got more better cars and who can do this and who can't do that. and i pulled away from it. keith morrison: there's an eternal truth to the ancient myth about flying too close to the sun, whether a once celebrated footballer or shining star of the london olympics, who flew on his flashing blades and fell so fast and so far. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. i'm craig melvin, and this the christmas choir banquet.os she was dressed up to the nines. man: this young girl catches his eye. she caught everyone's eye. doug larison: she didn't come home that night. there was blood everywhere.

there was blood spatter all over the inside of the car. it was a very frenzied attack. janelle stonebraker: the theories were just awful-- drug rings, prostitute rings. the entire town was going crazy. i thought, eventually, if we swabbed enough people, we're going to come across our suspect. it was fascinating how they went about the investigation. we got a call-- we've got three brothers, and we think one of them is the killer. but they didn't know which one. dennis murphy: so you got a live one here. we got a live one here. what do you think at that moment? we're ecstatic. we're ready to go. he was sitting at a booth right by the window there. you're in the next booth over. yeah. it's hard to enjoy your food, when you think you're staring at the killer. [music playing] hello, and welcome to "dateline." teenager michelle martinko was blessed with beauty, brains, and compassion, but her promising future was cut short,

when she was savagely murdered. that dreadful night was ice cold, and after four decades, so was her case. then, a stunning scientific breakthrough helped detectives whittle down a list of suspects to unmask a killer hiding in plain sight. here's dennis murphy with "and then there were three." dennis murphy: it was an act of unspeakable violence. doug larison: it was a really horrific crime. everybody was scared. dennis murphy: a murder that shattered a family. my parents were devastated. my mother eventually did not go out of the house. dennis murphy: a whodunit that grabbed hold of a city and wouldn't let go. doug larison: it's been kind of a dark cloud hanging over the community for 40 years. dennis murphy: a case that touched generations of investigators who refused to quit, until the killer was found. they cared about this family. they cared about solving this murder.

they weren't going to give up, and they didn't. [music playing] dennis murphy: curt thomas says he was a lucky kid. he got to grow up in cedar rapids, iowa. it was a magical bubble. we didn't know anything but fun. dennis murphy: a lot of that fun happened at the mall. for teenagers, it was the place to shop, eat, and hang out. that's where the kids hung. huh? it was a place you could go at any time, and it was a big deal. dennis murphy: high school senior michelle martinko was no mall rat, but she did shop and work at one near her home. michelle was a top student, a gifted baton twirler, and sang in the school choir, along with her friend jane hansen. why do you think you guys hit it off as well as you did? gosh. we had a lot of things in our life that were very parallel. was she what they used to call girly girl or was she a little bit of a tomboy? how do you remember her? oh, no, she's a girly girl.

dennis murphy: december 19, 1979, was a big night for michelle. it was her school choir's christmas banquet at the sheraton. with her hair done up to perfection and decked out in her favorite black dress and rabbit fur coat, she looked like an angel, a charlie's angel. john stonebraker: her nickname was farrah. dennis murphy: john stonebraker is michelle's brother-in-law. it was farrah fawcett major's time. farrah fawcett-- [interposing voices] john stonebraker: --with the hair. you know? so she was farrah. dennis murphy: though it was a school night, after the banquet, michelle asked jane to go with her to the mall, but jane had homework to do. so when michelle said, let's go to the mall tonight, jane, that wasn't going to work for you. huh? correct. i turned her down. dennis murphy: so going solo, michelle got in her parent's 1972 buick electra and headed off to the brand new westdale mall on the southwest side of town. she had $180 cash on her to pay for a coat her mother had picked out. curt was also at the mall that night working a shift at the chess king men's store.

saw this beautiful girl in a rabbit fur coat, black dress, high-heeled shoes, blonde hair. then i was like, that's michelle. dennis murphy: curt and michelle were friends from school. she joined him for his break, and they went for a stroll, at one point, passing by a shop girl curt had a crush on, teenage drama at the mall. and it pops in my head, well, i'm never going to get a dance with that girl, because i just walked by with a blonde-- dennis murphy: i've got miss america here on my arm. yeah. dennis murphy: curt says, he and michelle spent his entire break catching up, until he had to get back to work. he walked her to an exit. and that's when we're saying goodbye, and she said, well, don't be a stranger. did you think you'd see her again. yes. of course, i did. dennis murphy: since there was school the next day, it wasn't a night to stay out late. so when michelle hadn't returned home, even well after the mall had closed, her sister says, their mother janet started to worry. my parents started calling around to see with her other friends but the situation was.

and why is she not back here home? mm-hmm. and janet did call the police as well. the police say, well, you know, we can look after every teenager who's missing for a couple of hours, and janet resisted that. she said, no, no, no, she's very dependable. she should be home. she has a test tomorrow. she has to study. dennis murphy: michelle's mom kept making calls late into the night. at 2:30 am, she dialed michelle's friend, jane. i was sound asleep, and my dad came and woke me up and, you know, said it's mrs. martinko on the phone. those are not good calls. she wanted to know if i knew where michelle was. dennis murphy: but jane didn't know. nobody did. so in the middle of the night, in a panic, michelle's mom called the police again. this time, they dispatched an officer. jim kincaid got the call at 4:00 am. they sent the mall to see if i could locate this car. dennis murphy: just hours earlier, the mall was bustling

