Convicted murderer Jerry Burns, 66, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday in the 1979 murder of Michelle Martinko, 18. Court is set to start at 2:30 p.m. ET / 1:30 p.m. CT. You can watch in the player above.
#BurnsTrial – This pic of Michelle Martinko is displayed in the courtroom. Maybanks tells the jury that evidence was submitted multiple times over the years. There was blood from the back of Michelle’s dress and from the gear shift was collected, DNA testing didn’t exist in 1979 pic.twitter.com/CDlnLzfWoP
— Law & Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) February 12, 2020
#BurnsTrial –
Denlinger: “Did you murder someone that night, Jerry?”Burns: “Test the DNA.” pic.twitter.com/yLhCy4n2oc
— Law & Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) February 18, 2020
The story should be familiar to those following newly solved (or possibly solved) high-profile cold cases: There was a murder decades ago, and the case went unsolved with no sign of a suspect. Years passed, and the recent use of a genealogical database established a link between the crime scene and a possible perpetrator.
The Martinko case followed such a pattern. She was stabbed to death in her parents’ car outside the Westdale Mall on December 19, 1979. There was no evidence of robbery or sexual assault, authorities said. The motive was unclear.
The case went cold. The technology developed. Parabon NanoLabs helped investigators with testing on the case. DNA found on Martinko’s clothes pointed them toward three brothers, Assistant Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said in closing arguments last February. One of those brothers was Jerry Burns.
The defendant denied being the killer, but investigators said they were able to confirm it was him through DNA testing.
#BurnsTrial – The investigation with GEDmatch led to a Janice Burns, testing showed she was a cousin to brothers, Kenneth, Donald and Jerry Burns.
— Law & Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) February 17, 2020
#BurnsTrial – Burns appears calm and collected as Denlinger tells him they know it’s going to be a match because they already collected his DNA from something he threw away.
— Law & Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) February 18, 2020
Authorities worked to show that it was really was him, and that there’s no other way his DNA ended up on Martinko’s clothing. The defendant was 25 at the time.
#BurnsTrial – Prosecutor: The clothing was kept properly from 1979 until it came to court for this trial. No chance for outside contamination of this dress. Nothing would explain how the DNA of Jerry Burns would end up on Martinko’s dress after it was taken into custody. pic.twitter.com/jsZLpzgzv5
— Law & Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) February 24, 2020
#BurnsTrial – Here’s Jerry Burns the month #MichelleMartinko was murdered compared to the image developed from DNA at the crime scene by Parabon. pic.twitter.com/1IaigRVhs7
— Law & Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) February 18, 2020
Appeals are typical enough in criminal cases. Burns is no exception. Since the defendant was found guilty, his attorney has argued the genetic testing was unconstitutional. Burns remains a guilty person in the eyes of the law, and the judge is set to hand down a mandatory life sentence on Friday for first-degree murder.
“We still are left with the fact that we’ve lost my sister,” Martinko’s sister Janelle Stonebraker told The Law&Crime Network after the guilty verdict. “We lost all of those years that she didn’t live, and she had such a bright future, and she was looking forward to college. And we lost all of that.”
