Found Deceased CA - Terri Lynn Hollis, 11, Torrance, 23 Nov 1972, *Genealogy Case solved on 12 Sep 2019*

[imstilla.grandma]

Southern California investigators have solved the murder of an 11-year-old girl, nearly five decades after her Thanksgiving Day kidnapping.

Genetic genealogy identified Jake Edward Brown, who died in 2003, as the suspect in the disappearance and death of Terri Lynn Hollis, authorities said Wednesday. She vanished from her family's home in Torrance, near Los Angeles, on Nov. 23, 1972. Fishermen found Hollis, wearing only a T-shirt, on a cliff below the Pacific Coast Highway in Oxnard the next day.

“This crime is what nightmares are made of, and no family should ever have to go through such a tragedy,” Torrance Police Chief Eve Irvine said at a news conference.

After 2,000 interviews over nearly half a century, Irvine said an analysis of public databases by Virginia-based Parabon NanoLabs Inc. led them to a relative of the suspect. Police had preserved a DNA sample from Hollis' body, and it matched. Authorities then dug up Brown's body in Arizona to confirm the connection.

Brown had been arrested for two rape cases after Hollis' death, Irvine said, and police are investigating if he may be responsible for other unsolved crimes. He also had multiple addresses and went by an alias.
Terri Lynn Hollis, 11, was murdered on Thanksgiving Day 1972. California investigators didn't give up on her case

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Randy Hollis, who was 16 when his younger sister was killed, said: “I only wish that my parents were still alive to see this.”
Investigators Solve 1972 Murder of 11-Year-Old Using DNA Database

 

[MissMalowe]

Wow! 5 decades later. That's a very long wait, but I'm glad the remaining family members at least have some closure. Science/technology can certainly be amazing sometimes.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Jake Edward Brown was identified as the killer of the child, Terri Lynn Hollis, using genetic geneology: the same type of investigative tool that was used to capture Golden State Killer suspect Joseph James DeAngelo in 2018.

“His DNA was a 1 in 20 septillion match to the evidence collected from Terri Lynn Hollis,” Torrance Police Chief Eve Irvine said at a press conference Wednesday.
DNA Helps California Police Identify Suspect in Cold-Case 1972 Death of 11-Year-Old Girl

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[BlackCloud]

I'm happy this is not a cold case anymore but...another psycho got away with it...what the hell

 

[MRT3]

Was glad to hear this was finially solved too. I lived a few blocks away, and went to the same grade school. She (the victim) was in my kid brothers class, and her older brother was in mine.

 

[MRT3]

My preceeding post brought back some memories. There was sort of a witch hunt for the perp, and Terri's teacher (also my brother's teacher), was wrongly convicted (my opinion) of molesting a couple of girls in his class despite a perfect alabi..

The teacher was assumed by the press and police to be Terri's killer after the molestation accusation. But the girls later recanted and said it never happened. To me, it was just adolescent stories that adults, like the DA, pressured the girls into saying were actual events.

The DA would not budge, and the last I heard was that the teacher was rotting in prison, and the two girls were so remorseful they went to the local newspaper (Daily Breeze?) to try and set the record straight for a re-trial or pardon which embarrassed the DA. Putting an innocent person in jail had ruined these girls, and by high school they couldn't live the lie anymore.

I moved from Torrance about that time, and if anyone knows what happened to the teacher and the girls who recanted, I'd sure like to know.

The school was Hillside Elementry, and the teacher's name was Mr. Smith if I remember right. The time frame was about 1974.

 

[Earth]

Does anyone think that the killer could be linked to the disappearance of Mikelle Biggs? He lived in Maricopa County, Arizona, which I believe is where she disappeared. She was also an eleven-year-old riding a bicycle.

If we knew more about where and when he lived, this could help us.