The DNA That Solved A 12-Year-Old Mystery _ The New Detectives

A young woman is found strangled in a drainage ditch. The killer left no witnesses, no confession, and almost no trace. For twelve years, the case sits on a shelf, growing colder with each passing year. Then a forensic scientist opens an evidence locker and finds a single cigarette butt that was waiting to be tested.In this episode of The New Detectives, the groundbreaking Discovery Channel series that aired from 1996 to 2004 and inspired CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, forensic experts examine a cold case where DNA technology finally caught a killer who had walked free for over a decade. The cigarette butt had been collected at the original crime scene but was too small to test with the technology available at the time. When the case was reopened, advances in DNA analysis allowed scientists to extract a full profile from the degraded sample. The profile matched a man who had been questioned in the original investigation but never charged due to lack of evidence. He was arrested, tried, and convicted. The victim's family had waited twelve years for answers. The DNA that solved the mystery had been sitting in an evidence locker the entire time.Turn down the lights, put on your headphones, and press play because the killer thought time was on his side. The evidence was just waiting for science to catch up.