with christmas shoppers. now, it was dark, deserted. in the distance, officer kincaid spotted a car in the far reaches of the parking lot, a long walk from the entrance to the jc penney. it seemed to match the description of the one i was sent to find. looking from your vehicle, could you see what had happened there? - no. - couldn't see in the windows? couldn't see in the windows. they were frosted over. i opened the back door. i could see that there was a woman slouched down. at first, i thought just an intoxicated person. so i walked around the car and looked in the passenger side and front window, and obviously, it wasn't an old woman drunk. could you tell she was gone? yes. there were no signs of life. she was obviously deceased. [music playing] dennis murphy: beautiful, vivacious, high school senior, michelle martinko was dead. she was just 18 years old. for her family and close friends, the christmas season and life as they knew it ended that night,

and the brand new westdale mall had become a crime scene. [music playing] craig melvin: coming up, what had happened to michelle? a very frenzied attack, there was blood everywhere. there was blood spatter all over the inside of the car. matt denlinger: michelle had really deep defensive wounds on her hands. she put up a fight. craig melvin: against a killer who knew what he wanted. matt denlinger: the officers found glove prints on the outside of the car, in the dirt, on the door handle. so the killer came to do business. oh, yeah. craig melvin: when dateline continues. what are folks 60 and older learning these days? new perspectives! ♪♪ how to fix things. ♪♪ fun recip... (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound)

jordan's sore nose let out a fiery sneeze, so dad grabbed puffs plus lotion to soothe her with ease. puffs plus lotion is gentle on sensitive skin and locks in moisture to provide soothing relief. a nose in need deserves puffs indeed. america's #1 lotion tissue. for athletes in the ring. for athletes in the ring. >> and at home. trust cos gum problems could be the start of a domino effect parodontax active gum repair breath freshener clinically proven to help reverse the 4 signs of early gum disease a toothpaste from parodontax, the gum experts. in just two days. it's

clinically proven. formula penetrates the nail for results. you can see quickly. optimal give fungus damaged toenails a makeover. >> i need these items. >> printed by friday. certainly. are you for imprint? certain? we are for imprint. certainty matters when you need promo gear for gifting clients, customers and your team. for imprint comm has items certain to wow, imprint. >> for certain for gentle, dependable constipation relief, try seneca. it works differently than other laxatives because it's made from the senna plant, a natural vegetable laxative ingredient. craig here pays too much for business wireless. so he sublet half his real estate office... to a pet shop. there's a smarter way to save. comcast business mobile. you could save up to an incredible 70% on your wireless bill. so you don't have to compromise. powering smarter savings. powering possibilities. switch to comcast business internet and mobile and find out how to get the new samsung galaxy s25+ on us with a qualifying trade in.

don't wait, call, click or visit an xfinity store today. already taken. get 20%. >> off and free shipping. >> on your first order. at nuts.com. >> we saw elon musk take kind of a. powerful role. did anything. about how he wielded his power surprise you? do you not need a katrina level type of response that is rebuilding to make sure it won't happen again? you've obviously made a decision to resign. are there any lessons that can be learned as you're talking to members of your congregation, what do you tell them about how to stand up for

their own moral beliefs, but their own moral beliefs, but still find grace in dennis murphy: on a dark, ice cold morning, cedar rapids detectives were called to the mall parking lot to begin a murder investigation. the body of michelle martinko in her black dress and fur coat was slumped halfway off the passenger seat of the family's buick electra. she had multiple stab wounds. dennis murphy: doug larison was a college freshman, when michelle was killed. matt denlinger only in kindergarten, but years later, as cedar rapids police investigators, they'd come to know every detail of this case. very frenzied attack, there was blood everywhere. there was blood spatter all over the inside of the car. did the killer leave a blood trail away from the scene? did you get lucky in that way? no. no. there's no blood trail away from the scene, but the killer did leave some signatures. cid officers found glove prints on the outside of the car, in the dirt, on the door handle.

they look like dish-washing gloves from the late '70s, early '80s that everyone would have in their house. so the killer came to do business. matt denlinger: oh, yeah. the killer came to do business. michelle had really deep defensive wounds on her hands. she put up a fight. dennis murphy: the blood told them the struggle took place mostly on the passenger side but-- matt denlinger: the gearshift's got blood on it. the steering wheel's got blood on it, and we know michelle's not driving the car. so what does that suggest to you? what's the connect-the-dots thought there? well, the connect-the-dots thought that doug and i both had is that the killer's touching these things after he's murdered michelle. dennis murphy: they thought the killer might have cut himself during the attack, leaving his own blood behind, but linking that blood to a suspect, in 1979, almost impossible. doug larison: back then, they didn't have the dna analysis to go by. they used blood typing, you know, like type a blood or type b blood, which doesn't really narrow it down very much. dennis murphy: still, police collected the blood for analysis.

there wasn't much else at the scene to point to a who or why behind the killing. there was no obvious signs of a sexual assault. we really didn't have a good foundation for deciding what the motive was at that time. dennis murphy: that left investigators back in the day hanging. doug larison: it's almost like this is the heartland of the country, and no place is safe anymore. janelle stonebraker: we got the call about 6 o'clock in the morning, maybe 5 o'clock in the morning. dennis murphy: janelle stonebraker, michelle's sister, says her parents broke the awful news to her, through sobs and pleas to hurry home. they were just devastated. dennis murphy: even then, she sensed her parents might never recover, given how hard they had willed michelle, their second and last child, into this world. janelle stonebraker: this is my mother and father's miracle baby. you know? she's the child that they had tried to have for all those years. dennis murphy: a child who grew up in 1960s and '70s midwest america, hanging out at the roller rink, going to the lake.

