After almost five decades, the mystery surrounding the murder of a 19-year-old from an Illinois village has been solved, as authorities have identified her killer using new DNA evidence.
Kathy Halle vanished in March 1979 while on her way to collect her sister from a local shopping center in North Aurora, as reported by local authorities.
Initially, the police looked into the situation as a missing person case. However, three weeks later, Halle’s body was found in the Foxe River, according to Ryan Peat, a detective with the North Aurora Police Department, during a news conference on Wednesday.
After extensive investigations, officials concluded that there was insufficient evidence to pinpoint a suspect, leading to the case going cold.
In 2020, authorities took another look at the case after connecting DNA from Bruce Lindhal, a suspected serial killer who died by suicide in 1981, to the murder of a woman named Pamela Maurer, according to Peat.
Authorities in North Aurora utilized advanced forensic technologies to link DNA evidence discovered on Halle’s clothing to Lindhal’s DNA obtained during the investigation of Maurer’s case.
“Lindhal has been connected to several other cases in this area from that timeframe,” Peat said. “With this new evidence, along with the evidence from similar cases involving Lindhal, we are able to conclude Lindhal was responsible for the death of Kathy Halle.”
Authorities now think Lindhal, who frequently visited the shopping center where Halle was employed, took the victim from the parking lot of her apartment complex and transported her to the location where her body was eventually found.
“While revisiting this case has been incredibly difficult, we are deeply grateful to finally have closure after 45 long years,” a statement from Halle’s family read during the news conference said. “Thanks to advancements in DNA technologies and groundbreaking tools, we are hopeful that other families won’t have to endure the same pain and uncertainty that we faced for so many years.”