POLICE FEARED THE MURDER OF MICHELLE MARTINKO WOULD NEVER BE SOLVED, BUT 40 YEARS LATER A DISCARDED DRINKING STRAW PROVED TO BE THE KEY TO UNLOCKING THE CASE
WHAT Murder
WHERE Cedar Rapids, Iowa
WHEN 19 December 1979
BACKGROUND
By 8pm on the night of 19 December 1979, as 18-year-old Michelle Martinko left the Christmas choir banquet, it had turned dark and bitterly cold, but she still had one more errand to run before she could go home.
Her mother had bought her a new winter coat and Michelle needed to pick it up from the Westdale Shopping Mall, Iowa, before it closed for the night. She parked her parents’ 1972 Buick and hurried inside where she met up with a few friends. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find the store that held her coat so, a short while later, she started to head back to the car and make her way home.
Dressed in a black cocktail dress and high heels, Michelle hurried across the car park and unlocked the car door. What happened next would stump local police and remain a mystery for nearly four decades.
When she failed to return home, her parents started ringing friends, but no one knew where Michelle was. Eventually they called the police, who tracked Michelle’s movements to the shopping mall, where they located the Buick. Inside, they discovered Michelle’s body, slumped on the floor.
Investigators could confirm that she had climbed into the car and started the engine in order to defrost the window. They could also tell that she had bravely fought her attacker with all her strength as her hands and arms were covered in defensive wounds.
Michelle had suffered 29 stab wounds, including ten vicious cuts to the face and one to the heart. She had lost a third of her blood, which had soaked into the upholstery and sprayed across the ceiling, but despite the fact that the crime scene was contained within the car and protected from any outside interference, the police could find no useful evidence to work with. The killer had clearly worn gloves as the slick, bloodied surfaces failed to reveal any fingerprints.
Police appealed to the public for any information and over 200 individuals came forward, but there was nothing concrete for the police to go on. In spite of their best efforts and a $10,000 reward, the leads petered out and the case went cold.
BREAKTHROUGH
In 2006, Cedar Rapids Police Department detective Matt Denlinger was reviewing the case when he stumbled across samples of a second blood type found on Michelle’s dress and on the gear stick of the car. Could this be the killer’s blood? From this tiny sample, a partial DNA profile was created and run through th