in middle school, a back brace for scoliosis turned her into a shy pre-teen, but by high school, she'd done a 180. when she got her brace off, that's when she just kind of blossomed. dennis murphy: gail mccammond dawson and mike wyrick roamed these same halls with michelle, three close high school friends. gail mccammon dawson: all the time that she spent not wanting to be noticed, then she spent to be noticed. you know? and that's when the hair changed, and she got into her fashion, her style. dennis murphy: the farrah hairdo worked for michelle, and she in turn worked it. she was a head-turner. right? she was a head-turner. there is no way you cannot notice her. because she had gone through that more difficult period in junior high school, i think she knew what it was like to be on the other side of that, and she would go out of her way to be kind to everyone. oh, yeah. dennis murphy: that mix of beauty and sweetness made mike, a year ahead of her in school, fall for michelle. how serious were you with her? well, i was really serious. it was my first girlfriend.

you know? this was the most serious relationship i'd ever had. dennis murphy: but it ended, when he went to college. michelle had plenty of admirers though. she dated and broken up with a guy named andy. her friends thought this andy had a hard time letting go which may have prompted this exchange. gail mccammon dawson: she was a little bit weepy in class that one day, and when i asked her, you know, what's going on, her response was that she just is tired of belonging to somebody. dennis murphy: by her senior year, michelle was focused on college. she definitely conveyed to me she was ready to put high school in cedar rapids behind her. dennis murphy: curt thomas, the boy she hung out with the night she was murdered, is certain michelle was preparing to leave the building, when they said their goodbyes. you don't think that person's going to walk out the door, and you're never going to see them again. dennis murphy: curt says, he still feels guilty about how we handled that goodbye. i could have walked her to the car. i could have done something.

we're standing where her vehicle was found. dennis murphy: now, more than 40 years later, the account of michelle's final steps to her car is mostly guesswork. and just around the other side of jc penney's would have been the public entrance that she exited from. i'm thinking she's got a long walk in the cold to get to her vehicle. yeah. it's a long walk. it's a good 100 yards or so. huh? it's mid-december. it's dark. the lot's probably not real well lit, in 1979. yeah. she's got a long walk. dennis murphy: a long walk through a dark lot. now, police were eager to speak to one of the last friends known to have seen michelle martinko alive. craig melvin: coming up. curt thomas: the principal turned and said, mr. thomas, we need to talk to you. ok. craig melvin: a possible suspect. curt thomas: it was just like they do it on tv. this guy leaned over and said, why did you kill her? talk about deer in the headlights looking kid.

craig melvin: and an ugly rumor. the theories were just awful. i mean, it went everything from drug rings to prostitute rings. craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. (morgan) we're all looking for someplace to call home. but first, you need a place to look for a place to call home. and that's homes-dot-com. because it's the best. (lawyer) i told you, you cannot legally say homes-dot-com is the best! (luke) what if she says it, as morgan freeman? (marci) homes-dot—hold on, i can get this. homes-dot-com. (lawyer) no. (luke) well, how can we not say it... if that's our new name?! (lawyer) i give up. (luke) homes-dot-com-is-the- best-dot-com. [clears throat] sounds like you need to vaporize that sore throat. vapocool drops? it's sore throat relief with a rush of vicks vapors. ♪ vapocooooool ♪ whoa. vaporize sore throat pain with vicks vapocool drops.

long after guests leave, viruses and bacteria linger. air fresheners add a scent. but only lysol air sanitizer helps erase the trace, eliminating odor and killing 99.9% of viruses and bacteria in the air. scent can't sanitize. lysol can. generic. >> cialis. >> delivered to your. >> door for just. $0.87 in less than two minutes. do this first, scan the qr code to. >> go to get friday plans. then you select if you need generic. >> viagra or cialis, the quantity you need, and the dosage i'll pick 100 milligram. thank you very much. >> and then their system will see if you qualify. give it a second to find the best deals. >> and boom. >> look at. that $0.87. >> for. >> each 100mg. >> generic viagra tablet 20mg.

cialis is the same price. the prescription and shipping are free. scan the qr code. >> to go to get friday. >> plans.com and see for yourself. don't wait. scan the qr. >> code or go to get. >> friday plans. com now. >> doctors recommend kohl's. >> stool softener for. >> gentle, dependable. >> relief from constipation. >> it's so gentle. doctors even recommended during pregnancy and after surgery increases water in the. >> stool. >> stool. >> making it softe a sleep number® smart bed is perfect for couples the climate360® smart bed is the only bed that cools and warms on each side and all our smart beds adjust the firmness for each of you. and now, save 50% on the new sleep number® limited edition smart bed. shop a sleep number® store near you. >> plenty. >> 39 is. >> definitely made. a difference.

>> to me. >> my hair. it started to feel thicker. >> i felt my hair's. >> more swishy and stronger. >> it's lovely. >> to have. >> one less thing to. >> worry about. the bit. >> that i. >> care most about is my. >> hair and. >> if it looks good, i. >> feel absolutely brilliant. i would definitely recommend. planter 39. >> planter 39 caffeine shampoo. try it for your menopause journey. >> stay up to date on the biggest issues of the day with the msnbc daily newsletter. get the best of msnbc all in one place. sign up for msnbc daily at msnbc. >> com we're. >> going to start. >> with breaking news. >> on. >> capitol hill. >> mounting questions over the future of tiktok in the us. >> reporting from philadelphia. >> to. >> el paso. >> el paso. >> in the dennis murphy: even now, decades later, curt thomas remembers the moment, that morning at school, the principal showing up in his classroom,

and looking straight at him, trouble. curt thomas: the principal turned and said, mr. thomas, we need to talk to you. ok, and i get up, and when i walked there, he said, i need you to go out in the hallway and talk to these gentlemen. dennis murphy: these gentlemen were the two detectives first assigned to the case. curt says he didn't know why they wanted to talk to him, because he hadn't heard about the murder yet. soon, he was inside an interrogation room answering questions about the previous day. curt thomas: go through the night, curt. what time did you get off school? did you drive from school? you know? they're intent on starting-- curt thomas: very factually. dennis murphy: they want a timeline. very factual. dennis murphy: he says, after hours of back and forth, the detectives finally told him michelle had been murdered. the unhappy fact was that you were the last person in her circle of associates known to have seen her alive. that realization hit me like a brick. that's not a good place to be in. curt thomas: oh, no. at that point, i was somewhere in shock.

