DNA genealogy solves 1983 murder in Livingston County
HOWELL, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) – A decades-old cold case in Livingston County is now closed.
DNA genealogy was the big break for investigators to determine who strangled a Redford Township woman to death and sexually assaulted her.
"There was no tips. There was no evidence there was no indication that would lead us to Charles Shaw," Livingston County Sheriff Michael Murphy said Wednesday.
Shaw is suspected of kidnapping and killing 19-year-old Christina Castiglione in March 1983.
She was last seen walking on Five Mile Road near Lola Park.
"She was observed by a friend of hers at the time, who was passing by in a car, he asked to be dropped off, and then he went to walk towards her and never found her," Det. Lieutenant Jim Lynch with the Livingston County Sheriff's Office said.
Ten days later, the police did.
Castiglione's body was at the Oak Grove State Game Area in Deerfield Township.
During an autopsy, they collected and preserved DNA evidence that in the early 2000s was entered into an FBI database, but no hits.
"This case transcended a lot of people that have worked here—changes in our property room. The list goes on and on," Murphy said.
Last year the cold case unit applied and received a grant through Season of Justice, a nonprofit dedicated to funding DNA testing on unsolved homicides.
Using that money, they sent the 1983 DNA samples to Othram, a forensic lab in Texas.
"And then they were able to locate a single hit within the DNA, genealogy sites that came back to a living uncle of the suspect. And then they were able to build a family tree from that uncle to where we are today," Matt Young, a detective sergeant at the Livingston County Sheriff's Office, said.
Investigators learned that 26-year-old Shaw died in Detroit due to accidental sexual asphyxiation eight months after Castiglione's murder.
It's unclear if the two ever knew each other.
"I can tell you, the ex-wife, she believed that something like this could have happened at some point during their marriage. She wasn't overly surprised. But she was more than helpful in bringing this to resolution," Young said.
Murphy commends his team of former and current law enforcement for bringing some closure in this case.
"With us, it's a priority if we can resolve these things, then we will," William Lenaghan, a cold case investigator at the Livingston County Sheriff's Office, said.
The cold case unit is now reviewing other unsolved cases to determine which could benefit from DNA genealogy technology.