday. bbm

‘It's amazing the DNA was still viable. The original investigators who collected the crime scene evidence did such a great job, long before they could even have imagined what could be done with DNA.’

Same ancestry DNA lab used to capture the 'Golden State Killer' helps to solve 52-year-old cold case | Daily Mail Online

 

[Seattle1]

52-year-old murder solved in Seattle

After more than five decades and interviewing suspects, including several Navy sailors and clown who was seen with Galvin just before her body was found, Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best and Norton announced Tuesday they had a suspect - but Frank Wypych died in 1987.

Police said the investigation had gone cold until they were notified of a link from GEDmatch, a popular, and free, ancestry and genealogy website that’s helped police departments across the nation solve cold cases. A genealogist told Seattle police the DNA collected from Galvin possibly matched a family tree they had on file – genealogy work led police to identified Wypych as a suspect.

 

[Seattle1]

Seattle police solve 1967 cold case murder through DNA, family tree

 

[k-mac]

rip susan
so glad the world knows who took your precious young life.

im really digging these family ancestory websites!

 

[Silentium]

So sad the beast died in 1987....this is not real justice

 

[NorthDakotaTroy]

Sorry to resurrect a seven-month old post about a solved case, but I've read through almost every link I can find on this case, and I'm still searching for more information about "the clown" who was the prime suspect for decades?

Did he leave town shortly after Susan Galvin's murder? Does anybody know anything more about him or the circumstances, and/or have links with more of this story? Even local newspapers seem to have scant information on this case over the years.

 

[StarrChance]

I can’t find out who they are referring too, perhaps now the case is solved you could request a FOI file?

 

[Legally Bland]

There's a long article here, but I don't think it reveals who Punchy the Clown was.

The Coldest Case Solved with Forensic Genealogy