dennis murphy: then, he says, they hit him with it. it was just like they do it on tv. this guy wheeled around and put his hands on the desk and leaned over and said, why did you kill her? now's the time to give it up and do yourself some good. oh, talk about deer in the headlight looking kid. dennis murphy: but then, his store manager from the mall was on the line. she told detectives, curt had gone on break, returned to the store at around 9:30, and helped her close up shop about 10:00. police believe, michelle left the mall sometime in that half hour. curt thomas: this detective said, mr. thomas, you can go. i didn't know what that meant. as stupid as that is to say, can i really go? dennis murphy: for the moment at least, curt was in the clear. in fact, michelle's brother-in-law, john, already had someone else in mind for her murder,

her old boyfriend, andy. john stonebraker: he was very possessive. after they broke up, he'd park down the street to see if she was going out with someone else. he'd drive fast around the block. so i was pretty sure it was andy. you know? if i can't have her, nobody can have her type of thing. dennis murphy: sure enough, andy was brought in for questioning. matt denlinger and doug larison understood why the first detectives had taken a hard look at andy. matt denlinger: andy was at the mall that night. dennis murphy: what was the story? why did he say he was there? well, he was there to buy her a christmas present. dennis murphy: her? the girlfriend? his ex-girlfriend? yeah. the night she's killed, he is at the mall to buy her a present, even though they're no longer boyfriend, girlfriend. correct. yep. i mean, that sounds curious, even now, just saying it. matt denlinger: it does. a lot of the detectives thought that might be too much of a coincidence. dennis murphy: andy recounted his movements for detectives. he and a buddy bumped into michelle at the mall around 8:30. he said he had no idea michelle was missing, until her mother called his house about 3:30 am.

he told detectives he and his mom jumped in the car to go searching but couldn't find her. so was the early thinking we're going to get with this young guy, andy, and we're going to have a solved case here? i think so. yeah. we're going to sweat him a little bit, and the story will come out. yeah. dennis murphy: but andy's story never changed, and police had no physical evidence to connect him to the murder. and without a quick arrest, the cedar rapids gossip mill started churning. as time slipped by, people became suspicious of michelle herself. janelle stonebraker: the theories were just awful. i mean, it went everything from drug rings to prostitution rings. that somehow this young girl brought it on herself. right? because surely, she had to be at fault in this. painful for your parents. horrible. my mother eventually did not go out of the house. she just stayed at home. dennis murphy: michelle's death and the failure to find her killer also had a profound effect

on the city where she'd lived. people were really upset and traumatized by it. trish mehaffey is the courts reporter for the cedar rapids paper, "the gazette." trish mehaffey: back in 1979, cedar rapids, it was smaller than it is even now. it was a close knit community. cedar rapids in those days was very mayberry-like, and honestly, what happened to michelle kind of stripped away not just our innocence but the innocence of the whole town. [music playing] dennis murphy: it settled over the city, the thought that michelle's killer might never be caught. the '70s became the '80s and then the '90s. the dawn of dna testing finally gave police new hope. in 1997, they sent scrapings from the gearshift of michelle's car off to a state lab. the lab was able to sort out all those dna points, and it left a partial male dna profile. dennis murphy: at the time, it wasn't enough to match to a suspect, but in 2005, doug

larison took over the case. he wondered if anything else from the car might yield a more complete dna profile. he sent michelle's bloodstained dress back to the state crime lab. got the phone call from the lab analyst that they had found a full dna profile on the dress which was very exciting. boy, that's an are-you-sitting-down phone call. huh? doug larison: that's correct. all we had to do was submit this profile to codis, probably get-- codis? it's an fbi computerized system that contains millions and millions of dna profiles that have been collected from crime scenes, from jails, people who have been arrested. anything come back? nothing, no hit. dennis murphy: to larison, that met michelle's killer was likely someone without any prior arrests or run-ins with the law. that meant the people police had talked to back in the day had to be reconsidered. so my thinking is let's start going through this case. let's start finding potential suspects, and let's go get their dna and start eliminating

them from that partial profile. so now, are we back to andy and all those other boyfriends? correct. dennis murphy: nearly 30 years after michelle's death, everything old was new again. boys with alibis back in '79 we're now middle-aged men with something more valuable than a story to offer. they had their dna. craig melvin: coming up. dennis murphy: you're going to take a molecule of human genetic material and turn it into an image of somebody? correct. craig melvin: using dna to paint a portrait of a killer and trace his family tree. so you got a live one here at the bottom of this tree. we got a live one here only 20 minutes away. what do you think at that moment? we're ecstatic. you can taste it at that point. we're ready to go. craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. i told myself i was ok with my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis symptoms... ...with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms.

