AT LONG LAST

Indiana Cops Solve 47-Year-Old Murder Case With DNA Tests

Fresh evidence cracks 1972 case.

“It’s been a long 46 years, seven months, and 20 days,” said the sister of Pamela Milam, an Indiana college student who was murdered in 1972. But, finally, her family has some peace after cops managed to solve the cold case through DNA testing and genealogy. Police said Jeffrey Lynn Hand has been identified with a 99.9 percent probability as the murderer of the 19-year-old. He was killed in a shootout with police in 1978 during an attempted kidnapping. “Many of us, as we got older, thought we would die before we ever learned who killed our sister,” said Charlene Sanford. “We were happy to know he hasn’t been out there living a great life for 47 years.” Last year, cops began working with Parabon NanoLabs, a company that works with law enforcement using DNA, ancestry databases, and traditional genealogical work. The possible suspects were narrowed down to Hand and, after tracking down and taking DNA from his widow and two sons, lab results came back saying the DNA matched the evidence from the crime.

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