Michelle Martinko
Homicide:
18 YOA
Westdale Mall
Cedar Rapids, IA (Linn County)
Case Number: 8506117
December 19, 1979
Case summary by Jody Ewing
Around 4 a.m. on December 20, 1979, police found 18-year-old Michelle Martinko — her face and chest stabbed repeatedly — in her family's Buick in the Westdale Mall parking lot. The Kennedy High School senior had driven to the newly opened mall after a school choir banquet to shop for a new winter coat.
Wounds on the teen's hands showed she had fought her killer, but she was not sexually assaulted or robbed. Detectives found no weapon or fingerprints to identify her killer.
During the original investigation, a list of more than 80 potential suspects was compiled. More than 60 were tested and eliminated, and many of the suspects have died in the years following the murder.
Using new technology, the Cedar Rapids Police Department was able to procure the suspect's DNA. At a news conference held Oct. 2, 2006, cold case investigators Det. Doug Larison and Det. Aboud announced they had developed new evidence in the 1979 murder and asked the public for assistance in identifying a male with a cut on his hand during the time of the murder. A $10,000 reward — half of which was donated by Martinko's family — was offered for information leading to the subject's arrest.
In the two years following the announcement, police received a number of calls, a few which Det. Larison said provided new information that helped eliminate a few more suspects. None of the leads it produced, however, uncovered a DNA match to the blood sample.
"We would love to solve this case, and we have not given up hope," Larison said in a 2008 interview with the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
"If they're not alive, you can always get a sample of their mother's DNA, but if they're dead, their parents probably are, too," he said.
Albert and Janet Martinko died believing they knew who killed their daughter, but there was no evidence tying that man to the crime.
Police believe the blood that was found came from a cut on the killer's hand. Because the investigation is ongoing, police won't say on what the blood was found or how they know the killer cut his hand. But the detectives are certain the blood will lead them to the person who stabbed Martinko to death.
"There is no doubt whatsoever that this is the killer's blood," Larison said. "All we need is a name. And once we get a DNA match, we'll have our killer."
In hopes that the suspect is still alive, the DNA information has been uploaded to the Combined DNA Index System, a national database that matches profiles from crime scenes with profiles from convicted offenders.
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Sources and References:
Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation
Cedar Rapids Police Dept. -- Crimes
30 years ago: Murder of teen haunts those who knew her - Cedar Rapids Gazette, Dec. 20, 2009
30 Years Later: Michelle Martinko Murder Still Unsolved - KCRG-TV, Dec. 20, 2009
Michelle Martinko Murder Happened 30 Years Ago, Eastern Iowa News,
Dec. 19, 2009
The Cedar Rapids Gazette, July 27, 2008
New Leads in Martinko Murder Case - KCRG TV News, Oct. 6, 2006
New Evidence in Decades Old Murder Case - KCRG TV News, Oct. 2, 2006
Page last updated: January 11, 2010