but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you still have symptoms after trying a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq works differently. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that can rapidly relieve joint pain, stiffness, and swelling as fast as 2 weeks for some. and even at the 3-year mark, many people felt this relief. rinvoq can stop joint damage. and in psa, can leave skin clear or almost clear. rinvoq can lower ability to fight infections. before treatment, test for tb and do bloodwork. serious infections, blood clots, some fatal; ...cancers, including lymphoma and skin; serious allergic reactions; gi tears; death; heart attack; and stroke occurred. cv event risk increases in age 50 plus with a heart disease risk factor. tell your doctor if you've had these events, infection, hep b or c, smoked, are pregnant or planning. don't take if allergic or have an infection. done settling? ask your rheumatologist for rinvoq. and take back what's yours. (♪♪) my kids can't hide anything from me. i'm home! especially when they've been using toilet paper that doesn't hold up. new charmin ultra strong

has a diamond-weave texture that's more durable and it cleans better* so you can use less. enjoy the go with charmin. odor and. wetness protection. >> so you can. >> stay ahead of. >> stay ahead of. >> sweat and feel fresh all how are folks 60 and older having fun these days? family cookouts! ♪♪ playing games! ♪♪ dancing in the par... (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound)

>> mind to. 215215 now. >> hi merchant. >> louis. >> with the news.

>> update. at least. >> eight are. >> dead after rains. >> and devastating flooding swept through kentucky this weekend. >> the severe weather. >> is expected. >> to. >> continue in the. southeast as the week begins. >> and the first set of. talks are also expected to be held this week over ending the war between russia and ukraine. it comes after president. >> trump held his. >> own call. with russia's president. ukraine's president telling nbc he. >> cannot accept. >> any peace deal. >> any peace deal. >> made. welcome back to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. michelle martinko's unsolved murder marked a loss of innocence for her friends and family, but not a loss of hope. cold case detectives were determined to catch the killer using a modern arsenal of tools. the same technology used to crack a legendary case in california was about to reveal a tantalizing clue. back to dennis murphy with "and then there were three." [music playing] dennis murphy: the decades-old investigation

into michelle martinko's 1979 murder had a new urgency. detective doug larison had a dna profile of the killer and the original list of suspects. one by one, he started asking for dna samples, looking for a match. matt denlinger: doug started with the really obvious suspects, all the ex-boyfriends, the curt thomases of the world, all the high school buddies that had been at the mall. dennis murphy: at the top of that list was ex-boyfriend andy. i thought it was just a matter of time before andy was found to be the killer. dennis murphy: but andy's dna was not a match. more than 25 years after he was first considered a suspect, he was cleared. justice for andy. jane hansen: he had nothing to do with it, and he had to live with that cloud over him, because so many people did think he was involved. dennis murphy: curt thomas, the last person in her circle known to have seen michelle at the mall, was also tested. police called his lawyer with the result.

they got him on the phone and said, the dna's not a match, and they hung up. but the headline was the dna says it's not you. it didn't match. right. right. dennis murphy: another possible suspect cleared, another setback for the cedar rapids pd. but when matt denlinger took over as lead investigator, in 2015, he still thought dna would solve the crime. so he did another deep dive into a case file that had been built by so many before him. matt denlinger: now, we're just trying to find men who are listed in these reports that could have possibly had a connection to her or men that would have had a connection to the mall. i thought, eventually, if we swabbed enough people, we're going to come across our suspect. dennis murphy: but after more than 125 tests, no one matched the killer's dna. they were out of leads. and then parabon comes into this. what is that? so parabon is a private lab. what parabon was offering is to take

the genetic profile that we had and to create an image. create an image? matt denlinger: yeah, an actual-- dennis murphy: i mean, like a up-in-the-post-office photo of be on the lookout for this guy? exactly, a computer generated police sketch. excuse me if i sound a little skeptical. that sounds like voodoo science fiction. well. dennis murphy: you're going to take a molecule of human genetic material and turn it into an image of somebody? correct. dennis murphy: three sketches were created from the dna profile. the suspected killer imagined at age 25, another at age 50, and one with a typical 1979 haircut. police released the pictures to the public. matt denlinger: we were hoping that 100 people would call in and say that looks like person a. the problem is we got 250 people call in and say it looks like 100 people. oh, man. more needles, more haystacks. huh? matt denlinger: yeah, a lot of rabbit holes we went down. i tracked down, you know, another 50 people and swabbed them, each time hoping

that we finally got our guy. dennis murphy: but with each dna test result, that hope was dashed. then, in 2018, parabon helps solve the golden state killer case using a new technology called genetic genealogy. i get an email from parabon saying, hey, check out what we just did. dennis murphy: parabon offered a similar genealogy search for the martinko case. using the dna from the crime scene, they would try to identify relatives of the killer by searching through genetic profiles on an online database. denlinger gave them the green light. we sent that in the spring of 2018, and by the summer, they had sent us a report, and they said that they had found a relative of our killer. a relative of your killer? matt denlinger: yeah. they hypothesized that she was a second cousin, once removed, from our killer. - wow. there's a headline for you guys. yeah.

dennis murphy: the person related to the killer was a woman living in vancouver, washington. now, the trick was to build a family tree, to see if police could link a family member to cedar rapids, in 1979. denlinger reached out to the woman. she agreed to answer all his questions. we have to start building her family tree. dennis murphy (voiceover): denlinger traced the woman's family tree back to the early 1800s. so you're looking through old historical records and census data and-- absolutely. dennis murphy: tombstones? tombstones, anything we could find. dennis murphy: denlinger created four branches of the family going back to great, great grandparents. the first branch led to someone living in ohio. denlinger got a dna sample. we sent their dna back to parabon, and they recalibrated and told us that we can eliminate that branch of the family tree. don't waste your time on that trip. don't waste your time on that. that person shares no dna with your killer. this one here, we wound up in nebraska and sent that one in, same thing.

boom. get rid of that one. we don't need to worry about that branch of the family tree. dennis murphy (voiceover): on the next branch, denlinger found a relative living in iowa. so you got a live one here at the bottom of this tree. we got a live one here. this was a gal in lisbon, iowa. she's only 20 minutes away. she's not your killer, of course. definitely not your killer. we always knew the killer was a man. we took her dna. we sent it to parabon, but she shares enough dna with the killer to be a first cousin. dennis murphy: it turns out, the woman shared dna with three first cousins, three brothers. after four decades and so many disappointments, the suspect list had narrowed to three. all three of them are still alive, still living in iowa. what do you think at that moment? we're ecstatic. you can taste it at that point. we're ready to go. detectives are about to get up close and personal with the three brothers without them knowing it.

coming up. then he and his son leave, and we grab the cup off his table. my partner put some gloves on, grabs the straw out of the glass, packaged it up, and we disappear. craig melvin: then not a confession, but not a denial either. craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. when you really need to sleep. you reach for the really good stuff. [music playing] zzzquil ultra helps you sleep better and longer when you need it most. its non-habit forming and powered by the makers of nyquil. stays. not anymore. play quick hits slots the free to play mobile slots game that everyone is playing from coast to coast. download quick hit slots for free and get a 6 million coin bonus. make every day a winning day.

>> muscle cramps were keeping me up at night, so then i tried slimming the magnesium plus calcium supplement that helps relax tense muscles so i can rest comfortably and slow. mag tablets have a slow release formula that's gentle on my stomach. that's why i use slow mag. >> is your shower trying to tell you something? it's time to love your shower again. with jacuzzi bath remodel you can get a beautiful new bath or shower installed in one day. that's right, one day and at a price you can afford. in fact, there's never been a more affordable time to call than now with this love your shower sale! we're waiving all installation costs and postponing all payments for up to one year, giving you the quality you deserve from a brand you trust at a price that won't break the bank. and when it comes to quality, jacuzzi has been the most trusted name in water for more than 70 years. oh my gosh, it is beautiful. >> oh. it's incredible that they

were able to do. this in one day. >> it really was amazing. >> how quickly they could. >> do it. >> they were outstanding. >> how did. they do. >> that in one day? >> listen to what your bathroom is telling you and take it from this to this in one day with no stress and no mess. or maybe it's trying to tell you something else. if safety is the issue, take back your peace of mind. now is the time to convert your old bath tub into a beautiful, easy entry shower with features like grab bars and a custom seat that combines safety and style. so you'll love taking a shower again. and every transformation features state of the art materials that resist mold and mildew. no grimy grout to scrub, it just rinses clean so you can spend less time cleaning and more time relaxing. because the only sound your bath should make is this. >> call or go online to jacuzzi bath remodel.com for a limited time. you're waiving installation costs on your new

bath or shower. plus, we're postponing payments for one full year. go to jacuzzi, bath, remodel.com or call (800) 249-9634. that's (800) 249-9634. call now. >> ocd is more. >> than what you see on. >> tv and. >> in the movies. >> it comes. >> with unrelenting. >> intrusive images. >> thoughts and urges. if you. >> have ocd. >> and need help, you can get better with specialized treatment. go to no. com to learn more. >> what was it like when trump got elected? what was the i mean, what was the reaction do you think about ice coming to knock on your front door to. >> for president trump's first 100 days? alex wagner travels to the story to talk with people most impacted by the policies. >> were you. >> there on january? >> i was. >> there on january 6th. >> did it surprise you that you were fired, given how resolutely nonpartisan you have been? >> and for more in-depth reporting,

dennis murphy: "and then there were three." after chasing down hundreds of leads over four decades, the suspect list in michelle martinko's murder had narrowed down to three brothers living in iowa. when you run the computer check on them, criminal records, anything come up? no. so they're leading respectable, middle class lives, as far as you can see. yeah, very much. dennis murphy: the family name was burns, and all three brothers were adults, in 1979, but did not seem to have any connection to michelle martinko. investigator matt denlinger and two colleagues decided to secretly collect dna from all three. so this is when you become a double-o agent. it's really shifting gears here. it is shifting gears. dennis murphy: they track the brothers, one at a time, starting with middle brother kenneth. a married father of three, he sold farm equipment, in manchester, iowa, about a 50-minute drive from cedar rapids. matt denlinger: we collected his dna from a straw, and it immediately goes to the state lab.

they told us, hey, he is not your suspect. the next brother was donald. dennis murphy: oldest brother donald was a father of three and had five grandchildren. he lived in davenport, iowa, and was the manager of a lumber yard before retiring. denlinger went to his house and staked it out surreptitiously. matt denlinger: the first time we collected was out of a trash bag he had set by the curb. we found a toothbrush in there and collected some dna off of that. and what did the lab think about his genetic material? they said the same thing. he's not your guy. he's not your guy. dennis murphy: it came down to the youngest brother, jerry burns, who, like brother ken, lived and worked in manchester. denlinger did some intel on him. in 1979, he had two young kids. he lived in manchester. he sold farm implements, was in a bowling league. so he's married with children, 9:00 to 5:00 guy. huh? 9:00 to 5:00 guy, yeah. dennis murphy: on an october morning, in 2018, denlinger and his team set out for manchester

in three unmarked cars. so jerry's place is right out here in the highway [inaudible] yeah. we're going to pass it here in seconds. it's going to come up on us in no time. dennis murphy: police followed him throughout the morning, finally, at lunchtime, an opportunity. burns and his son had pulled into the pizza ranch restaurant. matt denlinger: he parked in the parking lot there, and he went in and was sitting at a booth right by the window there. dennis murphy: denlinger and his partners went in and sat in a booth. you're in the next booth over. i'm as close to him as you and i are right now. dennis murphy: you've got to be thinking, is this my killer? right? - yeah. it's hard to enjoy your food, when you think you're staring at the killer. dennis murphy: burns was drinking a soda from a straw. denlinger didn't take his eyes off of it, making sure nobody else touched it. then he and his son leave. they drive away from the pizza ranch, and we grab the cup off his table. my partner put some gloves on, grabs the straw out of the glass, packaged it up, and we disappear. dennis murphy: the sample was sent for testing. it was the moment of truth. jerry was not only the last burns' brother,

he was the last possible suspect. denlinger will never forget the moment he spoke to his contact at the crime lab. he says, that's your guy. dennis murphy: he's the killer. he's the killer. dennis murphy: the lab reported that the scientific probability was 100 billion to 1. that meant, the dna from the crime scene belonged to jerry burns and not anyone else on earth. finally, it was the culmination of a relentless decades-long investigation, but denlinger wasn't ready to make an arrest. there were just too many questions that needed answers. it's time to go talk to him. he's not going to be ready which is the best time to try to interview someone. dennis murphy: so on december 19, 2018, denlinger headed back to manchester. he pulled up to burns' place of business a little before noon. the door was open. denlinger walked in. a hidden camera recorded everything. matt denlinger: hello? dennis murphy: did you have backup? we had a lot of backup. we had no good expectation on what to expect from him, what

to expect from his behavior. dennis murphy: what's in his desk drawer? yeah. correct. dennis murphy: denlinger's camera was hidden in a travel mug. he introduced himself and set the mug down on burns' desk. matt denlinger: he sits there, and he's petting his shop cat, who's climbing all over the desks during the interview. we got a cat here. huh? yep. matt denlinger: what's the kitty's name? bella. matt denlinger: bella. dennis murphy: denlinger handed burns a business card and got down to business. matt denlinger: we're following up on an old case. it's a homicide that happened at westdale mall. dennis murphy: then he described the computer sketch released to the public that was developed from dna found at the crime scene. he said, someone called in with a tip, and that's how burns' name came up. that wasn't true, but denlinger wanted to see how he would react. matt denlinger: that's the picture we had created. boy, looks a lot different than i look in the mirror. do i look like that? matt denlinger: well, i kind of think you do a little bit, enough that we bothered to come up here and talk.

dennis murphy: burns remained calm and polite. he denied knowing michelle but didn't say much more. you're holding the major ace card here. right. here's what science says. do you confront him with that? we did. we directly confronted him with that. we have your dna at the crime scene, and so we know you were there that night this happened. how would we get your dna at the crime scene there, jerry? i don't know. test it to see if it is. matt denlinger: no, no, no, no, we did. how would it be there, jerry? i don't know. matt denlinger: what happened that night? did you murder someone that night, jerry? test the dna. matt denlinger: jerry. test the dna. dennis murphy: it wasn't the confession denlinger was hoping for, but he didn't think it was a denial either. so 39 years to the day after michelle martinko's murder, jerry burns was cuffed and placed under arrest. you have the right to remain silent. anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. dennis murphy: the charge was first degree murder. for jerry burns' daughter jennifer

and his brother donald, the news was a gut punch, impossible to comprehend. it almost seemed like a dream, that it wasn't really happening, wasn't really true. dennis murphy: could you believe it? no. my brother had said dad's been arrested for murder and just like, who? i was so in disbelief. [music playing] dennis murphy: the arrest just didn't square with the image of the devoted father, the good kid brother that they'd always known. they felt certain there was something wrong with that dna evidence. there's lots of other stories out there, where there's a mistake of dna found at crime scenes, and there's an explanation for why it's there. doesn't mean that whose ever dna it was is the person that committed the crime. donald burns: there's nothing to substantiate when it came there, how it got there. dennis murphy: today, now, you say, this just cannot be right. no. it can't be right. dennis murphy: jerry burns' family was convinced he was innocent.

could prosecutors convince a jury he was guilty? [music playing] craig melvin: coming up, a damning discovery. nick maybanks: there were files found on mr. burns' computer. extreme pornography, fair to say? i think it was described publicly as deviant pornography, violent pornography. craig melvin: and the risk of relying on dna evidence. i taught fifth grade. i know how hard it is to teach somebody something. you have to repeat it over and over and over again. i'm concerned about that. craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. upset stomach iberogast indigestion iberogast bloating iberogast thanks to a unique combination of herbs, iberogast helps relieve six digestive symptoms to help you feel better. six digestive symptoms. the power of nature. iberogast. the first time you try bounce, it hits you. your laundry feels way fresher, softer. so you start to wonder, if i put a sheet of bounce on the finance guy, will it make him softer?

bounce can't do it all, but for better laundry. ♪ put a sheet on it with bounce ♪ there's blink nutri tears. it works differently than drops. blink neutral tears is a once daily supplement clinically proven to hydrate from within, helping your eyes produce more of their own tears. to promote lasting, continuous relief. you'll feel day after day. try blink neutral tears a different way to support dry eyes. >> blink tears. >> when you sun dogs at westminster dog show. as long as we have. >> joint health. >> comes first. >> and it starts with cosequin. >> for athletes in the. >> ring and at. >> home. trust cosequin. >> cosequin. >> cosequin. >> t what are folks 60 and older learning these days? new perspectives! ♪♪ how to fix things. ♪♪

fun recip... (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound) mopping is hard work, but then i tried the swiffer powermop. it has a built-in solution that breaks down dirt on contact. plus, it's 360-degree swivel head cleans up along baseboards and even behind the toilet. bye, bye bucket. with the swiffer powermop. recommended during. pregnancy and after surgery. it increases water in the. >> stool. >> making it softer so. >> it's easier to go. >> no harsh laxatives, cramping or straining. >> net credit is here to say yes, even when other lenders

won't. apply online in minutes and get funds deposited the next business day or sooner. >> again, nine tablets for

>> again, nine tablets for just $ craig melvin: welcome back. a search that started with more than 100 potential suspects was pared down to three brothers. investigators were now convinced only jerry burns could have killed michelle martinko. prosecutors were preparing to present their dna evidence in court, but the defense had their own dna card to play. here's dennis murphy with the conclusion of "and then there were three." dennis murphy: 40 years after michelle martinko's murder, cedar rapids investigators were confident that a dna match proved jerry burns was her killer. first assistant prosecutor for linn county, nick maybanks, was certain they had motive, too. there were files found on mr. burns' computer. extreme pornography, fair to say?

i think it was described publicly as deviant pornography, violent pornography. featuring prominently young blonde women. "blonde women" was a search term that was used. dennis murphy: defense attorney leon spies filed a motion to bar the computer evidence from the trial. it wasn't germane to the case. this is material that was found on mr burns' computer 39 years after the crime. dennis murphy: in a pretrial hearing, the judge agreed, dealing a blow to the state's case, which boiled down to a single piece of evidence against jerry burns-- that dna match. good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. dennis murphy: the trial began in february 2020. michelle martinko's sister, janelle, and her husband, john, traveled from their florida home to attend, determined to see it through to the end. - every day. - every day. the jury has to be there, we'll be there. you examined the dress. dennis murphy: the prosecution put detective doug larison on the stand to tell jurors the police followed sound practices when they

handled michelle's clothing. we wore rubber gloves, for one thing. we tried not to disturb the clothing items, just to get a quick look at them, and then reinsert them back in their original packaging. dennis murphy: dna analyst linda sauer, since retired, testified the dna collected from that evidence could only belong to one person. the probability of finding two unrelated individuals is so small, that it can be discounted. dennis murphy: but defense attorney spies wasn't rolling over for the state's dna case. jerry lynn burns is not guilty of the killing of michelle martinko. do you recognize the-- dennis murphy: the defense attorney went after the cops for the way they handled the evidence over four decades. spies argued, key items like michelle's dress were jumbled up with her other clothing, tainting them forever. leon spies: when you opened up the original packaging of the dress, the panties, and the pantyhose,

were the items all bundled together? uh, as far as i recollect, they were. yes. dennis murphy: and there was another reason to question the prosecution, the defense attorney said-- something called dna transfer. trace dna. dennis murphy: he quizzed his own expert witness. leon spies: is it, dr. spence, a plausible explanation that the dna of jerry burns found on the dress or on the gearshift could have come about by a transfer? yes, that's a distinct possibility. dennis murphy: the defense's dna expert told the court burns might have left his dna at the mall innocently, on a door or a bench. after all, he'd told investigators that he had visited the mall. jerry burns's dna-- dennis murphy: jerry burns, the defense argued, was a victim of coincidence and sloppy police work. ladies and gentlemen, the evidence has been submitted to you. dennis murphy: after eight days of testimony, the jury got the case.

whe it goes out to the jury, what are you thinking? i mean, we're hoping for the best. if he wasn't guilty, great. we have my dad home. if he was guilty, it just meant more work, more fighting for him. dennis murphy: janelle was worried for a different reason. she knew the prosecution's case, the dna testing, the genetic genealogy, was complicated, dense with data. i taught fifth grade. i know how hard it is to teach somebody something. you have to repeat it over and over and over again. i'm concerned about that. thank you. dennis murphy: as it turned out, the jury reached a quick verdict. judge hoover read the decision aloud. judge hoover: we, the jury, find the defendant, jerry lynn burns, guilty of the charge of murder in the first degree. dennis murphy: how did he take it, the verdict? i think he was shocked, too. he was very much expecting to come home. don, you were in court, the verdict, huh? mm-hmm. i was surprised at the verdict.

i had a hard time believing that the jury sat down and even reviewed the case. three hours. donald burns: yeah. not even three. i couldn't believe they came back with the verdict they did. dennis murphy: outside the courthouse, john and janelle were emotional. to finally have a closure on this and to actually know-- i wish my parents could be here to see this. we left cedar rapids, but cedar rapids never left us. i could feel the pressure of 40 years and countless police officers that have worked on this case. i felt like we, as a team, had finally done justice for the martinko family. dennis murphy: jerry burns was sentenced to life without parole. janelle stonebraker: as we were looking through pictures, we realized that she wasn't part of that christmas. she wasn't part of that birth.

she wasn't part of that party. we kept going deeper and deeper into the box, trying to find, where was michelle? she had missed everything. the family album goes on, but she's not in it. she's not in it. dennis murphy: no, she's only in the old photos. a girl smiling out into a world of possibilities, stolen on a cold december night. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. lvin, and this is dateline on mynetwork-tv.. the first thing they asked me was, who would want to kill you? who would want to murder you? and i just kind of looked at them, like what?